The leaves of sweet potatoes can be eaten same as other leafy vegetables as it has a good source of polyphenolic antioxidants compared to other vegetables. It can protect our body from illness like cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

It has 15 biologically active anthocyanins. Its polyphenols has physiologic functions, radical scavenging activity, antimutagenic, anticancer, and anti diabetes.

Other Sweet Potato Benefits:
- crush the leaves of the sweet potatoes to be as a medicine for boils and acne.
- the tea of the boiled sweet potato leaves can help cure Dengue.
- it can stop blood flow and cure spleen.
- can help wash out dirt.
- can help bring back the energy from people who just got ill.

Diet for Diabetics is a measured tips to balance individuals as caloric requirement. Mostly it focos on Food Exchange and regularity of eating is considered. Avoid concentrated sweet and simple carbohydrates. A diabetic diet is high on fiber and low on fats.

Some Tips:

1. Consult a licensed nutritionist-dietitian for your specific nutrients needed.

2. Ask for a measured diet plan.

3. Follow the suggested food if you cant visit your nutritionist-dietitian.

a) Eating Right Pyramid

b) Suggested meal Pattern

c) One Serving-Food Exchange List.

4. Plan/Experiment and present your diet plans to a licensed nutritionist-dietitian for approval.

5. Dont eat less or more.

6. Avoid sweets or high sugar foods like candies, softdrinks, cakes.

7. Eat right amount of food during breakfast, slowly on lunch and mild on dinner. As recommended except if your doctor changes it.

8. Add more fiber in your food especially green leafy vegetables everyday on your diet.

9. Use legumes and whole grains according to the processed meat alternatives.

10. Limit eating fruits to 3 times a day.

11. Drink 1 glass of low-fat milk a day.

12. Avoid drinking coffee, tea or alcoholic everages.

13. Drink up to 6 – 8 glasses of water a day.

14.  Apply a low salt, low fat diet and low cholesterol diet.

15. Be happy while eating.

16. Monitor and record your weight and blood sugar.

It is very important to take note of this and not to take for granted the Diet for Diabetics.

Indigenous children living in central Australia suffer the highest rate of potentially fatal severe pneumonia in the world, according to research released Sunday.

The study, which used the strict World Health Organisation (WHO) definition of the disease, found that each year there were on average 72.3 cases for every 1,000 indigenous babies under one year old, researcher Kerry-Ann O’Grady said.

“The incidence of WHO-defined radiologically confirmed pneumonia among children in the Central Australian region of Northern Territory is the highest incidence reported in published studies using the WHO protocol,” she said.

For children aged one to two there were about 54 incidents of the disease per 1,000 and for those aged two to five it was 20.1 per 1,000 — higher than Gambia, the west African country with the second-worst incidence.

“It’s a disease of poverty,” O’Grady said.

The figures were slightly lower for the rest of the Northern Territory, which includes the desert centre of Australia up to the tropical city of Darwin, but researchers had been unable to pinpoint why, she said.

O’Grady, who completed the study while working at the Darwin-based Menzies School of Health Research, said the problem was much worse in the arid areas of the Outback than the tropical northern regions.

She said the high rate of respiratory disease in the first year of life was alarming because it was known to contribute to chronic lung disease in adulthood.

“This is unacceptable in a wealthy country like Australia, and reducing this disease burden should be a national health priority,” she said.

The research, which looked at hospital admissions for indigenous children between 1997 and 2005 and has been published in the Medical Journal of Australia, should prompt further work in the area, O’Grady said.

“Research must continue and policies that change the living environment and facilitate hygiene, improve educational outcomes for parents of the future and enhance parenting skills must be a priority,” she said.

Aborigines make up about 2.5 percent of the population but are significantly more disadvantaged in terms of health and life expectancy than other Australians.

About 1.8 million children under five die every year around the world from pneumonia and O’Grady said it was the leading cause of preventable death for Australian indigenous infants after their first 28 days of life.

Source

ROME – The Vatican is pushing for research of adult stem cells as an alternative to the use of embryonic stem cells, which the Catholic Church opposes because it maintains that the destruction of the embryo amounts to the killing of human life.

On Friday, the Catholic Church threw its support and resources behind the study of intestinal adult stem cells by a group of experts led by the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The group wants to explore the potential use of those cells in the treatment of intestinal and possibly other diseases, and is seeking an initial euro2 million ($2.7 million) to get the project going, officials said.

“This research protects life,” Cardinal Renato Martino said during a meeting with Italian and American scientists and health officials to outline the project. “I want to stress that it doesn’t involve embryonic stem cells, where one helps oneself and then throws the embryo away and kills a human life.”

