Just a few additional portions of broccoli each week could protect men from prostate cancer. Researchers believe a substance called isothiocyanate in the broccoli sparks hundreds of genetic changes, activating some genes that fight cancer and switching off others that fuel tumors.
Prostate cancer kills more men than any other kind except for lung cancer. Each year, 680,000 men worldwide are diagnosed with the disease and about 220,000 will die from it.
The benefit derived from broccoli would likely also be available from other cruciferous vegetables that contain isothiocyanate, including Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, arugula, watercress and horseradish.
Last year on April 8th, Slovenian marathon swimmer Martin Strel became the first man to swim the entire length of the Amazon River. He swam 3,274 miles from the headwaters in Peru to the Brazilian port city of Belém.
The task took him 66 days with a support crew of near twenty people following him in a boat for protection.
Strel had already swum the Danube, the Mississippi, and the Yangtze. In 1997, he became the first to swim non-stop from Africa to Europe, which he did in 29 hours, 36 minutes, and 57 seconds. Seven previous swimmers had attempted -- and failed -- that swim before Strel.
When Strel reached the finish line at Belém, he had to be helped to his feet and ushered into a wheelchair. His blood pressure was at heart-attack levels and his entire body was full of subcutaneous larvae.
You can click the link below the read a fascinating interview with Strel.
Dr, Kaayla Daniel and Dr. Galen Knight have observed that even when
people follow healthy dietary guidelines, they can still have serious
health problems. They may digest their food poorly, experience
digestive distress, or be generally sickly.
One reason may be toxic metals. Mercury, aluminum, cadmium, arsenic,
lead, nickel, and other metal poisons flood the environment and invade
your body. Toxic metals can cause or contribute to a long list of
diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other
brain and neurological disorders. While the medical establishment
recognizes the acute toxicity that comes from high levels of metals in
your body, far more people suffer the adverse effects of low-level,
chronic exposure.
But you can reduce your exposure to dangerous environmental metals by:
Using glass, cast iron, carbon steel, titanium, and enamel
cookware; aluminum and teflon are well known for their toxic dangers,
and stainless steel can expose you to carcinogenic nickel
Minimizing consumption of restaurant food; restaurants are required to use stainless steel pots and vats
Avoiding stainless steel thermoses; the glass lined kind are best
Not using c...
Regardless of whether you are introverted or extraverted, you have probably felt shy at some point in your life. There is a misconception that only introverts experience shyness, but it has more to do with being uncomfortable with yourself, especially around other people.
Shyness has three components:
Excessive Self-Consciousness -- you are overly aware of yourself, particularly in social situations
Excessive Negative Self-Evaluation -- you tend to see yourself negatively
Excessive Negative Self-Preoccupation -- you tend to pay too much attention to all the things you are doing wrong when you are around other people
Here are some tips that may help you overcome the uncomfortable feeling of shyness:
1. Understand Your Shyness -- What situation triggers this feeling? And what are you concerned with at that point?
2. Turn Self Consciousness into Self Awareness -- Recognize that the world is not looking at you. Most people are too busy looking at themselves.
3. Find Your Strengths -- It’s important to know and fully accept the things that you do well, even if they differ from the norm.
4. Learn to Like Yourself -- Practice appreciating yourself and liking the unique expression that ...
July 1 marks the beginning of the academic year for medical students, when the annual influx of new interns begins at hospitals. Many experts believe that July is therefore the riskiest time of the year for hospital patients, who are susceptible to the mistakes of new medical staff.A study of this trend concluded that “the July medical-training period is associated with between 1,500 and 2,750 accelerated deaths every year.”Medical students must deal with their new responsibility of working with patients, and acclimate to the nuances of their assigned hospital and a demanding work schedule. Overworked interns’ long hours and extended shifts may also be responsible for the high rate of accidents that occur when they join a medical staff.
Corporate America has discovered that going green is the way to sell products these days. Sales of organic products have gone from $10 billion in 2003 to more than $16 billion in 2006. Products advertised as being sustainable or healthy accounted for more than $200 billion in U.S. sales in 2005.
But as legions of marketers make “green” pitches ranging from earnest to ridiculous, customers are growing warier.
Environmentalists welcome genuine corporate efforts to make products more benign, but there’s a fine line between real environmental efforts and "greenwashing." Last year, a Philadelphia marketing firm called TerraChoice investigated more than 1,000 products claiming to have some environmental benefit. All but one of them committed one of what the company dubbed the "Six Sins of Greenwashing", such as hidden problems or vague claims.
Gardeners across the UK have been warned not to eat home-grown vegetables contaminated by a powerful new herbicide.
