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New Study Finds Nagging by a Spouse Can Shorten Their Partner’s Lifespan!

14 Aug

Sometimes reality sounds more unbelievable than fiction, and this is one of those times. According to a new study, nagging by a spouse can actually kill you. That’s right, researchers have finally given anti-naggers some good amunnition to end the badgering. According to CBS News, “Danish researchers from the University of Copenhagen said having a nagging partner can significantly shorten one’s life, and could result in three extra deaths per 100 people per year.” The study also said people nagged by their spouses are more likely to develop heart disease and cancer and men are at greater risk than women, if only slightly. Researchers always like to say, “more research needs to be done” but it appears that nagging someone, even if your intentions are good, may be doing more harm than good.

Study Finds Natural Spice Might Relieve Pain as Well as Ibuprofen!

29 Jul

Do you suffer from arthritis in one or both knees? If you do and would like to know how to get some relief, then this information will be very important to you.
Here is Why…
Researchers have found curcumin, a component of the spice tumeric, may work as well as or better than anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis.
Tumeric comes from the root of the Curcuma longa plant and is best know as one of the ingredients used to make curry and also as the ingredient that gives store-bought mustard its bright yellow color.
For centuries, tumeric has been used by both Chinese and Indian medicine as an anti-inflammatory treatment, and lately it’s been hailed as a “super food” with many possible health benefits. Some people even claim tumeric can be used to treat medical conditions like Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and even several types of cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society’s website, “Turmeric is a common food flavoring and coloring in Asian cooking. Animal and laboratory studies have found that curcumin, an antioxidant that is an active ingredient in turmeric, demonstrated some anti-cancer effects in the lab. But human research is needed to determine curcumin’s role in cancer prevention and treatment in people. Several types of cancer cells are inhibited by curcumin in the laboratory, and curcumin slows the growth and spread of some cancers in some animal studies. Clinical trials are underway to find out if it can help humans as well.
“Curcumin is being studied to find out whether it helps other diseases such as arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and stomach ulcers. It is also being studied to see whether it can help lower “bad cholesterol” and improve outcome in kidney transplants. A few early studies have been done in humans, but much more human research is still needed to find out if curcumin can be effective in these uses.”
Good News for
Knee Arthritis Sufferers!
A study published in the March 2014 edition of Clinical Interventions in Aging compared Curcuma domestica (C. domestica) extracts to ibuprofen to treat knee osteoarthritis. Over 350 knee osteoarthritis patients with high pain scores were given either 1,200 mg/day of ibuprofen or 1,500 mg/day of C. domestica extract.
The study concluded: “C. domestica extracts are as effective as ibuprofen for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. The side effect profile was similar but with fewer gastrointestinal AE reports in the C. domestica extracts group.”
Two things are very important here…
First, according to this study, C. domestica extract relieves knee osteoarthritis pain. Even more importantly, the study concluded that the adverse effects were similar to ibuprofen except for fewer gastrointestinal problems.
