The Telangana Science Journal, April 2006, Issue 100

Contents

Diet and Exercise	Miscellaneous	Recipes
Eat Less and Live Long Breastfeeding Cuts Obesity High Milk Intake linked to Heavier Birth Weight Camel Milk Change In Food Habits Food Supplements Weight Loss Ginger Cholesterol linked to Prostate Cancer Yoga for Security Personnel Yoga for Christians Soy Milk May Prevent Breast Cancer Calcium helps Stroke Patients Introducing Solid Foods to the Child	New Opportunities due to Obesity Optimum Spacing between Pregnancies Melanoma TV is Harmful to Kids Sleep Well Chakras, the Ancient Energy Dynamics Ayurveda, ancient Indian medicine Plague in USA Man's Vulnerability is in His Fingers Longevity	FRUITY BREAD PUDDING BLACK BEAN BURGER SOUFFLE ORANGE SEMOLINA

Diet and Exercise

Eat Less and Live Long
According to a study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, following a strict low-calorie diet can decrease DNA damage linked with aging. Some people who took part in the six-month diet study ate as little as 890 calories a day. Their insulin levels fell and metabolisms slowed, changes that are thought to increase longevity. US Government dietary guidelines for weight maintenance recommend about 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day, depending on age, gender and activity level, with the higher amount generally for very active men. The non-liquid diets used in the study were high in fruits and vegetables with less than 30 percent fat. Average weight loss was about 18 pounds, slightly more in the liquid-diet group.

More American children are getting fat, with more than one-third now overweight. More of their dads are getting heavy, too. But the percentage of women who are overweight seems to have peaked. Overall, larger proportions of the U.S. public are overweight than ever before. But women, who as a group are more obese, seem to be holding steady, according to the CDC report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The survey is considered the gold standard for obesity data.

According to a study that showed only 15 percent of people in that category view themselves as obese. Such a lack of self-awareness can be deadly. Among those consequences are heightened risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis. The CDC's latest survey reported 71 percent of men are overweight and 31 percent are obese. For women, it's 62 percent overweight and 33 percent obese.

More than four in 10 heart attacks go undiagnosed at the time they occur, a new European study finds. And these so-called "silent heart attacks" more often go unnoticed in women: More than half of the attacks in women went unrecognized, compared with one-third in men, the researchers said. Although the study was conducted in the Netherlands, the researchers believe the results could be extrapolated to any developed country. A number of factors may explain why heart attacks go unnoticed: atypical symptoms; different symptoms in women than in men; different symptoms in the elderly and people with diabetes, to name a few. The findings appear in the Feb. 14 issue of the European Heart Journal.

Many studies have shown that poorer, less-educated people have more medical problems, such as heart disease. We have known for a long time that a person's socioeconomic status is associated with health. There was a direct relationship between level of education and the amount of coronary artery calcium found in the nearly 3,000 participants, who were followed for 15 years, in a new study. The finding appears in the April 19 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Breastfeeding Cuts Obesity
Breastfeeding longer than three months can cut a child's risk of later becoming overweight or obese by more than 40 percent, if the child was born to an overweight mother diagnosed with diabetes during her pregnancy, according to a study published in the May issue of Diabetes Care. The study also found, however, that women who were obese (and whose children were therefore at greater risk for obesity) were less motivated to breastfeed than non-obese women. Obese women were twice as likely to forego breastfeeding their children as women of healthier weights, the researchers noted.

High Milk Intake linked to Heavier Birth Weight
Women who have higher milk and vitamin D intakes during pregnancy give birth to heavier babies, says Canadian research. Increased intakes of the vitamin have been linked to a wide range of benefits including reduced incidence of certain cancers, and lower risk of osteoporosis. A recent study from the University of Southampton reported that higher intake of vitamin D during late-stage pregnancy was linked to stronger bones in children. The new study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (Vol. 174, pp. 1273-1277), reports that women with low milk consumption during pregnancy had lighter babies, an association linked to the vitamin D content of the milk.

Camel Milk
The United Nations is calling for the milk, which is rich in vitamins B and C and has 10 times more iron than cow's milk, to be sold to the West. Camels' milk, which is slightly saltier than traditional milk, is drunk widely across the Arab world and is well suited to cheese production. As well as its high mineral and vitamin content, research has suggested that antibodies in camels' milk can help fight diseases like cancer, HIV/Aids Alzheimer's and hepatitis C. And work is on-going to see whether it can have a role in reducing the effects of diabetes and heart disease.

