Monthly Archives: April 2012

Health

10 Overhyped Health Products

Are all of your favorite products really necessary? Experts say no—and a few could actually hurt you

By Leslie Quander Wooldridge, U.S. News & World Report
 

You see these items on store shelves and on TV, but don’t buy into the hype. These 10 over-the-counter products aren’t always worth your money—and some can cause health problems instead of treating them.

 

Redness-reducing eye drops

Even if you look like you have the world’s worst hangover, avoid using these drops on a regular basis. They can mask an underlying problem, like dry eye, allergies, or contact lens irritation, and trigger persistent redness because your eyes can get used to them, says Mark Melrose, an emergency physician and owner of Urgent Care Manhattan.

What to use instead: “The first thing you should do is find out why you have the red eyes and treat the [underlying] reason,” Melrose says. Your doctor can help pinpoint the problem. (Dry eyes can benefit from saline eye drops, for instance.)

 

Antibacterial hand soap

About 75 percent of liquid hand soaps have antibacterial ingredients, but you can wash your hands of them. Outside of healthcare settings, antibacterial-containing products have not been proven to prevent the spread of infection better than regular varieties, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The body does a pretty good job of taking care of itself,” says Melrose. Plus, not all bacteria are harmful.

What to use instead: Plain soap and water “does the trick just fine,” says Melrose. Lather up for at least 20 seconds, scrubbing between your fingers and under your nails, then rinse and dry.

 

Toothbrush sanitizers

We have hundreds of different types of germs in our mouths, and because toothbrushes aren’t sold in sterile packages, they can carry bacteria right out of the box, reports the American Dental Association (ADA). But—before you get too scared—know that toothbrush sanitizers haven’t been shown to provide a health benefit, says the ADA. That’s because a healthy body can usually defend itself against germs.

What to use instead: Rinse your toothbrush thoroughly with tap water. Store it in an upright position and let it air-dry.

 

Breath-freshening mouthwash

If you’re healthy, you don’t need mouthwash unless your dentist has recommended or prescribed it for therapeutic reasons (say, for dry mouth).

What to use instead: To fight bad breath and plaque, brush your teeth and floss twice a day, and see your dentist regularly, advises the ADA. But if you have chronic bad breath—and it’s unrelated to your lunchtime love affair with garlic—talk to your dentist, says Edmond Hewlett, a professor of dentistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an ADA spokesperson. Persistent bad breath can signal an oral health issue, he explains, like gum disease, tooth decay, or even something more serious, such as diabetes.

 

Facial toner

You may think you need toner—also called astringent—to remove makeup and reduce pore size, but you can probably do without it. “Facial toners are designed to restore the pH of the skin after cleansing,” says Patricia Farris, a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Tulane University School of Medicine. (Disrupting the skin’s pH upsets its natural balance and causes irritation and dryness.) “But if you use a gentle cleanser that doesn’t affect skin pH then you don’t need a toner.”

What to use instead: Just a gentle cleanser or fragrance-free bar soap with no antibacterial additives, says Farris. One caveat: If you have exceptionally oily skin, it may be fine to use an alcohol-free toner, but most people really don’t need it, she says.

 

Expensive moisturizers

Forget paying hundreds of dollars for “miraculous” high-end creams infused with exotic ingredients. “There have been no studies to support that expensive face creams do better than a good mid-level brand,” says Rebecca Kazin, medical director at Johns Hopkins Dermatology and Cosmetic Center at Green Spring Station in Lutherville, Md. “Typically a moisturizer is a moisturizer.”

What to use instead: To fight wrinkles or improve skin texture, look for moisturizers with retinols or antioxidants—many drugstore brands are fine. Your routine should always begin with sunscreen (yes, even during winter). An ideal sunscreen protects against UVA and UVB rays and has an SPF of 30 or higher.

 

Multivitamins

They’re likely not necessary for healthy people who have no vitamin deficiencies, says Melrose. And some supplements can actually cause health problems if consumed in excess amounts, he says. For instance, too much vitamin A can cause liver damage and too much vitamin C can cause kidney stones and diarrhea, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

What to use instead: If you have no deficiencies, just eat a well-rounded diet that includes whole foods like fruits and vegetables. Exceptions: Pregnant women should take prenatal vitamins to prevent birth defects, says Melrose, and people who are nutrition-deficient can benefit from supplements recommended by a healthcare professional.

 

Douches

Douching—washing the vagina with water or other fluids—isn’t necessary and can actually be harmful. That’s because douching can upset the vagina’s normal balance, making you more susceptible to infection or irritation, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

What to use instead: Nothing—the vagina cleans itself, says ACOG. But if you notice a change in discharge or unpleasant odor, make an appointment with your health practitioner. It could be a sign of infection.

 

Scented feminine products

Like douches, scented tampons, sprays, and pads can do more harm than good, potentially leading to infection and vaginal irritation.

What to use instead: Unscented feminine products, advises ACOG. To stay fresh and maintain vaginal health, wash only outside the vagina with mild soap and plain warm water—or warm water alone.

