Three Cups of Tea a Day Protect Women – But Not Men

Tea has been proven to protect women against heart attacks and strokes. Tea is not exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to show gender disparity – however, the latest research indicated that the millennia-old drink of mixed hot water and herbs has a documented tendency of proving more beneficial for women than for men - at least when it comes to its documented property of helping prevent heart attacks and strokes by fighting against the development of plaque in the arteries.

During a recent study, French researchers examined 2,613 men and 3,984 women with an average age of 73 and concluded that one third of the women who drank upwards of three cups of tea a day had plaques in their neck arteries. For the women who didn't drink tea, the number of subjects who had dangerous build-ups of fat and cholesterol in their arteries was around 50%. However, the same study, conducted by the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, based in Paris and Lille proved that the men who drank tea regularly didn't reap the same health benefits as the ladies.

The beneficial effects of the tea were even felt by women with high blood pressure. There's no explanation as to why men gain no protection as a result of regular tea consumption, but it is believed that there might be some complementary connection between tea and estrogen, the female hormone which (among many other things) protects women against heart problems.

"Findings in dietary studies are often confounded by other factors such as presence of disease in those taking part and other lifestyle behaviors. However, in this study, findings did not depend on whether the women were smoking or not, whether or not they took hormone replacement therapy and whether or not they suffered from vascular disease", stated Dr. Catherine Hood, a member of the Tea Advisory Panel in Britain, the world's largest per-capita consumer of tea, averaging about 3.5 to 4.0 cups per day. "No significant interaction was found with level of education, or fruit and vegetable intake", she added. So, ladies, what are we waiting for – put the kettle on and enjoy the benefits of a delicious cup of tea.

SOurce: news.softpedia.com

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No Fats for Children is Dangerous

No Fats for Children is Dangerous - Children need fats in their diet. If you think you can help your little child become a fashion model, that's very risky. A new research showed that parents who eliminate all types of fats from their children's alimentation could cause serious health issues for their kids.

It is well known fact that some amount of 'good' fats, like olive and sunflower oils, is crucial for proper growth and development. But the increasing children obesity level has pushed many families to adopt low-fat diets for their children. The number of overweight children has doubled in ten years, now 25 % of the children aged 11-15 being classified as obese - so fat that their health is threatened.

The new research reveals that children burn more fat than adults do, related to each calorie spent, so that they store fat with more difficulty. This means the parents do not need to go to extremes.

The team led by Dr John Kostyak at the Pennsylvania State University assessed the burning rate of body fat in ten children aged six to ten, and in ten adults. All the subjects were middle weighed relatively to their age and sex. They were given the same common American diet for three days before the tests, even if the adults received larger meals.

The subjects' oxygen consume and carbon dioxide residue, as also heat production, were measured in a calorimeter room and a hood system, for nine hours on three separate days at a low physical activity level (like watching movies or reading).

The researchers also counted the nitrogen levels in the volunteers' urine to see how much fat they burned. The total fat burned level in a day was the same for both children and adults. This meant that children burned much more fat linked to the energy they used, in grams of burned fat per calorie of energy consume, about 50 % more. Women and girls burned more fat than men and boys of similar age did.

Other researches had shown that dietary fats are essential for normal growth, as they contain fat-soluble vitamins (like A and D), vital for the development of eyesight, bones and other organs. "Sufficient fat must be included in the diet for children to support normal growth and development.", said Kostyak.

"Children need the fatty acids and omega 3 found in fat, and fat soluble vitamins A,D and E for growth, development and eyesight. There is a risk parents could think that all fat is bad for their children - some years ago we had a phenomenon known as Muesli Belt syndrome where parents went to extremes with food that didn't contain all the nutrients they need." said Jacqui Lowdon, of the British Dietetic Association.

"35 % of calories from a healthy diet should come from fat, ideally polyunsaturated and mono-unsaturated fats such as olive and sunflower oils. These set up healthy eating patterns for life", she added.


Source: news.softpedia.com

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Working Mothers Have Fatter Children

Working Mothers Have Fatter Children - Their children get bad food habits. This is one of the most unexpected results related to the emancipation of women: kids get increasingly fatter. A novel study made at the University of Bristol and published in Research in Public Policy from the Center for Market and Public Organization revealed that children aged 5 to 7, whose mothers had a full-time job had more chances of being overweight at 16. There was no sudden effect but children turned more obese with the age.

The body mass index (BMI), assessing weight correlated to height, revealed that rates of obesity in British children aged 2 to 10 boosted from 1995 to 2003 from 10 % to 15 % (in boys) and for girls the rate was 10% - 13 %. There was also an upward tendency in the number of employed women aged 16 to 59: from 59 % in 1971 to 74 % in 2007.

Previous American studies had found a correlation between full-time employed mothers and increased childhood obesity. This new study investigates whether a child's age when the mother goes out to work affects the child’s weight later in life. The new research used data coming from two British birth cohorts: the 1958 National Child Development Study and the 1970 British Cohort Survey.

The results revealed that children aged 5 to 7, with full-time employed mothers presented a likelihood increased by 5 - 8 % to be overweight, no matter the gender of the children. While the mother is outside, children’s eating habits are affected.

As mothers have less time for cooking, families increasingly eat out or buy ready-made food, often junk food. The other persons who take care of the children can come up with wrong food choices. Imagine a grandma offering sugar-filled or fatty food items to the children, as these addicting types of food could lead to a bond between her and her grandchildren.

When parents are out, children are more likely to remain indoors watching TV or playing computer games while consuming junk food rather than playing outside wasting calories.

