Headache Relief With Regular Chiropractic Care

Nobody likes headaches. They can strike with little warning and cause debilitating pain -- especially cervicogenic headaches (HA), which are defined as pain that originates in the cervical spine, or neck area, and refers up to the head.

Researchers investigated the effect of chiropractic treatment on HA in 20 randomized patients, specifically focusing on the relationship between the number of chiropractic treatments and pain relief. Participants were assigned to one of three treatment groups for comparison: Group one received a total of three office visits, one visit per week, for chiropractic manipulation; group two received a total of nine office visits, three visits per week, for chiropractic manipulation; and group three received 12 total visits, four visits per week.

Researchers discovered a correlation between the number of chiropractic visits and positive outcome in headache patients. "For HA pain, substantial differences were found between participants receiving 1 treatment per week and those receiving either 3 or 4 treatments per week," the researchers wrote. The researchers indicated that a larger clinical trial testing the relationship of HA and chiropractic treatment is warranted, and concluded that there are benefits to "9 to 12 [chiropractic] visits over 3 weeks for the treatment of HA/neck pain and disability. A larger number of visits than 12 in 3 weeks may be required for maximum relief and durability of outcomes."

If you suffer from headaches, your doctor of chiropractic can help. Make an appointment for a chiropractic evaluation today.

Reference: Haas M, Groupp E, Aickin M, et al. Dose response for chiropractic care of chronic cervicogenic headache and associated neck pain: a randomized pilot study. JMPT 2004;27(9):547-553.

Using an Electric Toothbrush May Improve Oral Hygiene

You brush three times a day, floss after every meal, and see your dentist twice yearly, but if you aren't using an electric toothbrush, you might be cheating yourself. A recent review of several studies shows that some electric toothbrushes might help reduce plaque by 11 percent and gingivitis by 17 percent over manual toothbrushes.
The review included 42 studies and 3,855 participants, which compared manual, electric and battery-powered toothbrushes with various types of bristle arrangements and motions. The review of the literature concluded that regular brushing with powered toothbrushes containing circular bristle heads that rotate in alternating directions were better at removing plaque and reducing the risk of gum disease than brushing with manual toothbrushes alone.
Although electric toothbrushes may help reduce incidences of plaque and gingivitis, the researchers emphasize the importance of regular brushing "whether the brush is manual or powered" and further indicate that "the results of this review do not indicate that toothbrushing is only worthwhile with a powered toothbrush."

Reference: Robinson P et al. Manual versus powered toothbrushing for oral health. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2005, Issue 2.

Yogurt Consumption Helps Reduce Weight, Body Fat

Recent studies have shown that calcium intake plays a role in weight loss, especially when the source of calcium comes from dairy products. To further assess this, researchers studied 38 otherwise healthy obese adults to determine if yogurt would induce calorie restriction, thereby accelerating weight and fat loss.
Study subjects were randomized into two outpatient regimented dietary groups for a period of 12 weeks. The yogurt-diet group's food intake consisted of 500 fewer calories per day than assessed at baseline; three 6-ounce servings of fat-free yogurt; and a calcium intake of 1,100 mg per day. The control group's diet consisted of 500 fewer calories per day than assessed at baseline; 0-1 servings of dairy products per day; 400-500 mg of calcium per day; and three servings of a sugar- and calcium-free, prepackaged flavored gelatin, as placebo. In both groups, calcium came from food sources. Body weight, body fat, fat distribution, blood pressure and circulating lipids were measured at baseline and at the conclusion of the 12-week study.
The researchers found that "all participants lost body weight and body fat due to the daily energy deficit of 500 kcal/day. However, both weight and fat loss were significantly increased by the yogurt diet compared to the control diet." The researchers note that lean tissue loss was reduced by 31 percent on the yogurt diet, while trunk fat loss was augmented by 81 percent on the yogurt diet vs. the control diet, resulting in "a markedly greater reduction in waist circumference," and the amount of fat lost from the trunk was higher in those on the yogurt diet.