 

Some cold-prevention remedies

Runny nose? You can probably skip the echinacea and vitamin C, says Melrose: Studies on their effectiveness have been inconclusive. And take care with zinc-based nasal sprays. They can stifle your sense of smell, perhaps permanently, according to the Mayo Clinic.

What to use instead: “It’s better to just wash your hands during cold and flu season,” says Melrose—using regular soap, of course.

Original Artical: http://health.msn.com/healthy-living/10-overhyped-health-products

Uncategorized

Why Stress Might Make You Sick

New research suggests long-term anxiety is linked to inflammation

By Randy DotingaHealthDay Reporter

A new study involving the common cold may help explain why stress, which dampens the immune system, seems to trigger inflammation in many people.

That would appear contradictory, because the immune system creates inflammation (for example, the redness around a wound) to help the body heal. But the research suggests that high and long-term levels of stress contribute to inflammation.

In turn, the inflammation can lead to conditions such as heart disease, asthma and autoimmune disorders, in which the immune system turns against the body.

The research “suggests the kind of diseases that are going to be affected by stress,” said study lead author Sheldon Cohen, professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “They’re diseases in which inflammation is a key aspect.”

Over the past five to six decades, researchers have linked stress to disease, Cohen said. “There’s not much question that stressed people are at greater risk for developing some of these diseases or having them become more severe. A little bit less clear is exactly how that happens. How does stress get under the skin to affect disease outcomes?”

One possibility is that stressed people are simply unhealthier — smoking and drinking more and sleeping less. In that area, the challenge is figuring out which came first, stress or unhealthy decisions.

The other possibility is that the body’s hormones that respond to stress play a role.

In the new study, investigators performed two experiments, involving more than 300 people, to gain more insight. The researchers asked the participants about the stresses in their lives and then exposed them to cold viruses to see if they got sick.

After adjusting the statistics for various factors, the researchers found that people whose bodies had higher levels of ongoing psychological stress — such as that caused by divorce — were less able to dampen inflammation. This seemed to have something to do with their immune cells being less sensitive to a hormone that turns off inflammation.

The people with more stress were also at higher risk of developing a cold, according to the report published online April 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Andrew Miller, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of Medicine who studies how stress affects the immune system, said the research “provides a very concrete example of how chronic stress and its effects on the immune system can affect our daily lives in a very real-world context.”

However, this is just part of a wider picture of how stress affects the body, Miller cautioned.

“In ancestral times, a stressful environment would have a high likelihood of involving some form of fighting and being wounded and thereby infected,” he said. “Inflammation is a process in the body that is essential to fighting infections and healing wounds. Therefore, the induction of inflammation by stress is a way for the body to prepare itself for battle in an environment that represents danger of attack.”

While the study uncovered an association between chronic psychological stress and inflammation, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

More information

For more about stress, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

SOURCES: Sheldon Cohen, Ph.D., professor of psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh; Andrew H. Miller, M.D., professor, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta; April 2, 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, online
Health, Nutrition

10 Overrated Health Foods

By

Like it or not, we tend to believe whatever we are exposed to in the media and in advertisements. In nutrition, this usually means that as a society we all follow the same diet fads, glorifying some foods over others in the quest for better health. (It’s okay, I love salmon and coconut water as much as you do.)

Problem is, though, more often than not the news or the health claims made by food manufacturers vastly overstate any potential health benefits, because it makes a more compelling story and sells more products. Our own confirmation biases tend to make us believe what we’re told, we confidently share our insight with our friends, and suddenly our grocery stores are filled with health foods that really aren’t all they are cracked up to be.

Here are my 10 picks for the most overrated health foods.

1. Yogurt

There is nothing innately wrong with yogurt, the natural product. But the real stuff is not nearly as easy to find as the hyper-sweetened dessert versions filling supermarket shelves. Though yogurt can contain beneficial probiotics, friendly bacteria are also present in other fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi and miso. And if you are worried about acne, dairy is probably not your best choice.

Oh, and the overratedness is doubly true of frozen yogurt.

If you’d rather keep yogurt as your breakfast staple (something I’m certainly not opposed to), go for plain yogurt that is either full or low-fat. Don’t fall for the vanilla trap, it is not plain and has even more sugar than most fruit versions. You need some fat in your yogurt so you can absorb the fat-soluble vitamin D added to most milk-based products.

2. Soy

Soy is another one of those foods that can be perfectly healthy, but can also be processed into oblivion until it’s an unhealthy product. Hydrogenated soy oil is among the most common sources of trans fat. Processed products are often touted as healthy just because they contain soy, but evidence suggests soy is not exactly the health panacea it is often made out to be. For a healthier version, stick to fermented soy products like miso, natto or tempeh.

3. Egg Whites

It baffles me that Americans continue to vilify the most nutritious part of the egg while glorifying the less impressive half. Sure, egg whites are a good source of protein on their own, but you’re probably not lacking protein and would likely benefit from the rich nutrients of the entire egg.

