Healthy News for Healthy Nation

Recent research reveals 8 stealth strategies to keep the killer at bay. It’s time to raise your carcinogen shields — and y

The average mouse doesn’t care much about skin cancer. Outside of Disney cartoons, you won’t see one slathering on sunscreen before heading out to dodge cats and search for cheese. But Gary Stoner, Ph.D., a professor emeritus of hematology and oncology at the Ohio State University medical center, does care about cancer. That’s why he spends his days in a lab, feeding rodents polyphenols from seaweed and learning how to shrink skin cancer–like tumors. He’s a mouse’s best friend. Maybe yours, too.

Stoner is just one of many researchers working to bring new weapons to the cancer battle. Some study humans to take a fresh look at existing theories. Others, like Stoner, are testing tactics so bold that, so far, their only subjects have tails and whiskers.

But all these approaches (seaweed included) have one very positive thing in common: They’re just plain good for you and bad for cancer cells. Here are eight strategies that just may turn the Big C into the Big See-Ya-Later. (Or, better yet, See-Ya-Never.)

Drink Pomegranate Juice

Some say this luscious, lusty red fruit is Eve’s original apple, but what the pomegranate truly banishes is cancer risk. The fruit’s deep red juice contains polyphenols, isoflavones, and ellagic acid, elements researchers believe make up a potent anticancer combo. It’s been shown to delay the growth of prostate cancer in mice, and it stabilizes PSA levels in men who’ve been treated for prostate cancer. And now University of Wisconsin at Madison researchers have learned that pomegranate may also inhibit lung-cancer growth. If you currently smoke, have smoked in the past, or hang around in smoky places (Cleveland, for instance), the juice of the fruit could bolster your defenses.

Use it: The mice in the Wisconsin study received the human equivalent of 16 ounces of juice per day, so quaff accordingly.

Eat Blueberries

Got pterostilbene? Rutgers University researchers say this compound — found in blueberries — has colon cancer-fighting properties. When rats with colon cancer were fed a diet supplemented with pterostilbene, they had 57 percent fewer precancerous lesions after 8 weeks than rats not given the compound did. Eat blueberries and you’ll also benefit from a big dose of vitamin C (14 milligrams per cup). In a study of 42,340 men, New England Research Institute scientists discovered that men with the highest dietary vitamin C intake (as opposed to supplements) were 50 percent less likely to develop premalignant oral lesions than men with the lowest intake were.

Use it: “About two servings daily is the human equivalent of what we fed the rats,” says Bandaru Reddy, M.D., Ph.D., a chemical-biology professor at Rutgers. Load up at breakfast: A cup and a half of blueberries over cereal, plus 8 ounces of juice and half a grapefruit (for extra vitamin C), will do the trick. If that’s too much to stomach at dawn, spread it out over the course of the day.

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Mississippi Law: “No Fat People Allowed”

If some Mississippi legislators had their way, they’d put forth a law that would ban obese people from being served at restaurants.

State Rep. John Read, a Republican who is one of the bill’s three authors, says he wasn’t trying to offend anybody and never even expected the plan to become law.

“I was trying to shed a little light on the No. 1 problem in Mississippi.”

This may sound humorous as you read along, but this isn’t a spoof.  Obesity is a real problem with consequences for Americans and we’ve been unable to solve this growing epidemic without the use of drugs or surgery to solve the issue.  Of course, exercise and dieting is ideal, but helping to fight obesity isn’t like having the flu or acquiring a chronic disease that can be cured drinking a Slimfast(tm) every morning.

The question that should be asked is whether the Republican Representative crossed the line by proposing such legislation.  If you take him at his word that this was not a serious proposal, but intended to shed light on a serious problem in Mississipi, then maybe he has done his state a great service.  Obesity is much like other sensitive subjects, e.g. Affirmative Action.  No one wants to talk about it because it is a pretty prickly subject and people get hurt in the process no matter which way you roll on the issue.

Steve Holland, the Democratic chairman of the House Public Health and Human Services Committee, said in a statement he will “pocket veto” the bill. “It’s dead on arrival at my desk.”  Although he appreciates the “efforts of my fellow House members to help curb the obesity problem in Mississippi, this is totally the wrong approach.”

How can you not laugh at the public press that the issue is receiving?  First, you have a candidate with the gall to put forth such an ‘idea’, then you have a Democrat coming out to fight the ‘good fight’ and defending the rights of the obese.   Way to stick up for the little… errr, big guy? Again,this is a serious problem so why are we walking on eggshells to get to the heart of the problem?  Eventually, it may be policy makers that help America shed the weight.

About one-third of Americans are obese (30 or more pounds over a healthy weight), and 66% are overweight or obese. Even so, obesity experts are outraged by the bill.  “It would be hard to concoct something more ridiculous,” says Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.