Reference: Zemel MB, Richards J, Milstead A, et al. Dairy augmentation of total and central fat loss in obese subjects. International Journal of Obesity 2005;29:391-397.

Childhood Weight May Predice Weight in Adulthood

It's no secret that obesity in America has reached epidemic proportions. Now, new research shows that children between the ages of 8-15 who are in the upper half of their normal weight range are more likely to become overweight or obese young adults than their leaner counterparts.
Researchers recorded the height, weight and blood pressure of 314 Massachusetts children, ages 8-15 years old at baseline, between 1978 and 1981. These values were measured in the same participants eight to 12 years later at follow-up. Participants averaged a mean body mass index (BMI) of 20 kg/m2 at the first childhood visit, with a "prevalence of at risk for overweight or overweight at the first childhood visit [at] 34 percent for girls and 32 percent for boys."
At follow-up, 48.3 percent of the boys and 23.5 percent of the girls were overweight or obese. High blood pressure was more prominent among the boys (12.3 percent) than girls (1.9 percent), as well. According to the authors, "children with a BMI between the national 85th and 95th percentiles for age and gender were classified as at risk for overweight, and those with a BMI > 95th percentile were classified as overweight." The authors considered BMI between the 50th and 84th percentile to be at the high end of a normal weight range.
The researchers concluded, "Although very lean children are unlikely to become overweight adults, we observed that children in the upper end of the healthy weight range (e.g., 50th to 84th percentiles) are at an elevated risk of becoming overweight or obese. Furthermore, boys in the upper end of the healthy weight range are at an increased risk of becoming hypertensive. These findings suggest that future interventions to prevent adult obesity and its complications should include not only overweight children but also children and adolescents as low as the 50th percentile of BMI for age and gender."

Reference: Field AE, Cook NR, Gillman MW. Weight status in childhood as a predictor of becoming overweight or hypertensive in early adulthood. Obesity Research Jan 2005;13(1):163-69.

Caffeine Increases Risk for Chronic Daily Headache

Before your reach for your next "cup-o'-jo," consider the consequences of excessive caffeine consumption. Caffeine has been shown to cause withdrawal headache, which may contribute to the development of chronic daily headache (CDH), or headache occurring at least 15 days per month.
To confirm such a hypothesis, researchers recruited population-cases and control subjects from three U.S. metropolitan areas as part of a study designed to address caffeine’s potential involvement in CDH. Control subjects reported two to 104 headache days annually (average: 30 days), while population-cases reported 180 or more headache days per year (average: 260 days). Current and past caffeine consumption was assessed by way of self-report.
Results: High caffeine exposure, defined as being in the upper quartile of dietary consumption or using a caffeine-containing over-the-counter medication as a headache treatment, was associated with onset of CDH. Approximately one-fourth of case subjects reported taking pain medication of any type daily for headache in the previous three months.
According to the authors, “High medicinal or dietary caffeine consumption at the time of CDH onset (e.g., pre-CDH consumption) was a modest risk factor for CDH onset. Secondary analyses revealed that pre-CDH caffeine consumption might be an initiating factor in a subset of CDH sufferers, with the high-risk groups being women and those younger than age 40."
Still need a "pick-me-up" in the morning, but want to wean off caffeine? Try drinking green tea instead, which contains substantially less caffeine than coffee and has been shown to have a host of health benefits, including antioxidant and anti-cancer properties.

Reference: Scher AI, Stewart WF, Lipton RB. Caffeine as a risk factor for chronic daily headache. A population-based study. Neurology, Dec. 14, 2004;63(11):2022-27.

