Cut Down On Soft Drinks And Beverages

Reduce Exposure To Health Vulnerabilities

Why are you consuming so much sugar? Why has your sugar consumption been increasing all of a sudden these past few years? You know very well that excess sugar is not good for health. Despite this knowledge, the world has been gulping down sugar like there is no tomorrow.


Actually, while we may be quite conscious and do not consume sugar directly, the extra sugar consumption has been happening surreptitiously in the form of "added sugars" introduced by vendors in soft drinks, fruit drinks, desserts, sugars and jellies, candy, ready-to-eat cereals and the like, in the name of enhancing the taste and quality of their products. This jump in sugar-intake gets stored in some energy form or the other in the body. If this is not enough, add yummy foods such as salty snacks, pizza, fries and cheeseburgers - make you salivate internally, don't they? - that supplement our sugary liquids. Ideally, the excess energy must be burnt by way of physical exercise. However, while data shows that over the past 30 years, our total calorie intake has risen by anywhere between 150 and 300 calories per day, we have also tended to become more lethargic, more sedentary and less physically active. We have also decreased our intake of fruits and vegetables, whatever fruit and vegetable we get is by nibbling the toppings that the chefs in our favorite restaurant and fast-food joint sprinkle on our favorite dish. We do not any health expert to tell us the consequence of all this. The consequence of our actions is self-evident when we see ourselves in the mirror - no, the lards don't hide themselves and they also don't lie.


There is now concrete, numeric data available that correlates increased sugar consumption, decreased fruit consumption and sedentary lifestyle with obesity. For example, a survey of 548 school kids from four communities in Massachusetts in the US showed that for every additional can of sugar-sweetened drink consumed, the kids registered a proportionate increase in BMI, with their lifestyle remaining unchanged during the period of survey. When cola companies came out with bigger-sized cans for their beverage, and unleashed a campaign blitzkrieg that bullied our minds into buying those jumbo cans, they unintentionally made us more vulnerable to health complications, of which obesity is just one manifestation. Examples of even more exotic conditions that lurk round the corner just waiting to pounce - if they haven't done so already - include hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes... and this list is only just begun.


The message from the health research community has been unequivocal: cut down your intake of soft drinks and sugar-sweetened beverages. This will, they say, also cut down the excess calories that you are tempted to get the beverages to wash down by way of ordering those fast foods. This one act will do wonders for your health, they assure.


True to nature, alarmed by the statement issued by the health research community, the American Beverage Association has come out with a press release that gives their side of the story. Which is understandable, of course - they are in damage control mode, the annual general meeting of next year where they have to present their financial statements to the stakeholders must loom uppermost. For you and me, at the end of the day, it is a matter of achieving a balance between indulging in one's senses and a Spartan but healthy living style.


[Understanding the consequence of high sugar intake on physical health is a must. Even more important - indeed, all-encompassingly-important - is understanding the consequence of holding the correct thoughts in our mind at all times. What is the connection between thoughts and health? Read about it here: "Well-being And The Science Of Matter-Energy Continuum".]

Stop Tumor Growth With This New Technique

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* Image of CyberKnife Equipment, from CyberKnife Center, Miami (http://www.cyberknifemiami.com/)
SBRT Is Non-Invasive, Quick & Effective
The cells in our body are, by nature, very disciplined. Most of the time. That is why we can continue to lead our lives without much worry. It is like our human society. Most of us are law-abiding. We obey the rules, and that is why negotiating our way through the society becomes predictable and easy. When we break the rules, things go out of control. This is precisely what happens with the cells in our body. Sometimes they simply go berserk and revolt. At other times they become so over-enthusiastic in fending off some alien attacker that is threatening the body, that they overstep their boundary. And when their revolt results in more and more of their progeny getting produced, we have what we call "tumors", also known as neoplasms in medical lingo.

