Barbecue flavour – Without the health risk

A warm summer evening is often flavoured with the aroma of barbecued meat – or poisoned with the smoke from a burned steak. Barbecuing seems like a healthy way to eat meat, rather than frying or using oil, but there is a hidden danger when grilling meat and that is the presence of carcinogens known as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH). They are the guys you can’t see, but you know their presence from the nice black stripes that they add to your meat.Meat contains fat, which is liquefied when heated and drips down into the barbecue. These fats then vaporize and release toxic gases that return into the meat above, and that you then absorb when you eat the meat. Cooked animal fats are known to be a cancer risk and unfortunately non organic meat also contains carcinogens such as hormone growth promoters, sodium nitrate as a preservative and MSG is added to barbecue mixes to enhance the flavour, and that can cause allergic reactions and headaches in some people.

Two things that can help you avoid this are to use a pan between the grill and the meat so the flames are never in contact with it – so get out that old camping frying pan – and as a bonus it won’t be so tough! Secondly, use a natural flavour enhancer instead of the MSG and there is a mix that will give your meat the authentic ‘blackened barbecue’ look. Mix together equal proportions of celery salt, dill, turmeric, cayenne pepper and paprika and smear the meat liberally with it before adding to the pan for a healthy, and delicious barbecue.

Napping for health

The nap has often had a bad press; associated with the elderly dozing off or the siesta so beloved of hot countries that is seen as ‘lazy’ or pointless in the more achievement-obsessed countries of the west. Leaders of men, and industry, however have often valued the nap as productive part of their day and now there is evidence that they were right all along.  Winston Churchill certainly was a great believer and he would have applauded new sleep studies backed up by acknowledged sleep experts that a nap during the day means you stand a better chance of being more mentally alert and efficient, and more likely to be in better mental health than your non-napping neighbour.

Have you ever started to just nod off in the middle of the day and sternly pulled yourself together and focused on what you were doing? Well, don’t because your body is trying to tell you that you need a break. If you want to continue being productive, don’t fight it but allow yourself to take a short interval and close your eyes. Don’t beat yourself up about it, just drift off, because resisting sleep means your brain is still arguing with your body and that won’t refresh you at all! You don’t even have to go to sleep, just relaxing and letting your mind drift can be just as refreshing – it’s the complete break from your routine that your body is trying to tell you that it needs.

If you don’t live in a country where a siesta is normal, then build in your own version of it. Can’t nap in the office? Why not? Tell people you are working on an important project and can’t be disturbed – and lock the door. Your health is an important project, so you are not being untruthful. Ten to twenty minutes works for most people, and certainly not longer than an hour or your body will slip into a real sleep and you will wake up feeling worse, not better. After lunch is often the time the body naturally wants to slow down as it is using energy to digest your food, but you need to monitor your own rhythm and see what works best for you.

Sports drinks beaten by cereals

After training, athletes look to restore their energy and they often do it with sports drinks. However, there is another option that will help them recover faster according to the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition and it’s found in most kitchens. The answer lies in a bowl of cereal with non-fat milk as that provides similar results as athletes look for from an electrolyte drink. Athletes may get the same post-workout boost from a bowl of cereal as they might expect from a sports drink, researchers found.A bowl of cereal with nonfat milk after exercise produced statistically similar results as a carbohydrate-electrolyte drink for nearly all measures of muscle glycogen and protein synthesis, Lynne Kammer, M.S.E., M.A., of the, and colleagues reported.

The researchers at the University of Texas at Austin findings, who carried out the study, focused on cyclists and triathletes and they were looking to see how when muscle is broken down and depleted of oxygen by exercise, what is the best way to restore it to normal levels. The researchers looked at how exercise depletes muscle stores of glycogen and turns it into glucose, which fuels the physical activity, and in doing so it breaks down muscle protein. This led to the researchers investigating the logical extension of this, which is that to replace the lost protein any post-exercise food or drink needs protein as well as carbohydrate to replace that which has been lost.

By having a bowl of cereal after exercise you get carbohydrate replacement and the milk that accompanies it provides essential, easily digestible protein and in a less expensive form than sports drinks.