To Fall or Not to Fall: That is the Question

Did you know that in-home injuries kill approximately 30,000 people in the United States each year and that one-third of home-injury fatalities are related to falls? Senior citizens are often most vulnerable to falls because balance and mobility decline as we age, but most of the time falls can be prevented.
The March issue of the Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource newsletter highlights several precautions that can be taken in the home to avoid potentially fatal falls. These include keeping all areas of the home well lit, installing nightlights and having a flashlight available in the event of a power outage; arranging furniture to allow for easy movement; keeping porch steps and walkways in good repair; securing rugs and flooring with slip-resistant backing, and removing small throw rugs; ensuring that stairways are equipped with nonskid surfaces; and installing bars in the bathroom and shower, as well as using nonskid mats in the tub.
Falls are not a necessary part of aging! By taking a few precautions, most falls can be prevented and your home will be a safer place.

Reference: Press release. Tips to avoid falls at home. Newswise. March 11, 2005. www.newswise.com.

Tai Chi for Health

Tai chi is an ancient practice that combines breathing techniques, meditation and body movements performed in slow-motion. Although first taught as a form of self-defense, tai chi is now practiced by millions of people worldwide as a means of reducing stress, promoting balance and flexibility, and enhancing well-being.
A recent study examined the role tai chi can play in treating heart failure. In the trial, 30 patients with chronic stable heart failure (average age 64) were randomized to receive either "usual care" (consisting of drug therapy and diet/exercise counseling), or usual care plus 12 weeks of tai chi training. Tai chi training consisted of a one-hour tai chi class held twice weekly. To measure changes between groups, the researchers incorporated a variety of tests, including a quality of life questionnaire and an exercise capacity test.
At the end of 12 weeks, patients in the tai chi group had significantly improved quality of life scores compared to the usual care-only group (an average of 25 points higher among tai chi patients). In addition, patients in the tai chi group were able to walk longer distances without difficulty, and had lower levels of B-type natriuretic peptides (an indicator of heart failure) than usual care-only patients. The researchers concluded that tai chi "may be a beneficial adjunctive treatment that enhances quality of life and functional capacity in patients with chronic heart failure who are already receiving standard medical therapy."

Reference: Yeh GY, Wood MJ, Lorell BH, et al. Effects of tai chi mind-body movement therapy on functional status on exercise capacity in patients with chronic heart failure: a randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Medicine Oct. 15, 2004;117(8):541-548.

Natural Relief for Anxiety

RECOMMENDED READING: Keeping you aware of the latest resources that will provide the information you need to make wise decisions about your health.
This month's featured title is Natural Relief for Anxiety by Edmund J. Bourne, PhD, et. al. Natural Relief for Anxiety explores the whole bodyÕs response to stress in a down-to-earth, nonjudgmental way, and describes how relief from mild to moderate anxiety can be achieved through holistic means. The text emphasizes how specific physical and lifestyle factors take their toll on the body, which can subsequently result in anxiety, and describes how the elimination of such factors can lead to peace of mind, mental clarity, and physical and emotional wellness.
Click here to read the complete review.

Doctor's Behaving Badly

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BL Fisher Note:
It is no wonder M.D./Ph.D. researchers find themselves in a credibility gap. We have put them on a pedestal for far too long, creating an elitist class which considers themselves entitled to special entitlements and protection from ethical constraints.
For far too long, the American public has been worshipping at the feet of those who practice science and medicine, naively assuming men and women who gravitate toward the healing arts are somehow exempt from human flaws that tempt them to cut corners or exploit others for profit, career advancement and fame. It has been a costly mistake to allow scientists and doctors to police themselves because we have based our entire health care system on a collective trust they are always telling the truth.
Transparency, accountability and justice are three values which will help keep the scientific research process and those who operate it truthful. The public should have full access to all scientific data and analysis used to proclaim a medical intervention is safe and effective for human use. Those who accept responsibility for proclaiming a medical intervention safe and effective should be held accountable if they are not truthful. And those who are harmed by a medical intervention which has been falsely proclaimed to be safe and effective should be able to access the civil court system to seek justice.

htp://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/health/02docs.html?ei=5088&en=989fce7c62c8e
849&ex=1304222400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

