MaoBah - Interesting Health Topics, Celebrity News and Informational News

A recent study claims that young adults are not drinking enough milk — at least according to press reports on the matter. But according to the study’s lead author Nicole Larson, the focus on the study was on calcium.

The words "milk" and "calcium" are often used interchangeably in the popular press. But while milk is a calcium source, no standard other than that of the National Dairy Council considers it the best calcium source.

The suggestion that you need to drink three glasses of the secretion of a cow’s mammary glands in order to be healthy is a bit outrageous and doesn’t fit the human evolutionary profile. In fact, most humans around the world cannot easily digest cow milk.

Yogurt has more calcium than milk and is easier to digest. Collards and other greens also have about as much or more calcium than milk by the cup. Greens, unlike milk, have the added benefit of vitamin K, also necessary for strong bones. Sesame is also very high in calcium.

When you measure calcium by cup of food product, milk is high on the list. When you view it by calorie, though, milk is at the bottom. A hundred calories of turnip greens have over three times as much calcium as 100 calories of whole milk.

One of the things that leads to stressful, unhealthy living is when people gobble down their meals. Because lots of us have hectic lives and have things that need to be done within the day, we tend to hustle all the time. What people don’t know, though, is that eating slower have plenty of benefits.

A growing number of studies confirm that eating slower can make us consume fewer calories - enough to lose 20 pounds a year, actually. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to register that you’re full, and if you eat fast, you can continue eating past the point where you’re actually full.

Enjoying your food can be hard if it goes down your stomach right away. Take time to chew and let your taste buds savor the moment for a while; make your meals a gastronomic pleasure instead of rushing between stressful events. If you eat slower, you’ll chew your food better and this can lead to better digestion. Digestion starts in the mouth, so the more time you take in chewing, the less you work there’ll be in your stomach.

Eating slowly and paying attention to our eating can be a great form of mindfulness exercise. Be in the moment rather than rushing through a meal thinking about other things you need to do after.
Rebelling against fast food and fast life can do more good than you thought. A hectic, fast paced and chaotic life leads to eating in fast food restaurants. We all know that this can be very unhealthy (think of what happened to the guy in Supersize Me.)

The Venezuelan government has ordered Coca-Cola to withdraw its Coke Zero beverage from the South American nation because it contained ingredients that were considered a danger to health.
The decision follows a period of increased scrutiny of businesses in South America’s top oil exporter. Health Minister Jesus Mantilla said the zero-calorie Coke Zero should be withdrawn from circulation to preserve the health of Venezuelans, especially since the beverage contains artificial sweeteners.

Venezuelan health officials said tests found Coke Zero contains sodium cyclamate, an artificial sweetener that has been banned in the United States since 1969 because of concerns it may cause cancer and male reproductive problems.

Although cyclamate is not banned in Venezuela (and is legal in more than 50 countries), the health ministry said Coke Zero did not list it as an ingredient and stated Coca-Cola is “failing to comply with sanitary norms.”

Coca-Cola, meanwhile, denied that Coke Zero sold in Venezuela contained cyclamate, and said it actually contains acesulfame-K and aspartame for artificial sweeteners.

Well, regardless of which artificial sweeteners Coke Zero contains, it, along with all other diet soft drinks, will only have a negative influence on your health.

My husband is a big fan of hot foods, especially curry. New research shows that eating curry once or twice a week can help prevent dementia and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The reason is because of a component of the spice called turmeric called curcumin.

Curcumin prevents the spread of amyloid protein plaques. Amyloid plaques together with tangles of nerve fibers contribute to the degradation of the wiring in the brain cells. There is evidence that people who eat a meal or two of curry twice to three times a week have a lower risk of dementia. Researchers are currently testing the impact of higher doses. There will be studies on the results if a person will go on a curry spree for a week, to know whether it can maximize the effect.

Playing is very important for children because it teaches them coordination, adult roles, basic problem solving skills and social interaction. Many people though, have fallen prey to the idea that it is only important for kids. Playing is important no matter what your age may be. For Dutch historian Johan Huizinga, playing is the defining characteristic of our species and humanity is notable not as Homo sapiens, which means “wise people” but Homo ludens, which means “playful people”.

Play is good for the health. A lot of play involves exercise and this in itself relieves stress and releases the feel-good chemicals in our brains. It lights up the entire right side of the brain, which creates a state of hyper-creativity that changes the way you see the world.

Play unites the mind and body, it bridges the gap between physical sensation and mental sensation. It creates social bonds as well and there is evidence that the earliest social bonds are primarily playful ones. As an infant develops a sense of its own identity and starts to recognize other people as beings with their own identities, he or she begins to learn to play and socialize at the same time.

Spending some non-serious time with yourself or with other people can make you better at all that serious stuff that’s been sucking at your soul and preventing you from having fun in the first place. If you focus more on enjoying your time, you’ll feel better, enjoy more creativity and be more relaxed. When you do this, this makes your life much better.

Excessive cola consumption, according to doctors, can lead to anything from mild weakness in the muscles or profound paralysis. This is because carbonated drinks can cause your blood potassium to drop dangerously low. An ostrich farmer in Australia needed emergency care for lung paralysis after drinking large amounts of soda.

Researchers believe that a lot of people risk problems due to their intake of the beverage. Dr. Clifford Packer says that people have every reason to think that having health problems because of drinking soda is not rare. With aggressive mass marketing and super-sizing of the soft drinks as well as the effects of caffeine tolerance and dependence, there is very little doubt that tens of millions of people in industrialized countries drink at least 2 to 3 liters of cola per day.

According to the doctor, “It follows that the serum potassium levels of these heavy cola drinkers are dropping, in some cases, to dangerously low levels." Excessive cola consumption has also been linked with tooth and bone problems, diabetes and obesity.

The birth control pill was introduced first to the American public in 1960 for contraceptive use. By 2002, 11.6 million U.S. women were using the Pill, making it the country’s leading method of contraception.

Oral contraceptives, though, can have negative effects on a woman’s health. The Pill’s relationship with the risk of blood clotting and stroke is well documented and that risk increases when a woman is a smoker, especially if she is over 35 years of age. In addition, studies in recent years have found that birth control pill use can impair muscle gains in young women, increase the risk of cervical cancer and increase the risk of breast cancer in pre-menopausal women.

The Pill may also interfere with a protein that keeps testosterone unavailable for women’s physiologic needs, which causes long-term health problems including sexual dysfunction. Since 2000, death rates have increased in women aged between 35 and 44. All other age groups have seen a decline. Research on this fact cites the significant increase in the use of the Pill as a possible contributing factor.

Salt has been consumed and craved by a lot of people worldwide but new research have uncovered one reason why they do. It often leads to a better mood.

Researchers studied rats and when they are deficient in sodium chloride, which is also known as the common table salt, they shy away from activities they normally enjoy. One of the most important features of psychological depression is when there is a loss of pleasure in normally pleasing activities.

If salt is a natural mood-elevating substance, it explains why so many people are tempted to over-ingest it even though it contributes to heart disease, high blood pressure and other health problems.