The church is opposed to embryonic stem cell research because it involves the destruction of embryos, but it supports the use of adult stem cells, which are found in the bodies of all humans. Human embryonic stem cells are produced from surplus embryos of in vitro fertilization procedures used to help infertile women get pregnant.

Both are prized for their ability to morph into other kinds of cells, offering the possibility of replacing tissue damaged by ailments such as Parkinson’s disease.

But adult cells are thought to be less versatile than embryonic ones, and scientists have had more trouble growing adult stem cells in the laboratory than embryonic cells.

Still, adult stem cells could be easier to use if they are taken from patients themselves, because the replacement tissue would have less chance of being rejected.

Martino, a powerful cardinal and retired head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, told The Associated Press after the meeting that he had “no doubt” that the Vatican would help finance the project through its Rome hospital, Bambin Gesu, and other funding. The exact amount and modalities will be worked out in future meetings with the University of Maryland and other scientists involved in the project.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI said the Catholic Church can encourage somatic stem cell research — also known as adult stem cell research — “because of the favorable results obtained through these alternative methods,” and more importantly because it respects “the life of the human being at every stage of his or her existence.”

During a meeting with President Barack Obama last year at the Vatican, Benedict underscored his beliefs about stem cells by giving the U.S. leader a copy of a Vatican document on bioethics that hardened the church’s opposition to using embryos for stem cell research, cloning and in-vitro fertilization.

Obama has lifted restrictions, imposed by his predecessor President George W. Bush, on federal funding of research using human embryonic stem cells.

The Vatican has drawn criticism for its opposition to embryonic stem cell research. But it insists there are scientifically viable alternatives and that the efforts of the scientific community should go in that direction.

Supporting this university project is part of those efforts.

“Ethically, the rules the Catholic Church promotes are really very simple: That all research be respectful of human life,” said Father Bob Gahl, an American professor of Moral Philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. “Nobody should be killed in the process of doing medical research. So this new project falls exactly within the Catholic Church’s ethical guidelines.”

Dr. George Daley, a stem cell expert at Children’s Hospital in Boston and past president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, said both adult and embryonic stem cells may prove useful for treating different diseases.

“I applaud the Vatican for being interested in supporting biomedical research,” Daley said Friday, “but I can’t help but think there’s an agenda.”

He called intestinal stem cells “a very exciting area of basic research” but said therapeutic uses are only speculative at this point.

Researchers involved in the Vatican-backed project are convinced that intestinal stem cells — a relatively new field _hold promise and want to assess their potential for therapeutic use.

“We want to harvest them, we want to isolate them, we want to make them grow outside our body,” and transform them into cells of any kind, said Alessio Fasano, the scientist leading the project and the director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Celiac Research.

“If we reach that phase, if we are able to achieve that goal, then our next step is to eventually move to clinical application,” Fasano told the AP before Friday’s announcement.

Intestinal stem cells have certain features that make them appealing for this kind of research, Fasano said.

They are very active cells — the intestine replenishes all its cells every few days — and they are intrinsically flexible — already programmed to generate all the various kinds of cells such as mucus cells or epithelial cells present in the highly complex organ. Furthermore, harvesting them can be done through a routine medical procedure, Fasano noted.

Fasano said his team hopes to decide about the feasibility of the project within the next two to three years. He said the network of experts, expected to be around 40 people, would work at their respective facilities, sharing information and the workload to speed up the process.

yahoo news

Chickenpox is a form of sickness that mostly target children aging 12 years and below.  It is an itchy rash of red watery dots that comes out in almost every part of the body joined by some symptoms of fever. The symptoms will eventually vanish in its own even without treatment but as it transfers to another person would be alarming. A person having chickenpox should stay at home until he is totally cleared with it. During warm season chickenpox occurs.

To protect our children with chickenpox, it is recommended to inject chickenpox (varicella) vaccine from 12 to 15 months of age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of America also recommends booster shot from 4 to 6 years old to strenghten its protection.

Chickenpox sypmtoms

Chickenpox results to the red , itchy rash of the skin that initially appears of the chest, back, face and spreads up to most part of the body. The rash will start as a red dot that will begin to grow like pimple  or insect bite and eventually become watery then to a dark spot. The blister will result to wounds and begins to dry until turns into swollen black.

Some children suffering from chickenpox will have some fever, abdominal pain, headache, soar throat that could last to number of days.