But, adverse events were only noted if they occurred during the study and drugs like ibuprofen can have even worse side effects. In fact, ABC News reported the results of a large Danish study that found, “People taking ibuprofen — sold under the brand names Advil, Motrin, Nuprin — had [a] 29 percent increased risk of stroke.”
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen is in this group) have carried a warning for increased risk of cardiovascular problems since 2005. C. domestica extract use has not been found to increase an individual’s risk for heart attack or stroke. Some researchers and doctors speculate that freshly juiced tumeric may outperform tumeric extract but of course, more research needs to be done.
New Study Finds Nagging by a Spouse
Can Shorten Their Partner’s Lifespan!
Sometimes reality sounds more unbelievable than fiction, and this is one of those times. According to a new study, nagging by a spouse can actually kill you. That’s right, researchers have finally given anti-naggers some good amunnition to end the badgering. According to CBS News, “Danish researchers from the University of Copenhagen said having a nagging partner can significantly shorten one’s life, and could result in three extra deaths per 100 people per year.” The study also said people nagged by their spouses are more likely to develop heart disease and cancer and men are at greater risk than women, if only slightly. Researchers always like to say, “more research needs to be done” but it appears that nagging someone, even if your intentions are good, may be doing more harm than good.
How the “Black Death” Can
Make You Healthier
It might seem strange to think that something like the “Black Death” (also called bubonic plague) can make you healthier, especially since it was one of the most devastating epidemics in human history.
In fact, the bubonic plague is estimated to have killed nearly one hundred million people between 1347 and 1351. For a better understanding of the devastation, the plague wiped out approximately 30% of all Europeans and almost 50% of Londoners in just four years.
But, a new study sheds a different light on the Black Death, and it is not all bad.
The study published in the journal PLOS ONE suggests that, “people who survived the medieval mass killing plague known as the Black Death lived significantly longer and were healthier than people who lived before the epidemic struck in 1347.”
The article indicates that, “the disease targeted elderly adults and individuals who had been previously exposed to physiological stressors.”
A key point here is that the disease did not just target “older” people. In fact…
The 14th-century Black Death was not an indiscriminate killer, but instead targeted frail people of all ages.
Survivors of the plague experienced improvements in health and longevity with many people living to ages of 70 or 80 years, as compared with pre-Black Death populations.
Improvements in survival post-Black Death didn’t necessarily equate to good health over a lifespan, but revealed a hardiness to endure disease, including repeated bouts of plague.
The Black Death, either directly or indirectly, shaped mortality patterns for generations after the epidemic ended.
This is All Very Interesting Information… but…
Why is Any of This Important to YOU Now?
Good question. This study, like just about all studies, is not “the answer.” It shows interesting correlations and raises even more interesting questions.
One such question is, since the Black Death only seemed to kill people with weakened immune systems (the frail), wouldn’t it be wise to do everything possible to strengthen your immune system to its full genetic potential by eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep, managing stress, and keeping your nervous system functioning optimally as possible?