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* Image of tumor on face, Salt Lake Community College, SLCC.edu.
These formations can be felt as tiny lumps when they are on the skin, and they can also form deep inside the body in the most unreachable of places. Like a good devil and a bad devil, the tumors can be benign as well as malignant. But then, a devil is a devil, whether good or bad, and curing the tumor is therefore usually advisable. Some therapies claim to remove the tumors naturally. Usually however, medical practitioners go in for surgery to lop off the tumor with their knife. This requires invasive techniques, the patient's body has to be cut in the appropriate place, so that the gloved hands can reach inside, locate the tumor, and apply the knife. Sewing back the patient, followed by recovery can put the patient out of action for the next four days to four weeks.


A new technique is rising rapidly on the horizon that is non-invasive, meaning it does not require people to be cut up. Patients can simply walk in, register as outpatient, undergo the treatment, and walk out the same day in some cases, and perhaps even report to work the next day. There is no hospitalization, no anesthesia, and no rehabilitation. This is the miracle of "Radiosurgery", also known medically as Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy, SBRT for short. The treatment deploys equipment that first locates the position of the tumor in the patient's supine body to the last micrometer. A specially-designed gun then shoots very high-energy radiation on the tumor in mathematically-measured dosage. The radiation reads out the riot act to the rampaging cells. This has the desired effect of cooling their libido, so that production of further progeny stops, and the tumor's growth is halted.


The body of papers reporting the success experienced with SBRT has been steadily growing. The best advantage of this technique is its ability to access the most-difficult-to-reach tumors and halt their growth. In case you have tumorous growth which you have been loathe taking care of because of the tedium of surgery and the boring post-surgery convalescence involved, the SBRT might be a good option to explore.

[Tumor cells are cells that forget their purpose in life. Somewhere along the way, they lose track of their mission. We too are at times a culprit of losing track of our mission. We fritter away the precious moments in our life doing irrelevant and inconsequential things. Reflect on how to live a life that matters, here: "Choose To Live A Life That Matters".]

Things To Tell The Kid At The Breakfast / Dining Table

Teach Them How To Handle The Bullies In Their Life
Parents intuitively know how their kid will fare when in the midst of bullies in school. This knowledge comes to them automatically. It is partly out of their own predisposition towards the concept of bullying, partly out of their own experiences as a child, and partly as they watch the child growing up from the cradle onward. For parents whose kids are physically and / or mentally sturdy, there is absolutely no problem. They can bask under the self-glorifying tales recounted by the kids after they return home from school about how they made life hell for this boy or that girl. But for parents whose kids are at the receiving end of aggression? To say that it is a bit of a challenge is an euphemism.


It is alright to airily dismiss the problem as a ritual - a rite of passage - that everybody has to go through at some time or the other. Oh, don't worry, the kid will cope. Now is the best time for them to get a taste of what the wide world is going to be outside the cocooned shelter of the home. Indeed it will be good if they can cope with the situation and come out on top. Because, the lessons learnt in these episodes will mentally prepare the child for the tougher times when facing stalking by strangers or acquaintances, when facing physical bullying or verbal taunts from peers and colleagues in the workplace, and when handling manipulative bosses or supervisors who think employees are slaves, always willing to go down on their fours to get their promotion or to keep their job.


Besides hoping that the child will work out their own strategies to cope with any bullying they might be facing, there are things we can do that can work as a shield for the child in all circumstances, now as well as when they lead their adult life. The best place to begin is at the breakfast and / or the dining table. Sermonizing, finger-wagging, and edgy tones do not work of course. Light, humor-laced conversation that subtly delivers the right messages is a skill that we need to learn to imbibe as parents / caregivers.


This setting is the best time when the child's receptive mind can absorb finer points about how they are not alone, and that for every single enemy, they can rally around two allies from amongst the crowd of the other kids. The child finds it useful to wolf down, along with the nutritious cereals on the table, thoughts such as how brave and fearless they innately are, and that it does not matter if the other party appears to have more physical strength, because there is some or the other flaw that makes everybody vulnerable, and because there is always going to be something that the child excels in which the other party is no good at and which can ultimately make the child a winner. The child begins to discover their inner strength when they are repeatedly told that they are the best human being in the world, and that the taunts and the teasing and the name-calling can be handled good-humoredly and in more positive ways than by mere sulking or by withdrawing into some shell. The kid can also be made aware about the existence of something known as "justice", in the form of the administration at the level of the school, a wider law that regulates the wider public, as well as a still wider Law that shepherds the entire cosmos, and that having the law by one's side is the best way to lead a peaceful and trouble-free life.