How it Transfers

Chickenpox will be passed to others starting from 2 days before the rashes will come out until it rashes gets hard. If a child does have a chickenpox, must avoid going to school until the wounds get dry that maybe will last for a week. To make sure that the child will be allowed to go back to school again you may have to visit a doctor.

Treatment

Virus is the cause of chickenpox and not Germs, so doctors don’t usually prescribe anti biotic. They only prescribe it when the wounds gets infected by bacteria and Germs.

Pregnant smoking woman who do not quit by 15 weeks, are three times more likely to give birth prematurely and twice as likely to have small babies compared to women who have stopped smoking, say the researchers. The lead author, Dr. lesley McCowan at the University of Auckland, says that maternity care providers need to emphasize to women the major benefits of giving up smoking before 15 weeks in pregnancy with goal of becoming smoke free as early in pregnancy as possible.

While it is well established that smoking in pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, ectopic pregnacy, premature birth, small babies, stillbirth and neonatal death, say the authors, no study has yet determined whether stopping smoking in early pregnancy reduces the risks of small babies and premature births.

The authors surveyed over 2,500 pregnant women participating in the SCOPE study in Australia and New Zealand at 15 weeks gestation. The participants were divided into three groups: non smoker, stopped smoker and current smoker. the stopped smoker group all gave up before 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The results show that there were no differences between the rates of premature birth between stopped smokers and non-smokers, whereas current smokers had much higher risk. Similar results were revealed for expected baby size.

Another important finding was that women who stopped smoking were not more stressed than women who continued to smoke.

The smoking status of the participants also revealed social and health inequalities. Smokers were more likely to be single mothers, less well educated, unemployed, overweight or underweight. They were more likely to be drinking alcohol and less likely to be taking folic acid at 15 weeks of pregnancy.

In conclusion, the authors say that their “results are of considerable public health importance. The data suggest that the advertise effects of smoking on these late pregnancy outcomes may be largely reversible if smoking is ceased early in pregnancy, offering an important incentive for pregnant women who smoke to become smoke-free early in pregnancy.”

Most pregnancies result in a healthy, happy baby being born; however, two in 1000 pregnancies are ectopic according to the source.
An ectopic pregnancy is when a fertilized egg implants somewhere other than the uterus. In most cases, the egg implants in a fallopian tube. Very rarely it implants in the ovary, abdomen or cervix. Ectopic pregnancies never result in a succesful pregnancy. The egg cannot grow and if not treated properly, a woman’s life could be in peril because of internal bleeding.

There are warning sign that states that an ectopic pregnancy is progressing:

• light vaginal bleeding
• lower abdominal pain
• pelvic pain and cramping on one side

If an ectopic pregnancy has grown to rupture a fallopian tube, the Mayo Clinic says the symptoms can include:

• a stabbing and sharp pain in the pelvis, abdomen, shoulders and or neck dizziness
• light headaches

If a woman has any of these signs, she should seek care immediately. Diagnosis will be done through a pelvic exam, blood tests and ultrasounds.

Risk Factors

There are some factors that can increase the risk of an ectopic pregnancy. They include: a previous ectopic pregnancy

taking fertility medication while conceiving
inflammation or infection of reproductive organ
some sexually transmitted diseases
endometrioisis
unusually shaped or damaged fallopian tube
on birth control while conceiving
after a tubal litigation

Treatment

Once a doctor diagnoses an ectopic pregnancy, there are few options that states on how to end the pregnancy.

In cases where the pregnancy is detected early, an injection of methotrexate will be used to stop cell growth and dissolve existing cells. This is the latest invasive option and has the fastest recovery time.

If a woman cant use methotrexate or does not respond to methotrexate, laparoscopic surgery may be next in line. This surgery involves making an incision in the abdomen and removing the tissue. The fallopian tube may be damaged and if serve, it may have to be removed.

If a fallopian tube is ruptured or heavy bleeding is occurring, laparotomy surgery may be needed. in most cases, the damages fallopian tube is removed and methotrexate may also be needed after surgery.

No matter what procedure is done to remove the tissue and cells, blood tests will be continued to evaluate the human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) level. a woman will be able to try to conceive again once her HCG level is zero in most cases.

after an ectopic pregnancy, a woman can go on to have healthy, successful pregnancies even if both fallopian tubes were removed. If both fallopian tubes were removed, a woman can go on to have a pregnancy through in-vitro fertilization. Doctors will continue to keep a close eye on the next pregnancy starting with an internal ultrasound at six weeks to make sure the fetus is developing correctly.

LONDON – About 40 percent of cancers could be prevented if people stopped smoking and overeating, limited their alcohol, exercised regularly and got vaccines targeting cancer-causing infections, experts say.

