http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2010/06/24/ginger-reduces-
pain-after-exercise.aspx
Ginger may reduce
the pain associated with muscle injury after exercising. This could
offer athletes a natural pain reliever.
Both raw and
heat-treated ginger reduced pain associated with muscle injury by about
24 percent.
According to
NutraIngredients:
"The rhizome of
the ginger plant (Zingiber officinale) is a rich source of antioxidants,
including gingerols, shogaols, zingerones and other ketone derivatives
... ginger's pain reducing effects are biologically plausible with both
in vitro and in vivo animal studies showing an effect of gingerols,
shogaols, and zingerones on inflammatory compounds."
Sources:
NutraIngredients
June 3, 2010
The Journal
of Pain April 23, 2010; [Epub ahead of print]
---------------------------------
TV Linked to
Depression
http://www.toyourhealth.com/mpacms/tyh/article.php?id=1311
There are
drawbacks to our increasing dependence on the boob tube, some of which
have been documented via research. Studies show that the more television
children watch, the more likely they are to become overweight and to
have problems with attention span. And according to a recent study
involving adolescents, excessive television viewing can do something
else: increase the risk of suffering depression, an all-too-common
condition with potentially serious consequences.
According to the
study, adolescents who reported "more television use had significantly
greater odds of developing depression for each additional hour of daily
television use. In addition, those reporting more total media exposure
had significantly greater odds of developing depression for each
additional hour of daily use."
Interestingly
enough, the researchers did not find the same relationship to depression
for adolescents who were exposed to videocassettes, computer games, or
radio. For parents, that's an important distinction, because it means
that reducing your children's overall exposure to these items apparently
won't cut it; if they're spending excessive time watching TV, reducing
that time is what needs to happens to reduce your children's risk of
suffering depression.
The American
Academy of Pediatrics recommends children be exposed to no more than one
to two hours of "total media time" per day.
---------------------------------
What Kids Eat Is
Tied to Asthma Risk
By Todd Neale,
Staff Writer, MedPage Today
June 02, 2010
http://www.medpagetoday.com/AllergyImmunology/Asthma/20449
Eating a
Mediterranean diet -- one high in fruits, fish, and vegetables and low
in saturated fat -- is associated with a reduced likelihood of asthma in
children, a large observational study reaffirmed.
Overall, choosing
foods increasingly similar to a Mediterranean diet was associated with a
lower prevalence of both wheeze and asthma Gabriele Nagel, MD, MPH, of
Ulm University in Germany, and colleagues reported in the June issue of
Thorax.
In contrast,
children who ate burgers at least three times a week had increased odds
of having asthma. "Fast food is rich in industrially hydrogenated
vegetable fats such as margarine and meat from ruminant animals which
are dietary sources of trans-fatty acids," the researchers noted. "There
is some evidence that dietary intake of trans-fatty acids is associated
with asthma and atopy."
The findings
support previous studies that identified links between increased
consumption of fish, fruits, and vegetables with reduced asthma
symptoms, although the researchers noted that causal connections could
not be established.
"These findings
show the need for further studies to determine if this type of diet in
an interventional study will have the same effect," Wesley Burks, MD,
chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at Duke University Medical
Center, commented in an e-mail.
"But," he added,
"I would not deliberately change someone's diet based on this
observation alone."
There is some
biological plausibility regarding a link between the Mediterranean diet
and risk of asthma and allergy, the study authors noted.
Certain fish are
rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which have
anti-inflammatory properties and have been shown to counterbalance pro-
allergic T helper (Th)2 activity. Fruits and vegetables are high in
antioxidants, which have been shown to be inversely related to asthma in
adults.
So, according to
Stephen Cook, MD, MPH, a pediatrician at the University of Rochester
Medical Center in New York, "it would make some sense that higher levels
of consumption of these [Mediterranean] diets would be beneficial,
especially among those who would benefit the most from the protective
effect."
When the
researchers looked at how often certain foods were eaten, they found
that the odds of ever having asthma were lower among those who consumed
fruit, raw green vegetables, and cooked vegetables at least three times
a week (OR 0.85, 0.86, and 0.86, respectively).
The findings are
consistent with previous studies in children, according to Nagel and
colleagues.
Addressing the
limitations of the study, Keith-Thomas Ayoob, EdD, RD, of Albert
Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, pointed out that there
was no information on dietary supplements or consumption of certain food
groups, such as dairy.
"It's very
possible that kids whose diets lack adequate fruits and vegetables and
fish are also lacking in certain nutrients, that they are overweight,
that their diets lack calcium, and on and on," Ayoob said in an e-mail.
"There are missing
pieces here," he continued, "so I would advise parents to make it a
priority of ensuring that children get enough fruits, vegetables, and
low-fat dairy foods on a daily basis, whether or not their kids have
asthma."
Primary source:
Thorax Nagel G, et al "Effect of diet on asthma and allergic
sensitization in the International Study on Allergies and Asthma in
Childhood (ISAAC) Phase Two" Thorax 2010; 65: 516-22.
