Archive for October, 2012

A recent study has found that dietary decisions may have an effect on the development of kidney stones, not just your consumption of water. The study looked at participants who were following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet, also known as DASH.

The effects of stress on the body and mind can be extremely detrimental to your health. About 75% of Americans experience significant stress at least once every two weeks, and according to Web MD, over 75% of all doctor visits are conditions and complaints related to stress. 

Researchers have found that consuming blueberries regularly can help reduce a person’s chance of developing high blood pressure. In this study, medical researchers followed volunteers for 14 years and discovered that people who ate a minimum of one serving of blueberries each week were 10% less likely to develop high blood pressure than people who did not consume blueberries weekly.

A report out of the Institute of Medicine has found that most Americans and Canadians get enough vitamin D and calcium in their diets, contrary to previous findings. The report used evidence from over 1,000 published studies to come to the conclusion that in general, people receive the appropriate daily intake of these two essential nutrients.

What causes people to develop this condition?

When people have low levels of folic acid in the body, they may develop a condition known as folic acid deficiency anemia. Folic acid, categorized as a B vitamin, is very important in the creation of new corpuscles (cells).  When people develop anemia, they have low levels of red corpuscles which are responsible for transporting oxygen to parts of the body.

A new study that was performed to find whether or not vitamin E reduces the threat of prostate cancer in men has found that too much vitamin E can actually increase a man’s chance of developing this form of cancer. The study looked at men who consumed supplements consisting of 400 IU (international units) of the vitamin each day compared to another group of men who were given a daily placebo pill.

Over recent years numerous health benefits have been attributed to drinking black coffee.  Now, a recent study has revealed that coffee can protect people from skin cancer which causes growths on sufferers’ skin that vary in degrees of malignancy.

The study looked at people who drank both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee and found that women who drink over 3 cups of caffeinated coffee each day were 21% less likely to develop a condition known as BCC (basal cell carcinoma) than women who consumed less than a cup of caffeinated coffee each month. Men who drink three or more cups of caffeinated coffee saw a risk reduction of about 10%. The researchers did not find the same correlations in people who drink decaffeinated coffee, suggesting that the protective effect to the skin is likely due to caffeine consumption.

Researchers were quick to note that drinking coffee is no replacement for sunscreen. While caffeine appears to have a protective effect on the skin, it does not compare to the protection offered by a quality sunscreen and ample shade.

With the normal perception of how people should look and the name calling that is associated with teenagers, the psychological effect of obesity is usually felt more vividly than the actual physical effects. There is hope. New study shows that just a little bit of exercise can greatly boost the self-esteem of teenagers who are overweight.