Food Additive Alters Gut Bacteria

 the cancers that affect both men and women, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer-related death. New research - published in the journal Cancer Research - suggests a very common food additive might play a role in its development.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 136,119 Americans were diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2013.

Risk factors for developing the condition include inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis.

What IBD and colorectal cancer have in common is an alteration in the gut microbiota.

An overview of recent scientific literature shows that changes in the microbiota have become increasingly associated with colorectal cancer.

This is why Dr. Emilie Viennois, assistant professor at the Georgia State University Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Atlanta, believes there might be a connection between a common food additive that alters intestinal microbiota and colorectal cancer.

The role of intestinal microbiota in colorectal cancer

There are over 100 trillion microorganisms living in the gut, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The microbiota is made of the physiological interaction between the host's microorganisms and the ones introduced from the environment.

The microbiota is acquired during the first stages of life and varies with every individual. Having a diverse and balanced microbiota is crucial in keeping a healthy immune system.

Severe changes in the microbiota, either as a result of changing one's diet, lifestyle, or because of an infection, can alter the symbiotic relationship between the host microorganisms and the environmental ones, leading to IBD.

IBD promotes the formation of tumors in the colon. Low-grade inflammation, which has been associated with changes in the microbiota and metabolic disease, has also been observed in many cases of colorectal cancer.

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A Six-Hour Workday Could Be Good For You!

It may sound counterintuitive, but working less could actually result in higher productivity. Seriously.

Although many of us continue the tradition of working at least eight hours per day, with an hour's break in the middle -- if we're lucky -- a recent study found that productivity is actually highest when people spend fewer hours working, according to researchers at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which examined working hours in several countries over a period of 22 years.

In fact, one paper (PDF) suggested that output actually starts to fall if people work more than 48 hours per week. Data on munition plant workers in Britain during World War I showed that long hours led to fatigue and stress that not only reduce productivity, they make accidents, errors and sickness more likely.

A hundred years later, we're still facing the same issues. Today, working overtime has been linked (PDF) tohigher rates of injury, illness, weight gain, alcohol use and smoking and, in general, an increased risk of mortality. One study found that putting in long hours could result in a 40% higher likelihood of coronary heart disease, compared with people who work standard hours.

Reducing our working hours could, therefore, make a huge difference to our health and well-being, in turn enabling us to work more efficiently. In Sweden, this theory is being put to the test -- with promising results.

Source: CNN

Worrying About Health Increases Heart Disease Risk!

Anxiety is a serious health concern affecting a large part of the American population. Now, new research indicates that health anxiety might increase the risk of heart disease.

In the United States, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness, affecting 40 million adults, or 18 percent of the population.

Anxiety is a known risk factor for heart disease. Previous research indicates a connection between depression and anxiety and the risk of coronary heart disease.

A meta-analysis found that anxious people have a 48 percent higher risk of dying from a heart problem.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), killing 365,000 people in 2014.

New research suggests that the consequences of health anxiety are also serious and the condition should be treated properly.

Health anxiety describes a patient's excessive worrying over having a serious illness, and seeking medical advice in the absence of a physical disease.

Patients with health anxiety misread physical symptoms as serious illnesses, and they often seek repeated medical help for the same issues. In its most intense form, health anxiety becomes hypochondria.

Source: MedNewsToday

5 Things People With Hidden Depression May Do

If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth, said Abraham Lincoln, who often wrote about his depression.

Depression can be one of the hardest and most misunderstood things to deal with. Despite many attempts which have been made to single out an explanation, one outdoes the other. Though generalizing symptoms of a severe condition such as depression is hard, we have penned down a few of these, which may help you point it out in yourself or others:

Trying hard to conceal it

Can you understand? Someone, somewhere, can you understand me a little, love me a little?
- Sylvia Plath

When we think of depression, what comes to our mind is a person sitting by himself, head facing down, locked in his room, often in a dimly-lit setting. Well, the first step towards understanding depression is doing away with this stereotype. A depressed person may look as cheerful, as outgoing and as happy as anyone. But that’s only starkly juxtaposed with what is going on inside their minds. So, if someone tells you that they are depressed while they wear the best of their smiles, don’t ask them if they are kidding.



Displaying irritation and anger too often

Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced… Sad hurts, but it’s a healthy feeling. It is a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.
- J.K. Rowling
Source: thetimesofindia.com

Energy Drinks Linked to Hepatitis in New Case Study

Most of us have consumed energy drinks at one point or another, either because of a looming deadline or during a fun night out. Although energy drinks are often perceived as harmless, a new case report links the beverages to liver damage, after a previously healthy man developed hepatitis from consuming too many.

In the United States, most energy drinks are consumed by young males between 18-34 years of age. Almost one third of teenagers between 12-17 years old consume energy drinks regularly, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH).

Between 2007-2011, the number of energy drink-related emergency department visits in the U.S. doubled. Main concerns regard the combined use of energy drinks with alcohol, which leads to excessive binge drinking.

As for the contents of an energy drink, it is believed that caffeine and sugar pose the greatest threat to consumers' health.

According to a new case report, however, there may be something in energy drinks that can cause liver damage.

The report details a 50-year-old man who was admitted to the hospital for acute hepatitis. The patient had reportedly consumed four to five energy drinks per day for more than 3 weeks.

This is a very rare occurrence; there is only one other case, in which a 22-year-old woman developed acute hepatitis from consuming energy drinks in excess.

Source: MedNewsToday

'Only Drink Water When Thirsty,' study suggests

Popular notion holds that eight glasses of water is the optimal amount to drink each day, but many people find this hard to achieve. Now, a new study may shed light on why, after identifying a swallowing mechanism that stops us from consuming too much liquid when we are not thirsty.

Given that around 60 percent of human body weight is made up of water, it is no surprise that water is essential for human health, aiding every bodily function.

But how much water do we need to drink on a daily basis?

While you may have heard that eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day - known as the "8x8 rule" - is the aim, there is no scientific evidence that pinpoints precisely how much fluid is the optimal amount.

Based on studies to date, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommend that women should aim to drink around 2.2 liters of total beverages daily (around 9 cups), while men should aim to consume around 3 liters of total beverages daily (around 13 cups).

However, contrary to these recommendations and the so-called 8x8 rule, the new study suggests we should only drink when we are thirsty, after discovering a mechanism that makes drinking excess water challenging.

Study co-author Michael Farrell, of the Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University in Australia, and colleagues publish their finding in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: MedNewsToday

Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK)

Under National Rural Health Mission, significant progress has been made in reducing mortality in children over the last seven years (2005-12). Whereas there is an advance in reducing child mortality there is a dire need to improving survival outcome. This would be reached by early detection and management of conditions that were not addressed comprehensively in the past.

According to March of Dimes (2006), out of every 100 babies born in this country annually, 6 to 7 have a birth defect. This would translate to around 17 lakhs birth defects annually in the country and accounts for 9.6% of all the newborn deaths. Various nutritional deficiencies affecting the preschool children range from 4 per cent to 70 per cent. Developmental delays are common in early childhood affecting at least 10 percent of the children. These delays if not intervened timely may lead to permanent disabilities including cognitive, hearing or vision impairment. Also, there are group of diseases common in children viz. dental caries, rheumatic heart disease, reactive airways diseases etc. Early detection and management diseases including deficiencies bring added value in preventing these conditions to progress to its more severe and debilitating form and thereby reducing hospitalization and improving implementation of Right to Education.

Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) is an important initiative aiming at early identification and early intervention for children from birth to 18 years to cover 4 ‘D’s viz. Defects at birth, Deficiencies, Diseases, Development delays including disability.

Source: nrhm.gov.in