The NY Times
May 2, 2006
The Doctor's World
For Science's Gatekeepers, a Credibility Gap
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D.
Recent disclosures of fraudulent or flawed studies in medical and scientific journals have called into question as never before the merits of their peer-review system.
The system is based on journals inviting independent experts to critique submitted manuscripts. The stated aim is to weed out sloppy and bad research, ensuring the integrity of the what it has published.
Because findings published in peer-reviewed journals affect patient care, public policy and the authors' academic promotions, journal editors contend that new scientific information should be published in a peer-reviewed journal before it is presented to doctors and the public. That message, however, has created a widespread misimpression that passing peer review is the scientific equivalent of the Good Housekeeping seal of approval.
Virtually every major scientific and medical journal has been humbled recently by publishing findings that are later discredited. The flurry of episodes has led many people to ask why authors, editors and independent expert reviewers all failed to detect the problems before publication.
The publication process is complex. Many factors can allow error, even fraud, to slip through. They include economic pressures for journals to avoid investigating suspected errors; the desire to avoid displeasing the authors and the experts who review manuscripts; and the fear that angry scientists will withhold the manuscripts that are the lifeline of the journals, putting them out of business.By promoting the sanctity of peer review and using it to justify a number of their actions in recent years, journals have added to their enormous power.
The release of news about scientific and medical findings is among the most tightly managed in country. Journals control when the public learns about findings from taxpayer-supported research by setting dates when the research can be published. They also impose severe restrictions on what authors can say publicly, even before they submit a manuscript, and they have penalized authors for infractions by refusing to publish their papers. Exceptions are made for scientific meetings and health emergencies.
But many authors have still withheld information for fear that journals would pull their papers for an infraction. Increasingly, journals and authors' institutions also send out news releases ahead of time about a peer-reviewed discovery so that reports from news organizations coincide with a journal's date of issue.
A barrage of news reports can follow. But often the news release is sent without the full paper, so reports may be based only on the spin created by a journal or an institution.
Journal editors say publicity about corrections and retractions distorts and erodes confidence in science, which is an honorable business. Editors also say they are gatekeepers, not detectives, and that even though peer review is not intended to detect fraud, it catches flawed research and improves the quality of the thousands of published papers.
However, even the system's most ardent supporters acknowledge that peer review does not eliminate mediocre and inferior papers and has never passed the very test for which it is used. Studies have found that journals publish findings based on sloppy statistics. If peer review were a drug, it would never be marketed, say critics, including journal editors.
None of the recent flawed studies have been as humiliating as an article in 1972 in the journal Pediatrics that labeled sudden infant death syndrome a hereditary disorder, when, in the case examined, the real cause was murder.
Twenty-three years later, the mother was convicted of smothering her five children. Scientific naïveté surely contributed to the false conclusion, but a forensic pathologist was not one of the reviewers. The faulty research in part prompted the National Institutes of Health to spend millions of dollars on a wrong line of research.
Fraud, flawed articles and corrections have haunted general interest news organizations. But such problems are far more embarrassing for scientific journals because of their claims for the superiority of their system of editing.
A widespread belief among nonscientists is that journal editors and their reviewers check authors' research firsthand and even repeat the research. In fact, journal editors do not routinely examine authors' scientific notebooks. Instead, they rely on peer reviewers' criticisms, which are based on the information submitted by the authors.
While editors and reviewers may ask authors for more information, journals and their invited experts examine raw data only under the most unusual circumstances.
In that respect, journal editors are like newspaper editors, who check the content of reporters' copy for facts and internal inconsistencies but generally not their notes. Still, journal editors have refused to call peer review what many others say it is — a form of vetting or technical editing.
In spot checks, many scientists and nonscientists said they believed that editors decided what to publish by counting reviewers' votes. But journal editors say that they are not tally clerks and that decisions to publish are theirs, not the reviewers'.
Editors say they have accepted a number of papers that reviewers have harshly criticized as unworthy of publication and have rejected many that received high plaudits.