I’m no Yale expert and I haven’t spent my life studying the problems with obesity like Mr. Brownell, but maybe it is good to call a spade a spade?  Instead of dealing with emotions that inevitably arise out of the hate and frustration, self-esteem problems and depression, maybe we should focus on the problem itself and find ways to encourage the masses to help combat the problem?  Maybe this noise will help push obese people to stay away from the super-size or learn more about all the foods and drinks that are most dangerous to our health.

I don’t want to be insensitive about the issue, but it’s just not a simple problem to solve.  Showing love and support isn’t everyone’s forte, so it’s a futile effort to try and control what politicians, celebrities and ‘experts’ say.  The problems that stem from humiliation, shame and guilt are not trivial and it does offend and hurt some people:

“This brings bias against obese individuals to a new and appalling level, and at a time when significant progress is being made in the effort to stop blaming obesity on the people who have it and to address the social and political conditions that drive it.

Again, I cannot agree with the expert, it seems he’s too involved and has a hard time being objective.  In my view, it never really is about blaming obese people, most people don’t think of it in those terms unless you push the issue.  How often do you think “maybe he should stop eating, doesn’t he have self-control?”  Most Americans don’t go about their lives thinking, “darn, she sure is fat, why doesn’t she just exercise or go on a diet?!”

If anything, the question most Americans are asking is “Am I fat and what can I do to keep myself looking good.”  Sadly, the same areas of society that encourage obesity indirectly (e.g. super models, strip clubs, television and Hollywood) are also the ones that discourage people from eating that extra french fry.   It’s easy to blame these vices on the problem of teenage anorexia, but in my view, both anorexia and morbidly  obese people are also suffering from severe mental disease or stress and require the help of a mental health expert in addition to a physical fitness expert.

“Are these legislators fighting to get rid of soft drinks in schools? Are they working to stop the relentless marketing of unhealthy foods to children? Are they doing anything about the fact that poor people do not have access to healthy foods?”

This is the best argument made against legislators who would dare bring up obesity under such crass legislative proposals.

Restaurants and Corporations Encourage America’s Obesity Problem

Consumers are provided incentive to purchase fatty foods because they cost a lot less than the ‘premium’ low-calorie foods.  Fast food restaurants are serving up individual meals that have as much as 50 to 75% of a typical calorie intake for the day and maybe doubling or tripling the fat intake.  Consumers do have a responsibility to moderate their intake, but with obesity you have a special self-perpetuating cycle of guilt.  People eat to deal with stress, they eat to socialize with co-workers, eat to handle depression and settle impulsive behaviors that would best be handled by psychiatric help.

While this is a problem that involves many factors, people have to be careful not to entirely shed the blame of obesity on society.  Society is part of the problem, there is no doubt about that.  We have to remain cognizant of the fact that shedding personal responsibility might be one of the biggest reasons that combating obesity has become so difficult to solve.  It won’t be long before pharmaceutical companies or scientists design a solution that won’t increase the risk of heart failure or death.  Until that happens, it is the duty of all Americans to help fend off this problem and it starts with YOU.

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Yahoo! Search Marketing Searches On Site: 978,385
according to the January 2007 report from Yahoo! Search Marketing

There are far too many synonyms for breasts for us to list here; besides, you probably know most of them. But due the fact that our language is so well-endowed with reference to these funbags, we have to ask: Why are there so many slang terms for an aspect of the female anatomy that, medically speaking, is little more than an asymmetric pair of modified sweat glands?

One possible answer could be that we’ve created alternate terms as a means of subverting a topic that’s considered taboo. This purpose is especially applicable in America, where family values, proper neonatal care and breast frenzy have collided to form a prudish, hypocritical function of titillation. So, echoing throughout America is this sentiment: ”Don’t bare them in public if your goal is to feed an infant; that’s a distasteful turnoff.”

In the interest of defending us guys, here’s another reason why we have so many terms of endearment: We treasure breasts, and we esteem them, and we want to do our level best to express that appreciation in our own terms.

This appreciation of ours has some evolutionary backing. Humans are the only primate with breasts that are permanently swollen, while others only swell during lactation. Since women don’t show any outward signs of ovulation, this suggests, at very least, that breasts play a role in natural selection — they indicate a visible degree of fertility. In light of so many ancient fertility symbols that feature a woman in need of underwire support, it certainly makes sense.

Rest assured, we aim to educate and present you with five things you didn’t know about breasts. However, like the fact that they’re modified sweat glands, there are things you may not want to know.

1- Women with breast implants are more likely to suicide

A 15-year study carried out chiefly at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found a 73% higher rate of suicide among women with breast implants over a control group.