Do Lazy People Eat Junk Food or Does Eating Junk Food Make People Lazy? Study offers surprising answer…

30 Jun

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? People have debated this question for millennia and there is still not a clear answer. However, there is another debate that is probably much more important to you. Knowing the answer to this other debate may give you more energy, improve your health, and make you feel much better.
What is this debate? Here it is…
Does Junk Food Make People Lazy
or Do Lazy People Eat Junk Food?
There is a belief that people who eat junk food and become overweight do so because they are lazy. But, a new study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found the opposite to be true.
According to Science Daily, “Life scientists led by UCLA’s Dr. Aaron Blaisdell placed 32 female rats on one of two diets for six months. The first, a standard rat’s diet consisted of relatively unprocessed foods like ground corn and fish meal. The ingredients in the second were highly processed, of lower quality, and included substantially more sugar – a proxy for a junk food diet.
“After just three months, the researchers observed a significant difference in the amount of weight the rats had gained, with the 16 on the junk food diet having become noticeably fatter.”
Dr. Blaisdell reports that the rats on the “junk food” diet became obese while the rats on the healthier, more natural diet did not. The researchers also noted that as they gained weight, the rats on the junk food diet demonstrated impaired physical performance and required more rest to perform basic tasks. This suggest laziness and fatigue are caused by eating poorly and gaining weight, not the other way around.
In this study, “junk food” was described as, “highly processed, of lower quality, and included substantially more sugar.”
Most Americans eat a diet high loaded with processed foods that contains a lot of sugar and most Americans are also either overweight or obese. In fact, according to studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, more than 2 in 3 adults are considered to be overweight or obese and more than 1 in 3 adults are considered obese. More than 1 in 20 adults are considered to be extremely obese. About one-third of children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are considered to be overweight or obese and more than 1 in 6 children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are considered to be obese.
One of the most common complaints many people have is being tired and fatigued. Next time you go out to eat, just eavesdrop on the conversations taking place around your table. EVERYONE IS EXHAUSTED.
So, is it your fault if you are overweight, tired, and fatigued? Perhaps not. Processed, high-sugar content foods have been heavily marketed for decades, especially to children. They are much more accessible and cheaper, and many times, food labeling can be misleading or even deceptive. If you do not have a degree in biochemistry, you can easily be fooled. To make things even worse, serious evidence is accumulating that sugar is very addictive.
According to a WebMD article on sugar, “Sugar fuels every cell in the brain. When you overload on sugary foods, it may alter the parts of the brain that control how much you eat. In lab studies, rats that binged on sugar had brain changes like those of getting off drugs. In humans, just seeing pictures of milkshakes triggered brain effects like those seen in drug addicts. It was strongest in women whose answers showed they were more hooked on eating.”
Clearly, quitting a diet of processed and sugar-filled food is not an easy task for many people, which is why so many people try and fail. Many end up quitting for a certain time and falling back into their old ways. This is referred to as the “yo-yo effect” and can lead to serious weight gain.
Understanding this issue is the first step to making a lifetime change, a change where you finally lose weight and keep it off. Just as important, your energy levels will rise so you will not constantly feel tired and fatigued. Oh, and another thing, you may not get sick as much…
The researchers at UCLA found that the rats on the junk food diet grew a large amount of tumors throughout their bodies by the end of the study. Those on the more nutritious diet had fewer and smaller tumors that were not as widespread.
If this research is correct, processed foods high in sugar are the cause of weight gain, fatigue, and may contribute to serious health problems.
On top of all that, they are most likely very addictive.
What About Exercise?
There is no doubt exercise is good for you. There is plenty of research in that regard. But, there is one thing you must understand: You cannot exercise away a bad diet.
This is probably the most common misunderstanding and mistake when it comes to losing weight and increasing energy.
Eating processed foods full of sugar will create weight gain and fatigue no matter how much you exercise. In fact, eating poorly will make exercise extremely difficult because of the fatigue it causes.
If you want to lose weight and have more energy, it is highly recommended you cut processed foods that are loaded with sugar from your diet.
One more thing: New research shows that the average lifetime medical costs for an obese child are $19,000 higher than those of a child of normal weight who maintains normal weight through adulthood. These are direct costs and are probably higher when factoring in indirect costs. Cutting processed foods that are high in sugar from your child’s diet could have a huge impact on their life and healthcare costs.

NEW STUDY: E-Cigarettes May Lead to Conventional Smoking and Nicotine Addiction in Teenagers Often touted as a way to quit smoking… the opposite may also be true…

