Articles

Articles

03/12/2010 - Articles

Salt content of breakfast cereals is going down

Salt can increase your blood pressure, which is why many health authorities recommend you consume no more than 6 grams a day (and, in truth, you could get by on much less than this). It’s easy enough to train yourself not to add salt at the table – herbs and spices can readily be used at add flavor instead. The real problem is that there is salt in many processed foods, one of which is breakfast cereal. Having cereal for breakfast is a good idea, because it can deliver whole grains and minerals – but the addition of salt (and sugar) makes it less healthy. In the UK, many sectors of the food industry have been working towards reducing the salt content of their products. Read more

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03/11/2010 - Articles

Dangers of a sedentary lifestyle highlighted

The sedentary lifestyle is marked by prolonged periods of sitting, whether it’s lolling around in front of the television or being glued to a computer screen at work. A new study reveals that the sedentary lifestyle carries health risks that go beyond the mere fact that when you are sitting you are not taking exercise. The muscular inactivity that goes with the sedentary lifestyle is linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and an overall higher mortality, say researchers at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. It is possible to quantify the risk – for each additional hour a woman sits in front of the television, her risk of metabolic syndrome goes up by 26% and this is independent of whether or not she takes exercise at other times. The researchers say we should take sedentary lifestyle to mean muscular inactivity rather than lack of exercise – a subtle difference, perhaps, but an important one. Read more

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03/10/2010 - Articles

New malnutrition supplement and tool launched

Malnutrition occurs when someone does not get the right amounts of the nutrients they need. Lack of food, eating the wrong food, and problems with food absorption can all lead to malnutrition. Older people are particularly prone to malnutrition which can lead to falls and slow recovery from infection. Too often, malnutrition is a factor in an older person losing their independence. Read more

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03/09/2010 - Articles

Radiotherapy update

Radiotherapy is the mainstay of treatment for many cancers, because high energy x-rays or gamma rays can deliver an intense punch of energy into a tumor, killing off its cells. But many patients fear radiotherapy, because when the rays hit healthy tissue they can cause severe and long-lasting side effects. However, there are many new tools and technologies in radiotherapy which deliver an increasingly precise dose to a tumor, while sparing healthy surrounding tissue.  And, increasingly, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are used together in a well-planned treatment strategy that relies on the drugs making cancer cells even more sensitive to radiation. Read more

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03/08/2010 - Articles

What is metabolic syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome refers to a cluster of risk factors like hypertension (high blood pressure), larger waist circumference, high cholesterol and impaired fasting glucose which may identify individuals at greater risk of diabetes and heart disease. Although the metabolic syndrome concept itself has been around for more than 80 years, there has been controversy and debate over what it actually is and what it means in practice. There have been too many different definitions of metabolic syndrome, so people are now confused as to whether they have it or not. Moreover, there seems to be no evidence that metabolic syndrome is a better predictor of heart attack or stroke than the sum of the risk factors. You could even argue that there is really no such thing as metabolic syndrome – it is just a list of risk factors! Read more

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03/05/2010 - Articles

Black tea compounds may improve attention span

Black tea, green tea and white tea are all associated with various health benefits. A new study now reveals that two compounds in black tea can approve both visual and hearing attention span in humans. The two black tea compounds were L-theanine and caffeine. Read more

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03/03/2010 - Articles

Calcium and vitamin D prevent fractures

Vitamin D plays a role in preventing the risk of fractures according to scientific evidence. However, some studies have shown it has no effect, so we need to know more about which dose of vitamin D to use, who can benefit most, and whether it is more effective when used with calcium. The DIPART (vitamin D Individual Patient Analysis of Randomized Trials) study aims to settle this question by looking at studies of vitamin D alone and vitamin D plus calcium. They found seven such trials to analyze, covering over 68,000 older people. Read more

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03/01/2010 - Articles

How to prevent lymphoedema after breast cancer surgery

Lymphoedema is the most common chronic complication after breast cancer surgery or radiotherapy. It is a painful swelling of the arm caused by damage to the lymphatic system during treatment. Around 70% of women experience lymphoedema after breast cancer surgery and it is a significant cause of cosmetic disfigurement, anxiety and depression. Read more

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02/26/2010 - Articles

Blood pressure-lowering drugs may help prevent Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer’s disease is a major public health threat, as the population ages. Therefore, as well as diagnosis and treatment, we need new information on how to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. We know that mid-life heart disease risk factors, like high blood pressure and diabetes, can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Therefore, can drugs that normalise blood pressure and treat diabetes also reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in later life? Read more

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02/24/2010 - Articles

Experiments shed new light on Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer’s disease affects around half of the 700,000 people with dementia in the UK and this figure is set to increase sharply in years to come, with similar trends expected in other countries because of the aging of the population. Therefore, there’s a keen interest in new and more effective ways of diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s disease. Research from a team in New York now suggests that loss of the sense of smell might be an early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, opening up the possibility of a new way of diagnosing the condition. Experiments in mice suggest that deficits in the sense of smell are linked with a build up of amyloid protein, which is the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. Read more

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