The Royal Horticultural Society has been flooded by calls from gardeners who have seen potatoes, beans, peas, carrots and salad vegetables wither or become grossly deformed. The affected gardens were contaminated by manure originating from farms where the hormone-based herbicide aminopyralid has been sprayed on fields.
Aminopyralid, which is found in several products produced by Dow AgroSciences, is not licensed to be used on food crops and carries a label warning farmers not to sell manure that might contain residue to gardeners.
The contamination probably came from treated grass was made into silage, then fed to cattle during the winter months. The herbicide remained present in the silage, passed through the animal and into manure that was later sold. Horses fed on hay that had been treated could also be a channel.
In preterm newborns who are exclusively bottle-fed, treatment with the probiotic organism Lactobacillus reuteri improves gut function.
Probiotics are micro-organisms that help maintain the natural balance of healthy organisms, the "good" bacteria, in the digestive tract. Some doctors suggest that their use for preterm infants should be "routine."
Infants receiving L. reuteri, like infants fed breast milk, have significant decreases in the number of episodes of spitting up and in the average daily crying time. Digestion is also significantly faster among preterm newborns receiving L. reuteri.
Summer is the time of year when food poisoning typically spikes, and one ingredient that always attracts suspicion is mayonnaise.
But most mayonnaise contains vinegar and other ingredients that make it acidic, and therefore very likely to protect against spoilage. When problems occur, they usually result from low-acid ingredients like chicken and seafood.
One prominent study published in The Journal of Food Protection found that in the presence of mayonnaise, the growth of salmonella and staphylococcus bacteria in contaminated chicken and ham salad either slowed or stopped altogether. As the amount of mayonnaise increased, the rate of growth decreased.
Everyone has behaviors and habits that they need to change, and from time to time you may need a little encouragement and support, and possibly a vigorous shove, to get under way.
Many people wait for the magical and mythical ‘right time’ -- but that time doesn’t exist.
So today, identify one habit which you really need to change right now. Not when it suits you, but now. It might be about food or exercise, it could be alcohol or drug related, it could have something to do with how you treat yourself or others, it might pertain to work, home or somewhere else. It may have something to do with how you deal with or react to certain situations, circumstances, events or people. It might be about your lifestyle, your finances, your long-term goals or perhaps some other kind of destructive habit.
Start with one habit, because people who try to undo years of bad behaviors in a short amount of time invariably fail. Instead, take one habit and change it in four weeks -- 28 days.
Now, write down the following:
The habit you’re going to address over the 28 days.
Why it’s necessary for you to change that habit.
Why it will be different this time.
Now, stop over-thinking, get off th...
Many studies over the past four decades have established that pesticides can move downward to reach the water table at detectable concentrations. Once in ground water, pesticides and their degradation products can persist for years.
Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) examined several of the factors that can influence the likelihood of pesticides and their degradation products being detected in shallow ground water.
The study revealed that the pesticides and degradation products detected most frequently were predominantly from two classes of herbicides -- triazines and chloroacetanilides.
Relatively small increases in weight raise the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study by Korean researchers.
The study suggests that CKD should be added to the list of conditions associated with weight gain, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Obesity was already a known risk factor for CKD, but the impact of weight gain in normal-weight individuals without high blood pressure or diabetes is unknown.
Chewing tobacco and snuff may be less dangerous than cigarettes, but the smokeless products still raise the risk of oral cancer by 80 percent.
A review of 11 studies also showed that people who chewed tobacco and used snuff had a 60 percent higher risk of esophagus and pancreatic cancer.
Frequency of use of smokeless tobacco products varies greatly both across and within countries, depending on sex, age, ethnic origin and economic background. Rates of use are highest in the United States, Sweden and India.
A new report suggests that most sunscreens do not offer as much protection as they claim.
The nonprofit Environmental Working Group says that 85 percent of sunscreens either inadequately protect from the sun's rays or contain ingredients that may be unsafe. They looked at the ingredients of 950 name-brand sunscreens, and based their analysis on nearly 400 published studies.
Only one of the 144 products sold by the top three sunscreen makers -- Coppertone, Neutrogena and Banana Boat -- passed muster with the EWG.
The Food and Drug Administration has not passed standards for testing and labeling sunscreens.
Despite the anxieties of modern times, surveys show that happiness has been on the rise around the world in recent years. The uptick is attributed to economic growth in previously poor countries and the democratization of others, along with rising social tolerance for women and minority groups.
Denmark is the happiest nation and Zimbabwe the least. The United States ranks 16th.
The survey, which involves 52 countries and 350,000 people, found that the Happiness Index created from the answers rose in 40 countries between 1981 and 2007, and it fell in the other 12.
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