2 Jun

If you do not want your children to start smoking, the information you are about to read will be extremely important to you. A new study from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) found that e-cigarettes may actually increase the chance that teenagers start smoking conventional cigarettes, possibly leading to nicotine addiction.
This study completely contradicts the claims (and marketing promotion) that e-cigarettes are a good way to quit.
The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, found that adolescents who used e-cigarette devices were more likely to smoke cigarettes and less likely to quit smoking. The study of nearly 40,000 youth around the country also found that e-cigarette use among middle and high school students doubled between 2011 and 2012, from 3.1 percent to 6.5 percent.
Dr. Lauren Dutra of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education states, “E-cigarettes are likely to be gateway devices for nicotine addiction among youth, opening up a whole new market for tobacco.”
The study found that not only were e-cigarettes associated with a greater probability of progressing from just trying cigarettes to becoming a regular smoker, teens who smoked both e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes smoked more conventional cigarettes per day than non-e-cigarette users.
A previous study of 75,000 South Korean adolescents published a year ago found similar results.
This comes on a surge in popularity of e-cigarettes, most likely due to heavy marketing that makes them look cool. This is reminiscent of old tobacco cigarette ads from decades ago that used celebrities, spokespeople, and even doctors to market their addictive and deadly product.
“It looks to me like the wild west marketing of e-cigarettes is not only encouraging youth to smoke them, but also it is promoting regular cigarette smoking among youth,” says senior author Dr. Stanton A. Glantz, UCSF Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.
What Are E-Cigarettes?
E-cigarettes, or electronic cigarettes or ENDS (electronic nicotine delivery systems), are devices whose function is to vaporize and deliver a chemical mixture typically composed of nicotine, propylene glycol, and other chemicals (although some products claim to contain no nicotine) to the user’s lungs. A number of ENDS are offered in flavors that can be particularly attractive to adolescents. Electronic cigarettes are the most common type of ENDS.
The manufacturers report that the cartridges typically contain between 6 and 24 mg of nicotine, but they can sometimes contain more than 100 mg.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO): “The dose of delivered nicotine is also unknown. It is suspected that the delivered dose varies notably by product, which contains nicotine in various quantities and concentrations.
“Until such time when ENDS are deemed safe and effective and of acceptable quality by a competent national regulatory body, consumers should be strongly advised not to use any of these products, including electronic cigarettes.”
Here’s Something Important if You
Want to Help Someone Quit Smoking!
A study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion found that smokers who viewed ads featuring reasons to quit were substantially more likely to quit smoking after the four-week study period. However, ads with messages about how to quit smoking had no effect on an individual’s smoking behavior.
According to an author of the study, “Why-to-quit smoking messages are more powerful because those ads typically show graphic portrayals of the health consequences of smoking or feature personal testimonies to evoke emotion. Whereas, how-to-quit messages are designed to increase an individual’s belief that he or she can quit.”
Advertising Works
After four weeks, smokers who viewed ads with messages featuring reasons to quit smoking were 6 to 10 times more likely to have quit smoking compared with smokers who viewed no ads. Smokers who watched the how-to-quit smoking ads did not change their habits at all.
The success of the “why” ads is believed to be because those commercials were much more emotional in nature. They showed visible and graphic evidence of the devastating effects smoking can have on a person.
Who Else Wants to Look
20 Years Older than They Are?
Some expert marketers have said for a long time the way to get people to stop smoking is to show the cosmetic changes that result from the activity. For example, show beautiful people’s faces becoming ugly from smoking.
They say it’s because most people are much more prone to act for cosmetic reasons than they are for health reasons. Sadly, these top marketers are probably correct.
There is plenty of proof that smoking tobacco prematurely ages a smoker’s face. It causes deep lines and wrinkles that can make a person look DECADES older than they really are. The difference in aging and loss of youth and beauty is drastic.
Ironically, most smokers start smoking to “be cool” and fit in. However, smoking actually steals a person’s good looks like a thief in the night.
It seems quite obvious that good advertising cannot only influence people to start smoking… it can influence them to stop. Boring lectures about the health consequences will not change behavior, especially in teenagers. Good, emotional marketing will.
But, it’s an uphill battle. People will do almost anything to be “cool” and some marketers will do anything to sell a product.
Let’s hope the e-cigarette craze does not hook a new generation on conventional cigarettes.

Amazing Technology Lets Doctors See Cancer Cells With High-Tech Glasses!