Many nonscientists perceive reviewers to be impartial. But the reviewers, called independent experts, in fact are often competitors of the authors of the papers they scrutinize, raising potential conflicts of interest.
Except when gaffes are publicized, there is little scrutiny of the quality of what journals publish.
Journals have rejected calls to make the process scientific by conducting random audits like those used to monitor quality control in medicine. The costs and the potential for creating distrust are the most commonly cited reasons for not auditing.
In defending themselves, journal editors often shift blame to the authors and excuse themselves and their peer reviewers.
Journals seldom investigate frauds that they have published, contending that they are not investigative bodies and that they could not afford the costs. Instead, the journals say that the investigations are up to the accused authors' employers and agencies that financed the research.
Editors also insist that science corrects its errors. But corrections often require whistle-blowers or prodding by lawyers. Editors at The New England Journal of Medicine said they would not have learned about a problem that led them to publish two letters of concern about omission of data concerning the arthritis drug Vioxx unless lawyers for the drug's manufacturer, Merck, had asked them questions in depositions. Fraud has also slipped through in part because editors have long been loath to question the authors.
"A request from an editor for primary data to support the honesty of an author's findings in a manuscript under review would probably poison the air and make civil discourse between authors and editors even more difficult than it is now," Dr. Arnold S. Relman wrote in 1983. At the time, he was editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, and it had published a fraudulent paper.
Fraud is a substantial problem, and the attitude toward it has changed little over the years, other editors say. Some journals fail to retract known cases of fraud for fear of lawsuits.
Journals have no widely accepted way to retract papers, said Donald Kennedy, editor in chief of Science, after the it retracted two papers by the South Korean researcher Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, who fabricated evidence that he had cloned human cells.
In the April 18 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, its editor, Dr. Harold C. Sox, wrote about lessons learned after the journal retracted an article on menopause by Dr. Eric Poehlman of the University of Vermont.
When an author is found to have fabricated data in one paper, scientists rarely examine all of that author's publications, so the scientific literature may be more polluted than believed, Dr. Sox said.
Dr. Sox and other scientists have documented that invalid work is not effectively purged from the scientific literature because the authors of new papers continue to cite retracted ones.
When journals try to retract discredited papers, Dr. Sox said, the process is slow, and the system used to inform readers faulty. Authors often use euphemisms instead of the words "fabrication" or "research misconduct," and finding published retractions can be costly because some affected journals charge readers a fee to visit their Web sites to learn about them, Dr. Sox said.
Despite its flaws, scientists favor the system in part because they need to publish or perish. The institutions where the scientists work and the private and government agencies that pay for their grants seek publicity in their eagerness to show financial backers results for their efforts.
The public and many scientists tend to overlook the journals' economic benefits that stem from linking their embargo policies to peer review. Some journals are owned by private for-profit companies, while others are owned by professional societies that rely on income from the journals. The costs of running journals are low because authors and reviewers are generally not paid.
A few journals that not long ago measured profits in the tens of thousands of dollars a year now make millions, according to at least three editors who agreed to discuss finances only if granted anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak about finances.
Any influential system that profits from taxpayer-financed research should be held publicly accountable for how the revenues are spent. Journals generally decline to disclose such data.
Although editors of some journals say they demand statements from their editing staff members that they have no financial conflicts of interest, there is no way to be sure. At least one editor of a leading American journal had to resign because of conflicts of interest with industry.
Journals have devolved into information-laundering operations for the pharmaceutical industry, say Dr. Richard Smith, the former editor of BMJ, the British medical journal, and Dr. Richard Horton, the editor of The Lancet, also based in Britain.
The journals rely on revenues from industry advertisements. But because journals also profit handsomely by selling drug companies reprints of articles reporting findings from large clinical trials involving their products, editors may "face a frighteningly stark conflict of interest" in deciding whether to publish such a study, Dr. Smith said.