Change In Food Habits
In many developing countries, growing prosperity has led to vast changes in diet and lifestyle. Easy access to cheap, fatty and/or high sugar foods along with migration from rural farming areas into cities has altered the way many people live. Each year cardiovascular disease kills 13 million people in developing countries, almost triple the number who die from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, heart failure and stroke, is the world's biggest killer, and it often strikes people in their prime working years of 35 to 64, experts said during a four-day health conference. In China, deaths from cardiovascular disease have skyrocketed alongside the country's rapid economic development, making it the No. 1 killer, fueled by change in life style and smoking, resulting in high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. The total disease burden of cardiovascular disease in China is higher than in the United States and most other Western countries. Cardiovascular disease has been the leading cause of deaths in China since the 1990s, experts said during a four-day health conference in China in April 2006.

Starting with Indians acquiring American accents and studying their customs to work in call centers, apparently they are now turning into Americans themselves! "These call center and customer support workers have trained so hard to act American on the telephone that they have essentially become Americans," lamented the Indian Prime Minister. "It is as if we suddenly had a huge influx of American immigrants. The cultural ramifications have been overwhelming." They are rude, they are suing everyone in sight, they are watching the Fox network via satellite TV," Vajpayee complained. "Their health has also declined and they no longer fit into most chairs. Please, please stop doing this to us.” But do Indians have the right to complain? No way, say the Americans. "They wanted these jobs; they got them. America's a package deal, baby. Take it or leave it." (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/616323.cms)

The risk of obesity in India is highest in the 20% of the population that consumes 80% of visible dietary fat. School surveys in Indian cities show that 30% of adolescents from India's higher economic groups are overweight. Although India's cereal production has soared, the cultivation of pulses, fruits, and vegetables has stagnated. Indian nutritionists say the consumption of fruits and vegetables in India is abysmally low less than 150 g a day, against the recommended 400 g.

As obesity rises, India is beginning to feel the burden of associated chronic diseases. Among these are heart disease, hypertension and adult-onset diabetes. The World Health Organization estimates the latter will triple there from 19.4 million cases in 1995 to 57.2 million in 2025. In 1993, the World Development Report showed an increase in consumption of fat, saturated fat, sugar, salt and the clarified butter product known as ghee in India. Surveys by the National Nutritional Monitoring Bureau revealed that 5 percent of the Indian population were consuming 40 percent of the available fat. A study in October 2001 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, offered a surprise and cause for concern, scientists say. A significant, growing percentage of Indian women are now overweight or obese, their research shows. Conducted by investigators at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s schools of public health and medicine and Carolina Population Center, the study concentrated on 4,032 women in both urban and rural parts of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, which has a population of nearly 80 million. Recent data from the Indian National Family Health Survey of 1998-1999 show the major nutrition problem facing women continues to be under-nutrition, but 12 percent of the women could be classified as overweight, and 2 percent were obese. In the large cities of Andhra Pradesh, where 4 percent of the sample live, researchers found 37 percent of women were overweight or obese. Subjects’ economic status was a better predictor of both overweight and underweight than where the women lived, although urban living was an important factor too. Those who were more affluent tended to weigh more than others. Religion was a significant factor, they found, with Muslim women more likely to be overweight or obese than women from Hindu religions. Those who watched more television than others also tended to weigh more. At the same time, more than half of the world’s undernourished population lives in India, and more than half of Indian children are undernourished. More than 50 percent of women are anemic.

Food Supplements
A study has shown that a combined supplement containing omega-3, vitamin E and niacin offer antioxidant could offer protection against heart disease. The individual compounds have all been reported to protect against cardiovascular disease (CVD), a disease that causes almost 50 per cent of deaths in Europe, and is reported to cost the EU economy an estimated €169bn ($202bn) per year, in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases (Vol. 16, pp. 121-127).

Weight Loss
Losing weight basically boils down to burning more calories than you take in. But it hasn't been clear whether the intensity of a regular workout makes a difference in body composition - that is, the proportions of fat and lean tissue. A brisk walk through the park might be better than a fast run when it comes to shedding pounds, a small study suggests in the International Journal of Sports Medicine. In another study that was released online before publication in the American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, while increased food intake has the potential of increasing body weight, the results suggest that it does not appear to be the primary cause of weight gain during the adult years. Middle-aged Americans typically witness a jump in weight, because of loss of activity. Staying active may be more of a factor in fending off weight gain for adults, the study suggests.