The kid won't consciously understand what it is they are receiving at the breakfast / dinner table, along with the food. But when the time comes for them to be parents themselves... they will know.

[In front of children, we have to, at times, put on a brave front, and project ourselves as one who has all the experience and the wisdom to dispense the right advise. But we know, deep in the heart, of situations which we have no clue how to handle. This article might give insights into handling situations where the brain simply refuses to work: "When Facing Troubles - Focus On The End Outcome You Want".]

Schizophrenics - A New Once-Monthly Antipsychotic Now Available

A New Choice Available To People With This Condition
The inability to distinguish between reality and hallucination - this is what distinguishes schizophrenics from the rest of humanity. Like the virtual worlds that we see in computer simulation applications, the schizophrenic weaves a whole fantasy world that exists only in their mind. And they dwell in this world often for long times, only to occasionally emerge to reconnect with the others.


Psychopharmacological interventions for this neuropsychiatric condition require consistent and regular medication. However, it has been found that consistency in taking oral medications is the first casualty. People simply miss popping the tablets on time, or they discontinue medication altogether, due to a host of reasons - side effects, absence of support from family or society, non-affordability are just a few. For schizophrenics, the consequence of this non-adherence to medication is relapse, usually at least once within five years of diagnosis. And relapse in the case of schizophrenia leads to worse degeneration compared to other major mental illnesses, with an increased risk for suicide and mortality. Getting them to continue taking medications, therefore, is a major challenge facing researchers.


In this backdrop, a new alternative to oral medication has been recently approved by the FDA. "Invega Sustenna", manufactured by Janssen, a division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharma Inc, is administered as an injection in the deltoid muscle. After the first injection, the second injection is given 8 days later; and then for all subsequent injections the patient has to visit the doctor once a month. What does this drug do? Consistent administration delays the relapse - the schizophrenic continues to stay rooted into reality for a longer duration, and is held back from reentering their world of hallucinations and fantasies.


Like most psychopharmacological interventions, the Invega Sustenna too comes with a long list of caveats. This drug cannot be given to the elderly - it puts them to a higher risk of death. Some people have been found to develop symptoms such as high fever, rigidity in muscles or twitching and / or jerky movements in the body (Tardive Dyskinesia) or seizures, profuse sweating, akathisia or restlessness, abnormal change in heart rhythm, high blood sugar and diabetes, obesity, sexual dysfunction, dizziness, sleepiness,... and this is just a partial list. When the patient is under the Invega Sustenna treatment, rigorous care and careful monitoring by family members is therefore called for.


Side-effects are unfortunately a way of life with modern medicine. Taking full cognizance of the side-effects, given that the injections are an improvement over the earlier oral tablets to the extent that they can at least prevent the missing out of the dosage administration, schizophrenics now have on offer one more choice to not return to their personal world of hallucinations, and to get well.

[It is all quite well to say that medications have side-effects, and that one must be careful about them. But is there any side-effect-free, non-psychopharmacological intervention that can address mental health conditions such as schizophrenia without any pain and without any tears? Turns out that such an intervention is emerging on the medical horizon. This article discusses: "Exploring The Fourth State Of Consciousness".]

Prostate Cancer And Dairy Products

Research Points To Milk Possibly Being The Culprit
The prostate, a gland found in the male of all animal species, functions as a storehouse of seminal fluid that acts as gravy for sperms when they begin their onward journey. Accumulating in the epididymis sacs in raw, pristine, semi-dry state, the sperms get drenched in the seminal fluid when they enter and pass through the prostate portal. Floating in this fluid, the sperms are assured of a safe passage as they negotiate their way through the acidic tracts before the competition begins for the trophy of the ovum. This walnut shaped module must have been plugged thoughtfully in place in the reproductive mechanism by the Designer In-charge, no doubt concerned about the well-being of the warriors on whose tiny shoulders the enormous responsibility of procreation lies. May you succeed in your mission; the walnut seems to bless the warriors as it showers the fluid on them with abandon. However, going by the number of cancers of the prostate that men around the world carry inside them; it appears that their relationship with the wise walnut is paradoxically less than comfortable.