To mark World Cancer day on Thursday, officials at the International Union Against Cancer released a report focused on steps that governments and the public can take to avoid the disease.

According to the World Health Organization, cancer is responsible for one out of every eight deaths worldwide — more than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. WHO warned that without major changes, global cancer deaths will jump from about 7.6 million this year to 17 million by 2030.

In the report from the International Union Against Cancer, experts said about 21 percent of all cancers are due to infections like the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes cervical cancer, and hepatitis infections that cause stomach and liver cancer.

While the vaccines to prevent these cancers are widely available in western countries, they are almost nonexistent in the developing world. Nearly 80 percent of the world’s cervical cancer deaths are in poor countries, according to the agency.

“Policymakers around the world have the opportunity and obligation to use these vaccines to save people’s lives and educate their communities towards lifestyle choices and control measures that reduce their risk of cancer,” Cary Adams, chief executive of the International Union Against Cancer, said in a statement.

In Western nations, experts said many of the top cancers — like those in the lungs, breasts and colon — might be avoided if people changed their lifestyle habits. To reduce their risk, the agency recommended that people stop smoking, limit their alcohol consumption, avoid too much sun, and maintain a healthy weight through diet and exercise.

Source: Yahoo

Most of us like to drink alcohol for different reasons.Here are some Alcohol effects we can get, some could be positive and some could have negative effects on our body:

1. Hydration – Alcohol helps our body system hydrates through the production of antidiuretic hormone(ADH). Dehydration results to electrolyte imbalances.

2. Chest – Too much alcoholic drink in a day keeps the risk of breast cancer higher according to 2009 study by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Experts believe that alcohol keeps the risk higher for breast cancer through the rise of estrogen levels, a known risk factor for breast cancer.

3. Stomach – Alcohol will result to the release of gastric acid from the body cells that irritates our stomach.

4. Pancreas – Too much alcohol is the most common cause of pancreatitis that is a high risk for pancreatic cancer.

5. Liver – Too much alcohol will cause our liver to the merging of liver and fats(fatty liver) that results to hepatitis. Also it results to cirrhosis, a condition where liver cells will damage and it cannot regenerate and cause of liver failure.

6. Brain – Consumption of alcohol will result to loss of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. As we get older it will slowly kills our brain cells that results to gaps that slows the nerve transmission inside our brain and our whole body.

7. Heart – Moderate drinking tends to protect the heart by boosting good HDL cholesterol and slows the case for “thinning the blood”. Moderate drinking keeps our estrogen high and protects our heart.

8. Blood pressure – Drinking with an empty stomach may connect to high blood pressure, a risk factor for heart attack and stroke.

9. Bones – Moderate alcohol consumption will strengthen our bones and lessen the risk for bone fractures. Wines and beers have some benefits as it compose of some compounds that will help in bone density. But too much alcohol intake will keep the risk high for osteoporosis and bone fractures through the high flow of bone deterioration.

1. Oranges – A German study in Psychopharmacology discovered that vitamin C are a stress reducing foods and retains blood pressure and cortisol to a normal level after a stressful situation. Also vitamin C is known to boost your immune system.

2. Sweet Potatoes – Sweet Potatoes are also a stress reducing foods because they can meet up with the urge you get from carbohydrates and some sweet foods in a stressful situation. It packs up also with beta-carotene and other vitamins and fibers.

3. Dried Apricots – Dried apricots are also a stress reducing foods as it is full of magnesium which is a stress-buster and a natural muscle relaxant.

4. Almonds, Pistachios & Walnuts – Almonds are full of vitamin B and E that help boost your immune system, walnuts and pistachios help lower blood pressure.

5. Turkey – The meat of the turkey have an amino acid called L-tryptophan. These amino acid will trigger the release serotonin which is a feel good chemical. It is one of the best stress reducing foods as a person who is in a stressful situation can feel a relaxing mood.

6. Spinach – Lack of magnesium results to migraine headaches and fatigue. 1 cup of spinach will give you 40 percent of of your daily needs for magnesium.

7. Salmon – Diets that are high with Omega 3 fatty acids help protect a person from heart diseases. A study from Diabetes & Metabolism founds out that omega 3 controls the rising of stress hormones and and cortisol.

8. Avocados – Monounsaturated fats and potassium from avocados lowers blodd pressure. According to National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute it is very helpful to to consume potassium as it lowers blood pressure. Avocados have more than a banana.

9. Green Vegetables – Broccoli, kale, and other dark green vegetables are powerhouse with vitamins that help sustain the body in a stressful situation.