4. Margarine

Why we need a manmade source of processed oils when there are so many naturally healthy sources of fat is beyond me — that is, assuming you can even find margarines that do not contain hydrogenated oils/trans fats. If you really want more stanols and sterols in your diet, try eating more nuts, avocados and vegetables.

5. Bananas

Though I have a bit of a reputation for picking on bananas, I really don’t think they’re all bad and they definitely taste yummy. My biggest problem with them is that they are one of the most calorie-dense fruits you can buy, and most of us don’t need all that extra sugar from a “health” food.

6. Fake Meat

Next time you get a chance, check out the ingredients in your favorite meat substitute. It’s usually a lot of gluten, some processed soy, canola oil, corn starch, and a few bizarre ingredients like “natural vegetarian flavors” (mmm…. vegetarians). Call me crazy, but real meat sounds a lot more appealing.

7. Protein Bars

Remember back in the day when PowerBars tasted like crap? Well they would all still taste that way if manufacturers didn’t fill them with sugar or fake sugar substitutes. Look at the ingredients, the vast majority of protein bars are the same processed junk that’s in everything else, just with a few more vitamins, some added soy protein and possibly some added fiber. Adding nutrients to junk food does not a health food make.

8. Whole Grain Flour

Ah, whole grains, how controversial be thy name. Though I’m not as anti-grain as some folks, I don’t pretend that highly processed “whole wheat flour” is actually good for me. Grains that don’t look like grains are not your friends.

9. Low-Fat Salad Dressing

Yes, fat contains more calories than protein or carbohydrates, but it also enables you to absorb more vitamins from the foods you eat and makes your meals more satisfying. Fat-free dressings do not make you healthier, they make your salad less nourishing.

10. Fruit Juice

Juicing fruit concentrates the sugar while stripping out the filling fiber. When you remember that one 450-mL bottle of orange juice is equivalent to six whole oranges, you can start to see where the problem is.

Original Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darya-pino/health-food_b_1391375.html#s829698&title=Yogurt

 

Health, Nutrition

Is sugar toxic?

(CBS News) Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, believes the high amount of sugar in the American diet, much of it in processed foods, is killing us. And as Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports, new scientific research seems to support his theory that sugar is toxic, including some linking the excess ingestion of sugars to heart disease. Gupta’s report will be broadcast on 60 Minutes Sunday, April 1 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Americans are now consuming nearly 130 pounds of added sugars per person, per year. Those include both sugar and high fructose corn syrup. And while many vilify high fructose corn syrup and believe it is worse than sugar, Dr. Lustig says metabolically there is no difference. “They are basically equivalent. The problem is they’re both bad. They’re both equally toxic,” he says.

Dr. Lustig treats sick, obese children, who he believes are primarily sick because of the amount of sugar they ingest. He says this sugar not only leads to obesity, but to “Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease itself.” Something needs to be done says Dr. Lustig. “Ultimately, this is a public health crisis…you have to do big things and you have to do them across the board,” he tells Gupta. “Tobacco and alcohol are perfect examples,” he says, referring to the regulations imposed on their consumption and the warnings on their labels. “I think sugar belongs in this exact same wastebasket.”

A recent study supports the idea that excess consumption of high fructose corn syrup is linked to an increase in risk factors for heart disease by increasing a type of cholesterol that can clog arteries. The University of California, Davis, study also indicated that calories from added sugars are different than those from other foods. Subjects had 25 percent of their caloric intake replaced with sweetened drinks. Nutritional biologist Kimber Stanhope was surprised to see that after only two weeks, “We found that the subjects who consumed high fructose corn syrup had increased levels of LDL cholesterol and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease,” she tells Gupta. “I started eating and drinking a whole lot less sugar.”

What happens says Stanhope, is the liver gets overloaded with fructose and converts come of it into fat, which gets into the bloodstream to create “small dense LDL,” the kind of LDL that forms plaque in arteries. The irony here is that for precisely that reason – avoiding heart disease – a government commission in the 1970s mandated that we lower our fat consumption. “When you take the fat out of food, it tastes like cardboard,” says Dr. Lustig. “And the food industry knew that, so they replaced it with sugar…and guess what? Heart disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and death are skyrocketing,” he tells Gupta.

And other scientific work shows that sugar could also be helping some cancer tumors to grow because sugar stimulates the production of the hormone insulin. Nearly a third of common cancers such as some breast and colon cancers, contain insulin receptors that eventually signal the tumor to consume glucose. Lewis Cantley, a Harvard professor and head of the Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center, says some of those cancers have learned to adapt to an insulin-rich environment. “They have evolved the ability to hijack that flow of glucose that’s going by in the bloodstream into the tumor itself.”

What does the sugar industry have to say about this? Gupta spoke with Jim Simon, a member of the board of the Sugar Association. “To say that the American consuming public is going to omit, eliminate sweeteners out of their diet, I don’t think gets us there,” he says. Simon points out that the science is “not completely clear” and it’s wrong to single out one food because the real emphasis should be on long-term reduction of calories, balanced diet and exercise.

Original Article: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57407128/is-sugar-toxic/