Of course, the breast implants themselves aren’t leading to suicidal tendencies; rather, the desire to get augmentation may be symptomatic of an underlying mental condition, such as low self-esteem, depression or body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Women may opt for implants if they regard larger breasts as a means of gaining confidence or overcoming other personal issues. Unfortunately for these women, another study, this one out of the Department of Psychology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, concluded that people with issues like BDD “typically do not benefit from cosmetic procedures.”

2- Some women can reach orgasm via breast stimulation

The idea that women can achieve orgasm via breast stimulation alone has been put forward by Marshall Miller and Dorian Solot, a pair of high-profile sex educators and the authors of I Love Female Orgasm: An Extraordinary Orgasm Guide. According to their findings, about 1% of women report the ability to achieve orgasm through manual stimulation of their breasts. As usual, another statistic that further contributes to the mystery of the female orgasm.

For the benefit of everyone, that 1% should speak up and let the world in on their breast-kept secret.

We have three more things you didn’t know about breasts…

3- Breast fetishism is considered a psychiatric disorder

Leave it to the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to call it a fetish (in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). However, since fetishism can be defined as “the use of nonsexual or nonliving objects or part of a person’s body to gain sexual excitement,” the APA is right.

In that case, it might be the official psychiatric disorder of the American people, but don’t hold your breath for a presidential proclamation any time soon. As intimated in the introduction, Americans love breasts, but we have a hard time admitting it. Our secretive admiration for breasts is nicely illustrated by the Atlanta-based restaurant chain Hooters. The company’s website admits that “many consider ‘Hooters’ a slang term for a portion of the female anatomy. Hooters does have an owl inside its logo and uses an owl theme sufficiently to allow debate to occur over the meaning’s intent.”

Owl-themed? Give it up, man. Their two-page menu features eight sets of breasts and one owl. In fact, it features as many crab legs as owls. While it might not be any more palatable to call the place Crabs than it is to embrace the fetish and call it Nipple Diner, this consistent and tiring prudery in the form of double entendre is both sad and juvenile.

4- Statistically the left one is bigger

This is according to a study published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery that looked at the breasts of just under 600 women. As their breasts grow and develop during puberty and beyond, one of the chief concerns girls have, and something that causes them way more grief than is necessary, is over one being bigger or smaller than the other.

Of course, there is no such thing as a perfectly symmetrical set of breasts; there are only sets that appear more symmetrical than others.

5- Men can also lactate

Yes, Virginia, there really is such a thing as a lactating male nipple.

The good news is that spontaneous lactation in men is exceedingly rare. Instead, when men do lactate, it is usually brought on by a drug hormone regimen prescribed to treat some unrelated condition. What’s going on is fairly basic: Men have mammary glands just like women, and some cancer treatments require estrogen, which means that men who are receiving a certain type of cancer treatment may lactate.

There seems to be some scant and altogether dubious precedent for men serving as wet nurses, as well as men who breastfeed their children (appropriately enough, they’re called ”milkmen”), but it is lacking any clinical foundation and appears at best anecdotal. It might be best to keep it that way.

You know damn well why it’s searched.

This is a very unscientific assessment, but we’re willing to wager that the public’s interest in breasts will, at the very least, continue unabated until evolution sees fit to phase them out.

Original here

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Doctors reattached the right foot of a 13-year-old girl involved in a gruesome amusement park accident, but her left foot was too severely damaged to repair, her family and doctor said in a statement Tuesday.

Kaitlyn Lasitter of Louisville remained in stable condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., Dr. Douglas Weikert, a surgeon and assistant professor at Vanderbilt, said in the statement.

“Things are progressing as expected over this first 10 days,” he said.

Lasitter’s feet were severed just above the ankles as she rode the Superman Tower of Power thrill ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom on June 21.

Investigators with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture said they have taken a cable they believe broke and severed Lasitter’s feet, Wilbur Frye, executive director of the department’s Office of Consumer and Environmental Protection, has said. The investigation will continue for several more weeks, Frye said.

Lasitter’s mother, Monique Lasitter, thanked the doctors, nurses and hospital staff for their work.

“We would not want her to be at any other hospital during this difficult time,” the statement said.

The state has been trying to determine what caused the cable to break. Investigators were taking written statements from witnesses, reviewing statements and analyzing physical evidence and photographs of the scene, Frye said.

The ride was last inspected April 5 and found to be operating normally, Frye said. The ride passed inspection in each of the last four years, according to records.

The ride lifts passengers 177 feet straight up, then drops them nearly the same distance at speeds reaching 54 miles per hour.

Six Flags had shut down similar rides for safety inspections at parks in St. Louis; Gurnee, Ill.; and near Washington as a safety precaution, said Wendy Goldberg, a spokeswoman for Six Flags.

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