Ginseng is a natural anti-inflammatory

Ginseng has long been used for stamina and supporting the immune system, but new research shows that it can also be an affective anti-inflammatory. Chinese medicine has used ginseng for treating many conditions and it is a powerful adaptogen – a substance that has a normalizing effect on the body and helps to support the body to deal with stress and illness. Ginseng is able to stimulate functions that regulate the central nervous system, the cardiovascular system, and the endocrine glands.It was researchers from the University of Hong Kong who identified seven ginseng constituents that showed immune-suppressive effects. Their study involved treating human immune cells with different extracts of ginseng and was the first to identify ginseng as a potential anti-inflammatory.

Ginseng has already been extensively studied, and among it’s many benefits are it’s ability to reduce the effects of both physical and emotional stress, improve stamina and cope with fatigue without stimulants like caffeine. All of this has made it a popular supplement for various armies around the world, particularly in the Soviet Union.

For non-military types, it is also heart protective as it’s anti-clotting effects reduce the risk of arterial blood clots and it will help reduce cholesterol levels.
Diabetics also often favour it as a supplement as it reduces sugar levels, which in turn helps them control their diabetes. Those who need to be on a permanent drug regime find it valuable for it’s ability to protect the liver from the effects not just of drugs, but also alcohol and environmental toxins.

Kava helps reduce anxiety

Australian researchers at the University of Queensland have used Kava – which has a long history of medicinal use in the South Pacific – to treat anxiety.  They found a traditional extract of Kava, a medicinal shrub, to be safe and effective in reducing anxiety. When taken in small doses, kava helps increase awareness and activity without increasing tension.As a natural mood enhancer Kava is often suggested by naturopathic practitioners for those suffering from chronic anxiety and mild depression.
It has no addictive properties, unlike antidepressants, and has less risk of any side effects. Taken in excess Kava has been linked to liver problems, though this is still debated, and does not occur with water soluble extracted Kava, the traditional way of producing it. It should be taken occasionally for anxiety, or for a period of less than a month for more chronic conditions.

Kava is not available for sale in the UK, though it is perfectly legal to order it online for personal use.

Why baggy jeans are healthier

The term ‘fashion victim’ is all too apt if you have fallen for the latest skin tight jeans as doctors are reporting patients with ‘tingling’ in their legs and a feeling of disorientation. It’s a condition called meralgia paresthetica, that occurs when constant pressure cuts off the lateral femoral subcutaneous nerve, causing a numb, tingling or burning sensation along the thigh. It’s more usually seen in construction workers or police officers with heavy, low-slung belts, pregnant women or obese people and also can result from a pulled-tight seat belt in a car accident. However, the new cases are self inflicted as skin tight jeans compress the nerve and if you team your jeans with high heels you are increasing the risk of this numbing as the heels tilt the pelvis forward, increasing the pressure on the nerve.Luckily the damage is rarely permanent, but swapping for something less restricting would be a good health – if not fashion – move. Time to get those baggy jeans out of the wardrobe?

Autism risk higher in boys

Statistically, boys are four times more likely to be autistic than girls are – something that has puzzled researchers for a number of years. Now a new report this week in Molecular Psychiatry announces that researchers have found a genetic clue that may help explain why. While nearly 40% of the general population has the most common form of the gene CACNA1G, one variant of it was more prevalent in autistic boys, though why is still not clear. It is responsible for regulating the flow of calcium into and out of cells and this is important as nerve cells in the brain rely on calcium to become activated. An imbalance in calcium can result in these neural connections becoming over stimulated, more excitable, and this can create developmental problems, such as autism and even epilepsy. In the next five to ten years this could lead to a much better understanding of the causes of autism as researchers try to use known autism genes to help develop screening tools or early interventions.

Surgery broadcast on the web

If you had a malignant tumour threatening to paralyze you then you would happily embrace the necessary surgery, but how do you feel about having it filmed and put on the web by the hospital to promote their services? This is what happened to Shila Renee Mullins when she was filmed praising the care she received at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis and her surgery and care were turned into a promotional video for the hospital to attract more patients.Can’t see it happening on the NHS, or at least not yet, though given the desire for self promotion and our five minutes of fame that seems to have gripped the nation I am certainly not counting it out. This particular surgery requires the patient to be awake and conscious during it and she was filmed talking while the scalpels went in. The resulting operation was then promoted as a webcast and with ads in the newspapers and on tv. America being the land of the beautiful, sadly Ms. Mullins was replaced in the media with an attractive model, though presumably they couldn’t CGI a more beautiful head on to the poor woman while she had the surgery.

