08.29.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:46 pm by Luis
This LAT article is representative of many articles this week that reports on a study issued by Trust for America's Health regarding how America is losing the battle against obesity, state by state. The actual study can be found here on Trust for Americas website. The site also has an interactive feature that shows state by state results and information.
The results show that Mississippi is the number 1 state in obesity with a whopping 30% of its residents classified as obese. The District of Columbia holds the dubious position of number 1 for childhood obesity with 22.8 % of its children obese.
The LAT article quotes Jim Marks, a senior vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a healthcare philanthropy group that sponsored the study as follows:
The report is a devastating indictment and the nation is in the middle of a public health crisis that is deteriorating rapidly, and we are treating it like an inconvenience.
These children could be the first generation to live sicker and die younger than their parents,"
Obesity costs $117 billion a year in preventable healthcare expenditures and "is pushing the healthcare system to the breaking point.
The LAT article also makes clear that the data is based on self reporting, hence the results are probably much worse and people do tend to understate their weight.
This report is no surprise. America seems content to ignore the obesity epidemic. But by ignoring it, we will pay as individuals and collectively as a society in higher health costs and a lower quality of life.
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08.20.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:10 pm by Luis
Cranberries, eaten fresh or dried or consumed through cranberry juice, are one of the best fruits to eat that promote good health. The number of positive health impacts from cranberries is truly amazing.
Here is information extracted directly from the Cranberry Institute Web page.
The majority of physicians and other health professionals believe there is a clear association between a diet high in fruits and vegetables and a low risk of chronic disease. Phytonutrients (naturally derived plant compounds), particularly antioxidants, are increasingly being shown to help optimize human health.
Cranberries contain proanthocyanidins (PACs) that can prevent the adhesion of certain of bacteria, including E. coli, associated with urinary tract infections to the urinary tract wall. The anti-adhesion properties of cranberry may also inhibit the bacteria associated with gum disease and stomach ulcers.
Recent scientific research shows that cranberries and cranberry products contain significant amounts of antioxidants and other phytonutrients that may help protect against heart disease, cancer and other diseases.
Rats fed diets supplemented with cranberries are put through a series of tests to evaluate their neural function compared to a control group. Preliminary results indicate that there will be compelling evidence that cranberry can help protect the brain from neurological damage.
Atherosclerosis, in the simplest terms, is the accumulation of low density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad cholesterol", in arteries resulting in restricted blood flow. In the advance stages of the disease blood flow may be decrease severely or cease completely resulting in angina (chest pain), a thrombosis (blood clot) and/or myocardial infarction (heart attack). Atherosclerosis is a primary cause of cardiovascular disease. Ongoing research continues to suggest that cranberries may offer a natural defense against atherosclerosis.
Researchers at the University of Western Ontario demonstrated, using an animal model, that human breast cancer cells showed significantly lower incidence of tumor development when the experimental group's diet was supplemented with cranberries. Although these results are very preliminary, compounds in cranberries may prove to be a potent cancer fighter.
Here is more on the health benefits of Cranberries from WebMD.
A plant compound, called proanthocyanidin A-1 is found in cranberries. Herpes simplex-2 is one of the most common viral infections in humans. It causes genital sores or ulcers, as well as inflammation of the brain and infection of newborns and people with weakened immune systems.
Scientists' lab tests showed that proanthocyanidin A-1 helped combat herpes simplex-2: it interfered with the virus when it tried to latch onto and penetrate cells -- a necessary step for infection by the herpes virus."
Buy a bag of Sweetened Dried Cranberries and keep it handy for snacks. Its one of the most healthful snacks you can consume.
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08.12.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:13 pm by Luis
SpiritIndiaGreen tea protects against cancerTimes of India, India - 22 hours agoThe study is published in the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American...
Your feed for the most updated green tea information and research....
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08.10.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:07 pm by Luis
We'll all be a fair deal older in 2030, that's for sure. But just how far will we have advanced medical science? The breadth and thrust of modern day medical research is increasing our remaining life expectancy at one fifth of the rate at which we live - but that pace is picking up. What is plausible for 2030? Some thoughts from Advanced Nano:
Achieving three times or more progress in longevity from 2007 to 2030 versus 1984 to 2007 seems very achievable. This will be from public health improvements, disease cures or treatments, lifestyle improvements (from behavior or with medical assistance) and success from direct progress against the processes of aging. This would mean going from a life extension increase of 0.1 to 0.2 years each year to 0.5 years. ...
I believe that the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) is a good plan. SENS could help contibute to a far greater increase in life expectancy. However, SENS success is dependent on both successful science and development and on the funding that it receives.
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The future can arrive earlier for you if make the lifestyle adjustments now. You can give yourself a very good chance to live to 90 and the possibility of 100+ with lifestyle and pro-active medical tests and treatments. For the really big gains, help by donating to the SENS project.
Some folk in the systems biology field project a 10 to 20 year increase in life expectancy over the next 20 years. The Longevity Dividend folk are aiming for 7 years over a similar timeframe, and the actuaries are debating models that fall within these ranges. Aubrey de Grey, of course, makes the case that indefinite healthy life span in mice, maintained through repair technologies, has a good chance of success 20 years after large-scale funding is initiated for such a project.
Those in the know agree that more healthy life is possible and plausible, but disagree on how much and how exactly it will be attained. Certainly it will require support and understanding, regardless of the methodology that wins out in the end; science develops to the degree that people desire technology to achieve their ends, and are therefore willing to fund research.
Technorati tags: life extension
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Posted in Uncategorized at 9:07 pm by Luis
Early adopters are a form of investor - they provide much needed funds and validation for the continued development of new technologies, taking risks on the comparatively poor first commercial versions. In doing so, these folk play an important role in turning the wheel of progress. Stephen Gordon says it well:
Aubrey de Grey has a related theory about the development of life extension therapy. When asked if these treatments would only be available to the rich, Aubrey has responded that, yes, initially only the rich will be able to afford life extension treatments. But these early expensive therapies wouldn't be very effective anyway. Later, de Grey argues, the price of these therapies will go down as their effectiveness goes up. There will be some mid-point where moderately money will buy moderately effectively treatments. Ultimately we'll have very inexpensive treatments that everyone can afford that will also be very effective.
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I think this movement from "expensive/relatively ineffective" to "cheap/effective" will happen fast with life extension. Once the world sees these therapies as something more than fantasy, we'll pour incredible resources into their development and dissemination. And since technological development is accelerating, progress will be faster by then.
I have been an early adopter several times in the past. Being human (and subject to temptation) I'll probably be first-in-line to buy some cool, marginally-useful gadget again. It might even happen that I'll feel compelled by the risks of age or diminished capacity to shell out big money for life extension version 1.0.
If so, the whipper-snappers who'll benefit later can toast me.
All new technologies - medical technologies included - are hard to produce, comparatively poor in quality and expensive. That is no more than simple economics; creating the new is difficult. Difficult is expensive. Expensive requires investment, and investments in early development must be seen to be recouped within the timeframe of comfort for the investors, or they will not be made in the first place.
Technologies become easily manufactured, of high quality and cheap very quickly if they take off in adoption - commercial revenue opens the door to greater investment in development, expansion of infrastructure for commercialization, and the onset of competition that drives quality up and cost down. The early adoption contingent help to make that process more rapid, and by their actions - and willingness to risk resouces on the new new things in this world - make it more likely that future research and technological development will be funded.
Technorati tags: economics, life extension
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