Welcome to Oak Hollow Chiropractic

Welcome to Oak Hollow Chiropractic

Women: One More Reason Not To Stress Out

Women, don't let this news stress you out, but a new study has found that stress can lead to increased pain during menstrual cycles.
The study, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, tracked 388 young women, ages 20- to 34-years-old, through over 1,000 menstual cycles. According to the study, approximately 44 percent of the participants noted having painful periods, characterized by at least two days of abdominal or low-back pain during a cycle.
Reseachers found that those women with high stress levels during the preceding month were 2.4 times as likely to have a painful period during the following cycle compared to their low stress counterparts. And women that reported having medium stress levels were 1.2 times as likely to have a painful period during the following cycle. The researchers suggested that women with painful menstrual cycles should try to reduce the stress in their lives.
If you are a woman that suffers from painful periods, ask your doctor of chiropractic to recommend a treatment plan. Routine chiropractic care not only helps with pain relief, but also facilitates stress relief. For more information on women's health, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/women.
Reference: Wang L. Occupational & Environmental Medicine. Dec 2004;61: 1021-1026.

Drug companies "inventing dieases to boost profits"

E-NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER
Vienna, Virginia http://www.nvic.org
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UNITED WAY/COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN
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"Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982."
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2128371,00.html
The Times, UK

April 11, 2006
Drugs companies 'inventing diseases to boost their profits'
By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent

Pharmaceutical companies are systematically creating diseases in order to sell more of their products, turning healthy people into patients and placing many at risk of harm, a special edition of a leading medical journal claims today.
The practice of "diseasemongering" by the drug industry is promoting non-existent illnesses or exaggerating minor ones for the sake of profits, according to a set of essays published by the open-access journal Public Library of Science Medicine.
The special issue, edited by David Henry, of Newcastle University in Australia, and Ray Moynihan, an Australian journalist, reports that conditions such as female sexual dysfunction, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and "restless legs syndrome" have been promoted by companies hoping to sell more of their drugs.
Other minor problems that are a normal part of life, such as symptoms of the menopause, are also becoming increasingly "medicalised", while risk factors such as high cholesterol levels or osteoporosis are being presented as diseases in their own right, according to the editors.
"Disease-mongering turns healthy people into patients, wastes precious resources and causes iatrogenic (medically induced) harm," they say. "Like the marketing strategies that drive it, disease-mongering poses a global challenge to those interested in public health, demanding in turn a global response."
Doctors, patients and support groups need to be more aware that pharmaceutical companies are taking this approach, and more research is needed into the changing ways in which conditions are presented, according to the writers.
Disease-awareness campaigns are often funded by drug companies, and "more often designed to sell drugs than to illuminate or inform or educate about the prevention of illness or the maintenance of health", they say.
Particular conditions that are highlighted in the journal include sexual function in both men and women. The prevalence of female sexual dysfunction, one paper claims, has been highly exaggerated to provide a new market for drugs, while the makers of anti-impotence medicines, such as Viagra and Cialis, have been involved with their presentation as lifestyle drugs that can boost the sexual prowess of healthy men.
Ordinary shyness is routinely presented as a social anxiety disorder and treated with antidepressants, while newly identified conditions such as "restless legs syndrome" — a constant urge to move one’s legs — are presented as being much more common than they really are.
Richard Ley, of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, rejected the accusations, pointing out that Britain has firm safeguards against disease-mongering. Many of the authors’ criticisms, he said, were aimed squarely at countries such as the United States, where pharmaceuticals can be openly advertised directly to patients.
"Drug companies are not allowed to communicate directly with patients, and we do not invent diseases," he said.
"We provide information that there are treatments out there that might help certain conditions, but at the end of the day it is down to health professionals to decide if they are appropriate.
"The best safeguard is that the doctor who knows the product and knows the patient’s history is the one who decides what to prescribe."