The resulting webcast certainly had a good number of ‘hits’ as their marketing department kept track. A preview on YouTube netted 21,555 viewers while the entire webcast of the surgery slumped dramatically to 2,212 and only 3 people requested appointments – which was presumably the object of the exercise. Hospitals in the US have to compete for patients in the marketplace as does every other commodity and they have spent large sums on conventional media to attract patients, but these are highly expensive compared to the Internet. Hospitals have previously used Twitter from operating rooms, showed surgery on YouTube and had their patients blog about their procedures – back to that five minutes of fame.

Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit uses Twitter from the operating room and surgeon Dr. Craig Rogers operating room had an online observing chief resident who Twittered the following while Dr. Craig was removing an unexpectedly large tumour from a kidney. I give you his exact words online, live as it happened: “Gosh, this is big. Could I have picked a harder case for this?” The fact he knew he was being broadcast could have affected what he said, and any distraction from the surgery seems to me to e downright dangerous – if not actually unprofessional. Hospitals say patients give consent and are not compensated for any videoing but there are already plenty of people seeking surgery as a way of body sculpting and enhancing rather than as a medical procedure and there are concerns that if you will do anything to get on TV then this could be one way to do it.

My nightmare is an extension of Big Brother set in a surgical ward where they are competing for the most outrageous operation and the winner has their brain removed on prime time TV – though how much brain they would find in those contestants would be open to doubt.

Not all blogging and tweeting is a bad thing; some hospitals are using it to gain patients for clinical trials that are otherwise difficult and expensive to recruit, and to publicise fundraising or legislation for increased funds for new hospitals. However, with more than 250 hospitals now using YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or blogs, may I suggest that the moral of this story is to beware of hospitals with marketing departments.

Getting ahead of hay fever

This time of year can be very distressing for hay fever sufferers, and those with sinusitis or allergies. There are plenty of medications available to control the symptoms but there is an old-fashioned naturopathic remedy that is very effective and inexpensive that you might want to try first. It’s using warm salt water to wash out your nasal passages. Done twice a day it has shown positive results in medical studies as it washes away the pollen that clogs your nasal passages and irritates your body into triggering an allergic reaction.It’s long been in use in Ayurvedic medicine and the renowned Mayo Clinic in the states also recommend it’s use. A January 2009 study on 200 patients had them reporting relief of their symptoms from twice daily salt water irrigations and a recent study in China at Nanjing Medical University showed good results on children with allergic rhinitis so they were able to stop or reduce their steroid nasal sprays.

It must be popular as you can now buy a salt pipe (sometimes called a neti pot) on Amazon in the UK and many other health sites. Natural sea salt is the best to use and use 1 teaspoon salt to 1 pint of warm filtered or distilled water.

Adding in some extra support in terms of taking regular exericse and having plenty of omega-3 in your diet. Children who have little exercise have twice the rate of hay fever as their more active friends, and omega-3 from fish oil helps reduce both allergic and inflammatory responses. It can also help to include probiotics in the diet as they have two good effects: they help lower the levels of an antibody that produces allergy symptoms and also levels of a different antibody, IgG, that it’s believed plays a protective role against allergic reactions.

Stomach ulcers glutamine

H. pylori bacteria infect more than half of the world’s population and were recently identified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization. Stomach ulcers are known to result from an infection with this bacteria and it is carried by nearly six percent of people worldwide. Usually the treatment given is antibiotics but we are now more cautious about prescribing these because of side effects, and overuse leading to less effectiveness. A more natural treatment with the amino acid Glutamine has been found and it seems to be protective against both the damage done by H pylori and reducing the risk of gastric cancer. 900,000 new cases of gastric cancer develop each year and it is known to be associated with H pylori infection.Research was conducted by Susan Hagen, PhD, Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and she is suggesting that increasing glutamine in the diet could protect against gastric damage caused by H. pylori. This can occur over years, as the infection causes persistent gastritis and damage to cells in the digestive tract and this is the ideal environment to develop malignant cells, leading to cancer. The bacteria weakens the stomach’s protective mucous coating and her research team has shown that glutamine protects against cell death from H. pylori-produced ammonia and that the damaging effects of ammonia on gastric cells could be reversed completely by the administration of L-glutamine.

L-Glutamine – the form used in the research – is often taken as a supplement to increase body mass, but Glutamine itself does occur naturally in foods including beef, chicken, fish, eggs, dairy products and some fruits and vegetables. If you are prone to stomach ulcers, then it could prove helpful in avoiding antibiotics and preventing further damage.

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