Some 600 primary schools across Thailand have vowed to ban sugary drinks from the playground and classroom in an effort to curb soaring child obesity rates in the kingdom, AFP reports.
This campaign is a response to the growing cases of obesity and tooth cavities among children in Thailand. In a recent survey, it was found out that Thai children were consuming an average 20 teaspoons of sugar a day, when they should be limiting their intake to six a day.
Chantana Ungchusak, a dentist in charge of the campaign, said the project aimed to educate children from kindergarten up to primary school about limiting their sugar consumption.
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Associated Press - Nearly all American women are in danger of heart disease or stroke and should be more aggressive about lowering their risk - including asking their doctors about daily aspirin use, the American Heart Association said Monday in new guidelines.
It is the first time guidelines have urged all women to consider aspirin for preventing strokes, although specialists warn that it can cause ulcers and dangerous bleeding. They said it is probably not a good idea for young women with no big health problems.
“We do not want women to go to the drugstore and just start taking this themselves. It is critical that every woman talk to her doctor,” said Dr. Lori Mosca, director of preventive cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and chair of the expert panel that wrote the guidelines.
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Now, we all have a valid excuse to sneak on the fridge for a bar of chocolate. In a recent study, scientists found out a specially formulated type of cocoa that may boost brain function and delay decline as people age.
Flavanols are said to be responsible for this new found benefit. Flavanols, an antioxidant found in cocoa beans, can increase blood flow to the brain.
In tests given to young women who were asked to do a complex task while their brains were being studied with magnetic resonance imaging. It was shown that those who have taken flavanol-rich cocoa drink has improved brain blood flow.
A study on Cuna Indian tribe in Panama, who drink cocoa exclusively, revealed similar health benefits. Those who live on native islands do not have high blood pressure. Further, when tribe members move to cities, their blood pressure rises. A major difference is the consumption of their own prepared cocoa, which is high in flavanols. In native areas, that is all they drink; in cities they adopt the local diet. In addition, there were no reported cases of dementia among the native Cuna.
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Consumers are now turning to online buying of medicines due to its convenience. But not most of them are aware of the health risks it brings.
According to FDA, some websites that sell medicine:
- aren’t U.S. state-licensed pharmacies or aren’t pharmacies at all
- may give a diagnosis that is not correct and sell medicine that is not right for you or your condition
- won’t protect your personal information
Some medicines sold online:
- are fake (counterfeit or “copycat†medicines)
- are too strong or too weak
- have dangerous ingredients
- have expired (are out-of-date)
- aren’t FDA-approved (haven’t been checked for safety and effectiveness)
- aren’t made using safe standards
- aren’t safe to use with other medicine or products you use
- aren’t labeled, stored, or shipped correctly
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In a recent press release of Food and Drug Administration, they warned the consumers of buying medicines through the internet. A few number of consumers who placed orders for specific drug products over the Internet, instead received a product that contains haloperidol, which is a powerful anti-psychotic drug.
Several consumers who have brought the drug containing haloperidol had to seek emergency care after taking the pills. The pills are known to cause difficulty in breathing, muscle spasms and muscle stiffness after ingesting the suspect product. Haloperidol can cause muscle stiffness and spasms, agitation, and sedation.
The origin of these tablets is unknown but the packages were postmarked in Greece. FDA said those who have received medications from an Internet seller should compare them to photos of the faulty orders, which can be seen on the FDA’s Web site. If the tablets received from an Internet seller resemble those in the photos and haloperidol was not specifically ordered, do not take these tablets.
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No day is so bad it can’t be fixed with a nap. ~Carrie Snow
Getting enough sleep or a nap is indisputably one of the healthy habits. Now researches are trying to prove this fact.
A study found out that taking a nap after lunch may be good for your heart. Office nappers now have the perfect excuse.
Those occasionally napping had a 12% lower coronary mortality, whereas those systematically napping had a 37% lower coronary mortality. Among men, the inverse association was stronger when the analysis was restricted to those who were currently working at enrollment, whereas among women, a similar analysis was not possible because of the small number of deaths.
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Yahoo Health News - A Japanese spa is offering the perfect aphrodisiac for Valentine’s Day — chocolate baths.
Those who just can’t get enough of the sweet stuff can immerse themselves in water mixed with cacao and fragrant bath powders. Twice a day, staff pour creamy chocolate over the bathers, who smear it over the bodies or lick it off.
“This bath is my Valentines Day gift for him this year,” said Mayumi Uekusa, who travelled more than two hours with her boyfriend to the Yunessun spa in Hakone, north of Tokyo, to soak in a mixture of warm water, cacao and aromatic bath powders.
“Life ain’t as sweet as this bath, darling,” quipped her boyfriend Yuichi Omata. Japanese women have long been the ones to give their guys gifts on Valentine’s Day.
While couples shared romance in the bath, families with grandmothers and babies in tow also spread chocolate over their faces and bodies. Everybody wore a bathing suit.
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Yahoo Health News - A chemical in male sweat can boost mood, brain activity and sexual arousal in heterosexual women, according to a new study released just in time for Valentine’s Day.
The study offers the first direct evidence that humans secrete a scent that can affect the physiology of the opposite sex, said researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. Their findings were published this week in The Journal of Neuroscience.
“This is the first time anyone has demonstrated that a change in women’s hormonal levels is induced by sniffing an identified compound of male sweat,” said study leader Claire Wyart, a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley. “There is much more going on than we think when we are smelling body odor.”
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Numerous researches have been done to prove that a healthy diet leads to a healthy life. A healthy diet can lower your risk for the most serious diseases. Healthy eating can prevent possibly 80% of cases of heart disease and diaÂbetes and help ward off hypertenÂsion, osteoporosis, and some forms of cancer.
So switch to healthy eating and start the healthy life now:
- instead of butter, solid margarine, or lard, try olive oil, canola oil, or margarine without trans fats
- instead of cream-based sauces, try tomato-based sauces.
- instead of corn flakes, special K, or other refined-grain cereal, try cheerios, wheaties, or other whole-grain cereal
- instead of white pasta, try whole-wheat pasta
- instead of smoked, cured, salted, or canned meat or fish, try fresh or frozen meat or fish, without added salt More →
A recent study shows that women who switch from the breast cancer pill tamoxifen to a newer class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors live longer, Italian researchers reported on Monday. This study adds to a growing body of evidence that the new drugs are far safer, preventing cancer with fewer side effects than tamoxifen.
However, aromatase inhibitors are only for women who are post-menopausal. Tamoxifen is still the best choice for younger patients.
Tamoxifen transformed breast cancer therapy when it was shown to reduce the risk of cancer coming back by close to 50 percent. It was also an easy-to-take pill. But the drug raised the risk of death from strokes and endometrial cancer. Then a newer class of drugs, the aromatase inhibitors, was developed. Reuters
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Diabetes mellitus type 2 is one of the most common diseases especially affecting middle-aged people and the elderly. Most patients die because of its complications. Diabetes mellitus is a multi-systemic disorders which may affect your kidneys, heart, and other organs of your body. Thus, the need to determine the risk of developing the diseases is of utmost importance. The etiology is linked to genetics with the influence of numerous environmental factors.
With the expanded research on its genetics, scientists have finally mapped out the most important genes that put people at risk of type 2 diabetes, offering hope that a test could be delivered.
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