Obesity turns obvious when the child is between 5 and 7 years old because it's when children’s food preferences and habits develop, due to an inner mechanism or because they start going to school.


Source: news.softpedia.com

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Vegetarian Burgers Are Veritable Salt Bombs

Research has pointed out that vegetarian burgers and sausages contain the same amount of salt as five bags of chips
We live in the age of fast-food and whether we like it or not, hamburgers and sausages are pretty much part of our daily lives to a greater extent than we'd like to admit. By its very definition, fast food is a quick, easy-fix apparent solution for those evenings when we're feeling too tired or when we're not motivated to cook proper food.

However, as we very well know, fast food equals junk food and for those of us struggling to lead healthy, well-balanced lifestyles the calorific bomb hidden in today's appetizing fast-food products is a definite no-no. However, some of us may have imagined at some point that the so-called "meat-free", vegetarian products can occasionally act as healthier replacements for the traditional beef and pork – only to be proven wrong.

The latest research indicates that replacing old-fashioned junk food with vegetarian substitutes may turn out to be even worse than actually eating a traditional burger. A study conducted by the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) association revealed that some vegetarian burgers and sausages contain the same amount of salt as five bags of chips.

The maximum recommended daily salt intake for an adult is about 6 grams, while for children it ranges somewhere between 3 and 5 grams a day. However, more than one brand of vegetarian sausages currently available on the market contain no less than 5.6g of salt per serving – which means that eating only one such sausage would give you the amount of salt needed for a whole day. And let's face it – how many of us can stop after just one?

"With the barbecue season already upon us, many people may think that going meat-free is a healthier option. We would urge them to look carefully at the labeling to help make sure that they are buying lower-salt products wherever they can", urged CASH nutritionist Carrie Bolt. "Confusingly, many of these products give only the sodium levels on pack. These need to be multiplied by 2.5 to get the salt levels".

Excess salt consumption, nutritionists and heart disease specialists warn us, is very bad news for our health. "We all need to make sure we eat less salt, as the amount that we currently eat puts up our blood pressure and this is the major cause of strokes and heart attacks", warned Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at St George's Hospital Medical School in London, quoted by the Daily Mail. Keep a close eye on your salt intake, and if possible, avoid eating such products altogether – it may be tough on your appetite, but you're definitely giving your heart a helping hand.


Source: news.softpedia.com

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Vitamins and Healthy Sperm

Mexican men know the secret of the chili. It's about folate, a vitamin abundant in liver, leafy green vegetables, citrus fruits, sunflower seeds and legumes (beans and their relatives). It may sound more familiar to you that women of child-bearing age must have proper levels of folate (vitamin B9) in their diet for delivering healthy babies, but a new study published in the journal Human Reproduction and carried out by a team at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reveals that what the father eats counts too. And guess what? Folate levels in male diet appears to have the same importance. Low levels of this vitamin have been connected to sperm chromosomal abnormalities.

"Our study is the first to look at the effects of diet on chromosomal abnormalities in sperm. These abnormalities would cause either miscarriages or children with genetic syndromes if the sperm fertilized an egg," said co-author Suzanne Young, at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health.

Folate is required for the synthesis of DNA, RNA and proteins during cell division. It also controls the levels of homocysteine, an amino acid which can cause heart issues when overcoming a certain threshold.

Low levels of folate in women just before and during pregnancy (less than 400 mg daily) has been connected to greatly increased risk of embryos developing neural tube malformations, like spina bifida or anencephaly (undeveloped brain). Many countries (US started from 1998) require the addition of folate to breads, cereals and other grain products. Follow-ups connected this measure with a drop in the cases of neural tube birth defects.

Sperm health and diet

1 to 4 % of a healthy male's sperm displays abnormal chromosome numbers (aneuploidy), a result of defective meiosis. Eggs fertilized by such a sperm develop into an embryo prone to miscarriage or a fetus with aneuploidy, translated to severe conditions (for example, an extra chromosome 21 is the cause of Down syndrome while an extra X chromosome in boys triggers Klinefelter syndrome).

The research was made on a poll of 97 men, aged 22 to 80, current or ex-employees of a government research laboratory. The subjects were chosen after excluding smokers and subjects with already known fertility issues. Questionnaires assessed average intake of dietary and supplemental nutrients. One week later, semen samples were collected. The team considered factors like age, alcohol use and medical history.

Subjects having the highest consume of folate had 19 % less aneuploid sperm cells than those with moderate folate consume, and 20 % lower rates compared to subjects consuming low levels of folate.

"Increasing folate intake can be as simple as taking a vitamin supplement with at least 400 micrograms of folate or eating breakfast cereal fortified with 100% of the RDA [recommended daily intake] for folic acid. In addition, green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, can have up to 100 micrograms of folate per serving," said Young.

Various nutrients in the diet were taken into account.

"The results of the different analyses were different, which gave us some confidence that we could look at the effect of these micronutrients separately. The definitive way to answer this question would be with a randomized control trial with folate supplementation," said Young.

The team did not find a connection between sperm aneuploidy and the other nutrients, like zinc, calcium, beta-carotene and other vitamins. Researchers warn that momentarily this is just a connection, as the cause-and-effect relationship has not been investigated.

"We did come up with enough evidence to justify a larger, clinical and pharmacological trial in men to examine the causal relationships between dietary folate levels and chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm. This information will help us set dietary folate levels that may reduce the risk of miscarriage or birth defects linked to the fathers," said lead researcher Andrew Wyrobek, chair of the Radiation Biosciences Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

So, did you get your daily 400 mg of folate?


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