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* Prostate with a metal instrument pierced through it, wiki.

The epidemiology of prostate cancer gives an intriguing graph. While Asian men appear to be least at risk of an outbreak of prostate-cell rebellion; African American and Scandinavian hunks experience the revolt of prostate cells most susceptibly. The etiology of the condition has been equally intriguing, with the observation that migrants from low-risk countries to high-risk countries succumbing to the condition more readily --- pointing out to both environmental and lifestyle factors being major perpetrators.

The expert report published by the World Cancer Research Fund in 2007 has come out with data that point to the possibility of dairy products - that contain abundant calcium - playing a role in provoking the cells that make up the walnut to go crazy and behave abnormally. Ergo, the milk that one has been drinking for so long might have something to do with the pain in the pelvic region one has been experiencing for some while, and which the doctor suspects might be prostate cancer.

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The report published by the WCRF in 2007.
Milk and other dairy products are so much a part and parcel of our lifestyle, ever since childhood. After getting scrubbed and spruced up and ready for school, the last item on the agenda before rushing off out of the house used to be - and continues to be - the mandatory glass of milk that parents / caregivers thrust into the tiny tots' hands. Traditional wisdom emphasizes the contribution of calcium to our diet that a glass of milk supplies. But no, there is a problem with this milk, the researchers now say. Further, more refined research within the sub-group of dairy products of whole milk, low-fat milk, skim milk, cheese and yogurt, has pointed the needle of suspicion towards skim milk and low-/non-fat milk. Is this what migrants from low-risk countries to high-risk countries switch to, in their attempt to adapt to their new environment? May be the ingredients that are removed from whole milk on its way to being converted to skim milk are the real nutrition that the cells of the prostate yearn for the most?



However, the jury is still out, and the final verdict is yet to be given. Caution being better than cure, therefore if you are a male, or if there is some male who is under your care, you might consider restricting the diet to minimal dairy products. And keep in touch with the latest developments on the research on prostate cancer.


[Besides the challenges of cancers of various types that the human body has to face during the lifetime, there is this even bigger challenge for which science still does not have a solution. Read about this challenge - from a metaphysical perspective - here: "When The Connect Between The 4D And The Ethereal, Shrivels".]

Balancing Work And Family

Don't Let Work Tensions Spill Over Into Home, And Vice-versa
Years ago, a story used to be recounted on the internet about how a businessman, very aggressive and tension-prone at work, would, while returning back home, indulge in a small ritual. I don't remember the exact details, but he would remove his footwear nearby, bow before a small tree in front of his house or hang his tool on one of its branches, murmur some prayer of gratitude, and only then step into the house. This small act would transform him from a teeth-gnashing, foul-mouthing, fist-waving fearsome bread-earner to a very genteel and loving husband and a doting father. The implicit moral of the story that must have been sought to be propagated is that people must learn to demarcate workplace from home.


Though this small story might be a part of folklore, work-family research has taken such anecdotes seriously. The person who stands before the mirror everyday to get dressed, then commutes to a workplace to spend the next few, contracted hours performing productive labor, and then commutes back home to take rest and sleep just so that they can get up the next morning and repeat the same cycle --- may outwardly appear to be quite their normal self to the newspaper hawker and the florist they pass by en route. But peep inside, and quite possibly a can of angst-riddled soul reveals itself. Conforming to organizational expectations takes its toll on both physical and emotional health. Peer competition, coupled with demands of overload and working against deadlines - imposed artificially by self-serving supervisors or set ruthlessly by bang-for-the-buck-seeking clients - further add fuel to the proverbial fire. The outcome? The person commuting back home is not the normal self that the newspaper hawker and the florist think they see, but a very exhausted and battered and fatigued being who longs for the comfort of the familiar couch or sofa back home.