Banana A Day

Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!! This is interesting. After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again. Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet. Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier. PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood. Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia. Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke. Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert. Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives. Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system. Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief. Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness. Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation. Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system. Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pre! ssure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady. Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach. Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan. Smoking: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal. Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack. Strokes: According to research in "The New England Journal of Medicine, "eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%! Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape! So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around. So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

What's Your Excuse

Exercise Excuses
While I was lying in bed this morning trying to motivate myself to get up and exercise, I realized how many great reasons I had to skip my workout today. First: rain. Sure I'm working out inside but everyone knows that a rainy morning is meant for lounging, not exercising. Second: low quality sleep after a night spent with my 17-pound cat alternately standing on my head, chewing on my hair and getting tangled in the blinds. How could anyone exercise after a night like that?
By the time I got to my third or fourth excuse, I realized I could spend my entire morning thinking of reasons not to workout. Then I thought about how I'd feel if I skipped my workout and that was enough to get me up and moving. But that doesn't always work and, like most people, there are times when my excuses win out over what I know I need to do. What about you? What's your excuse for missing workouts? Vote in this week's poll and tell us all about it.

Read the whole article at: http://exercise.about.com/b/a/256948.htm

Juice Plus and Vitamins

I have so many people ask me how does Juice Plus compare to vitamins. I thought this was worth sharing. Tina Wilson to Dr. Mays


If you are looking for the best vitamin supplement in town, then Juice Plus is not for you.
Juice Plus may come in a capsule, but it is not a vitamin and would not be found on the vitamin shelf if it were sold in the grocery store. As a FDA regulated food item, it would be found in the grocery aisle, if placed properly. You see, if I were to put an apple next to a bottle of vitamin C that had the highest RDA number, and that apple had a label on it, you would see that the average apple has only 5 or 6 mg of vitamin C in it (a dismal RDA). However, because an apple also has 10,000+ other plant nutrients that work in synergy together with the vitamin C, it would take 1,500 mg of isolated vitamin C to do the same job as the apple in protecting cells from free radicals-those culprits that cause oxidatvie stress and increase the aging process. These facts come from a study published in Nature, a leading scientific journal.

Now, here is the scary part: 1,500 mg of isolated vitamin C is toxi when introduced to cells in culture, as it hurts the DNA. The only reason people survive eating high amounts of isolated vitamins is because isolated vitamins are terribly "un-bioavailable.". That is, they are not readily absorbed by the cells and instead are flushed from the body as expensive urine-a process that can take its toll on the kidneys over time.
Furthermore, Dole Nutrition News reports that a "watershed study published last month in the Lancet reviewed 14 randomized trials with more than 170,000 participants to establish whether antioxidant pills reduce the risk of gastrointestinal cancer. Far from finding any protective benefits to such supplements, "on the contracy,they seem to increase overall mortality.". This is the difference between qualtative nutrition and quantitative nutrition.

Hence, Juice Plus, has become the number one encapsulated nutritional supplement in the world, because it provides the body with a new paradigm in supplementation-whole food supplementation that is bioavailable and works to slow down the aging process. It is not a matter of debate anymore. it has been proven by independent researchers all over the world.

Information supplied by Doctor Mitra ray, Ph.D

Did You know?

Hay Fever Sufferers should wash hair at night. They’ll remove any pollen and keep it from settling on pillows and bedding. (also avoid common irritants like tobacco smoke, automobile exhaust hair spray and perfume; wash hands frequently’ venture outdoors only when pollen counts are low).

Australian researches found a simple solutions if you’re allergic to dust mites and suspect your area rugs make you sneeze and itch – place the rug outdoors I direct sunlight for a few hours (the sun dries and heats them – exterminating mites.)

Moving to another location is no guarantee of relief for allergy sufferers, because they usually develop allergies to their new region’s pollens and molds within a few years of moving (most allergy-provoking grasses are wide spread throughout the world). As many as 20% of American believe they have a food allergy…but less than 1% really do. Most food “allergies” are actually signs of digestive problems, food poisoning or stress.

Lastly, one cup of black tea has enough h fluoride to help prevent tooth decay – and green tea has twice as much. Green tea is also much richer in flavonoids and antioxidants (TopHealth Fevbruary 2005)

This is our first post to this site. We plan on adding more and more information and hope you will find it all useful.
Dr. Mays
Ending Pain Information