Ginger
University of Michigan researchers announced at the American Association of Cancer Research that tests show ginger kills cancer cells. The study also found that the spice had the added benefit of stopping the cells from becoming resistant to treatment. Test showed gingerol - which gives ginger its flavour - could slow the growth of human tumours in mice. Plants from the ginger family have been used for thousands of years, and have been reported to have anti-cancer properties.

Cholesterol linked to Prostate Cancer
Italian researchers have found what they call the first direct association between high cholesterol levels and prostate cancer. In a nine-year study of almost 3,000 men, the researchers discovered that those with prostate cancer, particularly older men, were twice as likely to have high cholesterol as those without. The findings were published in April in the online edition of the Annals of Oncology. According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in American men after skin cancer. An estimated 234,460 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2006 and about 27,350 men will die of the disease. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, following lung cancer.

Yoga for Security Personnel
Yoga is a system which is thousands of years old, conceived in India, but now practiced worldwide. There is really no reason not to take up yoga, if you are at all attracted to the idea. Choose a beginner's yoga class at first, and go slowly - it can be harder than you think. Yoga is about putting yourself into a variety of different positions, some more challenging than others. The goal is to do it slowly, and work up a sweat - the idea is to take those few positions and to do them perfectly - as precisely as you possibly can. That way, your body is being trained in a precise skill and discipline, and the position itself can have various benefits for your health and your mind, as well.

All the different positions have their own benefits. For losing weight, positions that bring the chin down to stimulate the thyroid gland are very helpful - such as the classic shoulder stand. However, yoga in general is helpful for weight loss because it makes you more conscious of your body, of how you hold yourself and how you stand, while it also tones your muscles and makes your body more flexible, easier to move. Even before you start losing weight, yoga can make you look as if you're thinner and more attractive by getting you to stand up straighter. (See for more: http://yoga.tips-and-gear.com/a/yoga.tips-and-gear.com/128664/Yoga+And+Losing+Weight.html)

Engaged as it is in an extremely high-pressure job for long hours, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF ) unit at Mahipalpur in the Capital New Delhi has decided to go in for the ancient way of life to become more alert and stress-free. When the yoga guru Swami Ramdev had paid a visit to a CISF unit, sure enough it was house full with over 450 personnel attending the camp. With Swami Ramdev being an ambassador for the yoga way of life, even the CISF personnel not present at the camp sounded enthusiastic about it.

A leading industry chamber, Assocham, has hosted Swami Ramdev to address major players from the world of biotechnology and nanotechnology on the importance of ayurveda in the modern world, sources told the Times of India. The spiritual guru was invited to address a session on Nano-Bio Ayurveda and talk about the benefits of yoga and ayurveda in improving quality of life. (http://www.assocham.org/nanobio/?PHPSESSID=546a296b8cb35251a21f6cb5d3f3359b)

Swami Ramdev says, "Sadly, Yoga and Ayurveda have never been given their due in modern Indian society by those in power. I want to reverse the Government's current spending of 97 per cent on allopathic cure and only 3 per cent on what is wrongly called alternative medicine. In fact, it is allopathy which should be the supplementary medicine. Once this is done, Ayurveda shall rise to its true and deserving stature across the world, as a primary medicine while allopathy will be a secondary treatment useful only in times of emergency and surgery. I want to see a society where every Indian can proclaim, 'Good health is my birthright!'"

Christian Yoga
Hindus strive for wisdom, knowledge and inner concentration, which clearly overlap with Christian goals, Bordenkircher says. "My feeling was it's worked for them, why shouldn't we be able to do that?" she says. So Bordenkircher combined poses with Christian references. During the warrior pose, she talks about breathing in the Holy Spirit. She relates the child's pose to being at peace with God. And the balance poses are about finding spiritual balance. "If it feels good for your body and soul, you should do it." Bordenkircher is the author of "Yoga for Christians : A Christ-Centered Approach to Physical and Spiritual Health through Yoga."