20 May

In just a moment, you will read about a fascinating pair of glasses that allows surgeons to actually see cancer cells while they’re in the operating room. It’s pretty awesome and has the potential to dramatically improve the outcome of many cancer surgeries.
But first, here is something fascinating…
It has been reported that Ramjeet Raghav is the world’s oldest new father. Mr. Raghav lives in India, he’s 96 years old, and he just welcomed his second son into the world!
Mr. Raghav fathered his first son back in 2010 and was recognized as the world’s oldest new father at that time too.
Just imagine not only being alive but having enough energy to be that active at age 96!
What is his secret? No one knows for sure, perhaps not even Mr. Raghav, but it’s probably a mixture of great genes and lifestyle. Mr. Raghav is a former wrestler and lives on a diet of milk, butter, and almonds. Perhaps the almonds he eats are magical. 
On a more serious note, almonds and other “tree nuts” appear to be very healthy foods. Many people think nuts are fattening and not healthy because of their fat content, but this is not true. There is “good fat” and there is “bad fat.” Tree nuts include almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, filberts/hazelnuts, Macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios and walnuts, and are high in “good” healthy fats.
In fact, a large-scale 30-year-long study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people who regularly ate a small handful of nuts at least seven times per week were 20 percent less likely to die for any reason during the length of the study compared with those who largely avoided nuts in their diet.
Here is a quote from the study as reported in the Washington Post: “Even those who ate nuts less than once a week had a 7 percent reduction in risk. Consuming nuts at least five times a week corresponded to a 29 percent drop in mortality risk for heart disease, a 24 percent decline for respiratory disease, and an 11 percent drop for cancer.”
One thing should be noted: People in this study who ate more nuts also ate more fruits and vegetables and were leaner.
This is important for a couple of reasons. First, it takes more than just doing ONE THING, like eating nuts, to be healthy. There is no silver bullet. Good health (and the vibrant energy and awesome feelings that come with it) is the end-result of doing a lot of little things correctly for years and years.
Secondly, it is no shock that the people who ate more nuts also ate other healthy foods. These were probably not just “nut lovers.” They were likely people who were into eating healthy and nuts were one part of what they considered to be a healthy diet.
While we are on the subject of eating correctly for optimal health, yet another study has shown the negative effects of eating too much “bad” sugar. “Bad” sugar is sugar used to sweeten processed foods.
According to Bloomberg News: “High sugar consumption may double the chance of dying from heart disease, according to a study that adds to evidence that high levels of the sweetener in processed foods and drink is bad for a person’s health.
“People whose sugar intake is about a quarter or more of their total daily calories had twice the risk of dying from heart disease than those whose intake was 7 percent, according to the research today in JAMA Internal Medicine. For those whose intake of added sugar was about 19 percent, their risk of dying from heart disease was about 38 percent higher.”
About 37 percent of added sugar in American diets comes from sugar-sweetened beverages, while the rest comes from grain-based desserts, fruit drinks, dairy desserts, and candy. Sugar from fruits and vegetables is not considered added sugar.
Here is something worth writing down: Processed food is generally not good for you. Heart disease is a leading cause of death worldwide and is believed to cause an estimated 600,000 deaths per year in the United States alone. Making an effort for you and your family to stay away from processed foods may literally save your life and the lives of your family members.
A Common Food that Can Zap You
of Energy and Make You Gain Weight…
One food that many people mistakenly think is healthy is the bagel. Many bagels are processed white bread and they often contain about 40-50 grams of refined carbohydrates that can spike blood sugar levels, setting off a chain of events that result in the release of hormones like tryptophan into your brain to make you feel tired. Not only that, if you don’t burn off those extra calories, your body may convert them into fat!
Does Yogurt Lower Your Risk of Diabetes?
It looks like it just might. New research published in the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes shows that higher consumption of yogurt, compared with no consumption, can reduce the risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes by 28%. Scientists found that higher consumption of low-fat fermented dairy products, which include all yogurt varieties and some low-fat cheeses, also reduced the relative risk of diabetes by 24% overall.
Okay, now for some amazing medical technology that just might…
Blow You Away!
Cancer cells appear to glow blue when viewed through new high-tech glasses designed by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine. This may help surgeons visualize cancer cells while performing surgery to remove them. The first surgery performed while wearing these glasses was conducted on February 10, 2014 at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.
This is important because cancer cells are very difficult to see, even under the greatest magnification. These glasses have the potential to almost ensure that no cancer cells are left behind during surgery.
Surgeon, Julie Margenthaler, MD, is very optimistic, “Imagine what it would mean if these glasses eliminated the need for follow-up surgery and the associated pain, inconvenience, and anxiety.”

New Study: Is Exercise the Best Medicine? New research shows exercise can be just as effective as many frequently prescribed drugs for treating some major causes of death, including heart disease and diabetes!