Dr. Seshagiri Rao KL, editor of the "Encyclopedia of Hinduism," says some Christians think doing yoga will turn them into Hindus or fear yoga will cause them to question their religious beliefs. Rao says yoga means "joining" or "yoking" – whether it is the body to the mind, the individual to the universe or the soul to God. Aspects of yoga, like breathing control, also help people control impulses like rage, revenge and lust. Such control enables them to become better people. "The more Christians practice yoga, the better for all concerned," Rao says. Yoga can be beneficial to everyone, no matter what religion they are, he says. But Dr. Russell Bush, academic vice president at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, says "People tend to shift in their own thinking depending on who they're around. That's why we say Christians should go to church and be around other Christians."

Soy Milk May Prevent Breast Cancer
Asian women have lower breast cancer rates (39 per 100,000) than Western women (133 per 100,000) and, when Asian women migrate to the United States, their breast cancer rates tend to go up. This suggests that an environmental factor, perhaps related to diet, is at play. Soy products (consumed more in Asia) as they contain high quantities of isoflavones: molecules that affect pathways that could change breast cancer risk. Indeed, more and more women are taking high-dose soy or isoflavone supplements because of their perceived benefits, which include lowering LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Consuming soy may be associated with a small reduction in breast cancer risk, but the reduction is not big enough or clear enough to suggest that women should be taking soy supplements, according to a study, which appeared in the April 5 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

A range of foods such as soybeans, fruits and green tea contain powerful antioxidants that help reduce a woman's risk for breast and ovarian cancer, new studies find. Researchers presenting data in April at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting in Washington, D.C., also found that vitamin D lowers risks for these cancer.

Calcium helps Stroke Patients
According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, calcium-rich foods include dairy products, green vegetables such as broccoli or kale, legumes and some nuts and seeds. High dietary calcium intake appears to lessen the severity of a stroke should one occur, and improve the likelihood of good post-stroke recovery, according to a new study presented at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in San Diego in April.

Introducing Solid Foods to the Child
Starting an infant on solid foods is something all parents look forward to. And why not? It's a milestone: a sign that Baby isn't a newborn anymore and assurance that he'll grow bigger and stronger. Follow the guidelines to give your baby a head start at learning good eating habits, staying healthy, and getting bigger in the right way: http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC275/35320/35325/462776.html?d=dmtHMSContent

Miscellaneous
New Opportunities due to Obesity
Unless exceptionally tall, a 3-year-old weighing more than 40 pounds would generally be considered overweight. Many young children are too heavy for standard car-safety seats, and manufacturers are starting to make heftier models to accommodate them, according to research on the obesity epidemic's widening impact. More than a quarter of a million U.S. children ages 1 to 6 are heavier than the weight limits for standard car seats, and most are 3-year-olds who weigh more than 40 pounds, the study found. Based on national growth charts and the 2000 Census, at least 283,305 children ages 1 to 6 are too heavy for standard safety seats. That includes nearly 190,000, or almost 5 percent, of U.S. 3-year-olds, the researchers said. Using inadequate car seats for heavy children could put them at increased risk for injury in a car accident. Their study appears in the April edition of Pediatrics.

Optimum Spacing between Pregnancies
A Colombian study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association analyzed results of 67 previous studies representing at a total of more than 11 million pregnancies. The researchers found that 18 months appeared to be the optimal minimal interval between pregnancies, and 59 months was the upper limit. Women who waited less time between pregnancies were at higher risk for preterm birth and for delivering babies with low birth weight and small size for gestational age. For each month that the pregnancy was shortened from 18 months, these risks increased -- by 1.9%, 3.3% and 1.5%, respectively. Waiting too long between pregnancies also carried risks -- for each month that the interval between pregnancies was lengthened beyond 59 months, the risks of preterm birth grew by 0.6%, the risk of low birth weight by 0.9% and the risk of small size 0.8%.

Melanoma
Melanoma is a particularly virulent form of skin cancer. It begins in cells known as melanocytes, the pigment-producing cells that give skin its color, but can spread quickly and unpredictably to other organs of the body. An estimated 62,000 Americans are diagnosed with melanoma each year, according to the American Cancer Society, and nearly 8,000 people die from the disease annually. Recurrent melanoma is more common than previously thought, with nearly 15 percent of people diagnosed with the potentially fatal skin cancer at risk of a second diagnosis within two years, according to a study in the April issue of Archives of Dermatology. Roughly two-thirds of those who developed additional malignancies and 37 percent of those who did not had at least one atypical mole, which is a risk factor for additional melanomas. Someone with three or more atypical moles had four times the risk of developing an additional tumor. Atypical moles have at least three of the following features, the researchers said: a diameter larger than 5 millimeters; redness; an irregular or ill-defined border; a variety of colors or a portion that is flat.