14 May

It’s pretty sad, but in today’s society, it is common to boast and brag. It is also common to make things seem much better or worse than they really are.
We see marketers do it every day through the advertising they bombard us with. Who hasn’t bought something after watching a TV commercial only to find out it wasn’t half as good as claimed?
Well, what you’re about to read is different and without any hype, it could change both your health and your future.
With rising insurance costs in the United States and other countries, this information may also save you a lot of money and time.
Here’s what this is all about: Healthcare professionals want to give their patients the best possible treatments but how does a doctor know which treatment is best?
Scientific research is used to determine which treatments work, which treatments do not work, and which treatments do more harm than good.
Countless medications have been scientifically tested over the years, and new drugs are often compared with older pharmaceuticals to prove their efficacy. However, very few studies actually directly compare drugs with exercise to treat common health conditions and diseases.
Until Now…
Huseyin Naci, a graduate student at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Dr. John Ioannidis, the Director of the Stanford Prevention Research Center at the Stanford University School of Medicine, studied the effectiveness of both drugs and exercise in lessening mortality among people who had been diagnosed with either heart disease, chronic heart failure, stroke, or diabetes.
The two researchers gathered all of the recent randomized controlled trials, reviews, and meta-analyses of older experiments relating to mortality among patients with those illnesses, and whether the study participants had been treated with drugs or exercise.
In total, they studied information from 305 studies, which included a total of 340,000 participants. Most of these past studies focused on pharmaceuticals. Only 14,716 of the subjects were prescribed exercise to treat their disease.
The results of their study were published in the October 2013 issue of the British Medical Journal. Their conclusion: “No statistically detectable differences were evident between exercise and drug interventions in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and pre-diabetes. Physical activity interventions were more effective than drug treatment among patients with stroke. Diuretics were more effective than exercise in heart failure…
“Although limited in quantity, existing randomized trial evidence on exercise interventions suggests that exercise and many drug interventions are often potentially similar in terms of their mortality benefits in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, rehabilitation after stroke, treatment of heart failure, and prevention of diabetes.”
WOW!
According to this study, both drugs and exercise are more or less just as effective as treatments for those common and life-threatening diseases.
But here is what the study did NOT mention… Exercise is cheaper and does not come with dangerous side-effects!
What Does This Mean for You?
Clearly, health care is changing. With the restructuring of insurance in many countries and an aging population, it must change. Expensive treatments will be cut if cheaper and just as (or more) effective therapies are found. (Or, at least they should be.)
Clearly, insurance coverage is not what it used to be. Many times, patients have to pay huge sums of money out-of-pocket, even if they are insured by private or government insurance plans. Who wants to pay all that money if it can be avoided?
But even more important is doing what’s best for YOU. If exercise can help keep you healthy so you do not end up with heart disease, diabetes, etc., then it makes sense to add it to your lifestyle. Imagine what combining exercise, eating right, stress reduction, and chiropractic care can do for your long-term health.
Science Discovers New Body Part!
You read that correctly. In fact, science has discovered a new ligament in the knee, and its discovery is a pretty fascinating story.
One hundred and thirty-four years ago, French surgeon Paul Segond couldn’t explain the painful resistance in his knee after an injury. This led him to theorize about the existence of an undiscovered ligament.
Now, Belgian doctors have actually found it. The ligament is called the anterolateral ligament (ALL) and was found in all but one of the 41 cadavers they dissected to prove its existence.
According to The Star: “The discovery was shocking: all but one of the dissected bodies had the ‘well-defined ligamentous structure’ between the femur and the anterolateral tibia, or shin that was described by the French scientist. The finding led the doctors to conclude that most humans, about 97 percent, have the little lost ligament.”
Here is something very important: “The doctors also announced patients with ACL tears were likely suffering knee collapses because of ALL injuries.”
This may explain why many people (including athletes) have the diagnosis of a torn ACL but do not have instability or collapse of the knee. There are reports of athletes playing professional sports for years with a torn ACL.
This opens the door for new treatments and ways to approach knee injuries, especially for people with a torn ACL and knee instability.
What is amazing is how long it took scientists to discover a ligament they estimate is in 97% of people.
Can you imagine what will be discovered next?