TV is Harmful to Kids
Watching too much violent TV and playing too many violent video games takes a toll on children's social and physical development, researchers report. Another study found that violent video games appear to instill poor attitudes in children when it comes to their own health, while promoting risky behaviors. A third report found that mature-rated video games often include explicit sexual imagery and language content not included on warning labels. One report says that children exposed to violent media had a significant long-term increase in aggressive behaviors, aggressive thoughts, angry feelings and arousal levels. Another study found that children who watch more TV eat more and gain more weight than children who watch less. Another report revealed that, among teens whose parents expressed disapproval of teen sex, those who watch more than two hours of television a day may begin having sex at a younger age than those who don't. These studies appear in April's special themed issue of the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Sleep Well
Most adults need between 8 to 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night in order to function at their best. A typical sleep pattern usually involves 4 to 7 complete sleep cycles during the night, with each sleep cycle lasting 60 to 90 minutes. Getting enough uninterrupted sleep is important since waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle usually leaves you feeling tired or groggy or both. Here are some tips to help make sure you get your full “40 winks” and wake up feeling mentally and physically refreshed. http://www.healthypages.net/newsitem.asp?newsid=5503

Chakras, the Ancient Energy Dynamics
The chakras are an important part of our energy anatomy. Ideally we would like to feel that all of the chakras in our body are fully functioning. This is not the case. The un-empowering beliefs & excess electromagnetic energy within our energy anatomy, which we hold onto, create blocks. EMF Balancing Technique® is a new energy dynamic that uses chakras: http://www.healthypages.net/newsitem.asp?newsid=5502

Ayurveda, ancient Indian medicine
Ancient India’s Ayurvedic medicine is considered to be the oldest system of natural medicine. More than three thousand years old, it predates Chinese, Egyptian and Greek medicine. Today, many people have returned to Ayurvedic methods that include herbs, oils, aromas, foods, massage and meditation to achieve a more balanced healthy lifestyle. The following article discusses the main principles of Ayurvedic medicine and how they may be able to help you.
http://www.healthypages.net/newsitem.asp?newsid=5500

Plague in USA
A case of bubonic plague has been reported in the second largest US city of Los Angeles for the first time in 22 years, health officials said. An unidentified woman came down in April with symptoms of the disease, known as the Black Death when it devastatingly swept across Europe in the 14th century. Health officials said they believed the infected woman, who remains hospitalized, was exposed to fleas in the area around her house and stressed that the likelihood of a spread of the rare disease was very unlikely. Health officials investigating the source of the disease set traps to catch rodents and other wild animals in the area near where the woman lives.

Man's Vulnerability is in His Fingers
Man's testosterone levels can be also tested by comparing the length of the man's index finger compared to his ring finger. If the ring finger is longer, it indicates a high testosterone level. Researchers found that men in a study who had the highest levels performed worst in the test, and suggest that is because they are particularly sensitive to sexual images. Men about to play a financial game were shown images of sexy women or lingerie. The men's performance in the tests showed those who had been exposed to the "sexual cues" were more likely to accept an unfair offer than those who were not. Catching sight of a pretty woman really is enough to throw a man's decision-making skills into disarray, the study suggests. The more testosterone he has, the stronger the effect, according to work by Belgian researchers. Men, while genetically wired for looking for opportunities to pass on their genes, may be tricked into losing financially or messing up the given task. Women are not going fall for such tricks. The researchers are conducting similar tests with women. But so far, they have failed to find a visual stimulus, which will affect their behavior.

Longevity
The odds of living to 100 and beyond double when a person is born to a woman under 25 years of age, compared to those people born to older mothers, according to one of the most rigorous studies on the subject yet conducted. The study, which was funded by the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the Society of Actuaries, was presented recently at the Population Association of America annual meeting, in Los Angeles. The finding may also help clear up a statistical mystery, three years ago the same husband-and-wife team of researchers found that being the first-born child in a family also boosted longevity, although no one knew why.

Health and Nutrition

Issue 100