The problem arises when we do not, like the businessman in the anecdote, perform that small ritual before stepping into the house. The consequence of not doing so is that work-related problems continue to cogitate the mind, and have an impact on relationships at home. The brooding, irascible father or mother who declines to participate in the easy laughter and bonhomie at the dinner table does not make for the best of parental role-models. The irritated and exhausted spouse who turns over to go to sleep the moment their body flops on the comfy duvet -- potentially adds to the catalog of marital discord cases at the local court.


Somewhere along the way of building the home - and by home I don't mean the brick-and-mortar -, we forget that just like the workplace is an institution that places its set of demands and expectations, the home or family too is an institution that has its own set of demands and expectations. And while we jump to our feet to respond to even the hint of a reprimand from the workplace, we take for granted the cajoling and gentle persuasion from home. While to the colleagues and the supervisors at the workplace we are just another dispensable entity, just another face in the crowd of employees; to the children and the spouse we may not be as dispensable. Indeed, the latter depend on us not only for the bread and butter that we bring home, but also for the emotional nurturing that we are in a position to provide.


In this context, a study conducted by psychologists on 49 employees working at different hierarchy points in a set of organizations in Madrid threw up some interesting conclusions. (The study appears here.) Focusing on the measures an organization can adopt to improve employee productivity, the study stresses the importance of including short breaks during the working hours. For the worker who positions themselves before the assembly line right from the moment they swipe their id-card in the clocking machine till the time comes for lunch, the short breaks give them time to dissipate the building fatigue. The study also emphasizes the role played by counselors and empathy-enabled supervisors, in whom the average employee can confide in and articulate their concerns and tensions. The simple act of articulation of thoughts and expressing one's emotions to someone one is comfortable with, can break the downward negative spiral.


But these are suggestions about what the organization can do to make us happy and keep us happy. As individual employees and human beings, while waiting for the HR department people to read articles such as this and act upon the recommendations, we can follow the example of the businessman in the anecdote and add his daily ritual to our routine. Do you notice the small plant or tree that you walk past every day before stepping into the house? All that you need to do is to pause before the plant, remove your footwear...


Your family will be grateful to the plant. Your organization will find you an indispensable asset.


[Do you remember the first days when you launched your career? The I-will-take-on-this-world spring in your steps? The can-do-will-do attitude? And do you now compare it wistfully with your feelings now about the same job? Burnouts happen - they are a natural outcome of priorities gone topsy-turvy and approaches sliding off the right track. Read about it in this article: "Rekindle The Passion In Your Job".]

Nicotine Addicts - Use This Spice To Alleviate Your Illnesses

This Spice Can Stop Further Liver Damage
We all know how harmful nicotine is to health. The ubiquitous cigarette or pipe or bidi or cigar or whatever is your favorite smoking device, held to the lips, nowadays does not even conjure the image of the suave and dapper individual that films of yesteryears used to project. Today the image is anything but. The smokers know it too, of course, and despite that, stopping the hand from reaching out for that next puff is rather difficult. The body is no longer in one's control. That is what, after all, entrapping oneself to some addiction leads one to.


While research continues on a) how to get the tobacco smokers off their addiction, and b) how to genetically modify the tobacco itself to produce a more benign version --- it appears to be still some way off before a foolproof solution can be found that can guarantee 100% success in all cases. And while this research continues in the labs around the world, millions of human beings continue to merrily smoke their favorite brand, and correspondingly millions of precious livers continue to get perforated in this smoke. Till such time that some real breakthrough is obtained, can these livers be saved from further damage?


Turns out that this might not be an impossible task - of saving the smoked livers from further damage. Tobacco these days comes blended with a myriad variety of sweeteners and flavors. Researchers say there's one flavor that the addicts might do well to get hitched to. There is a whole bunch of papers published in peer-reviewed journals that points to the efficacy of this naturally-occurring pigment on restoring the liver to its original health. (And here is an article on the pigment, published earlier on this blog.) This pigment, in case you haven't clicked on the links already, is called curcumin, and is an important ingredient in a spice known as turmeric, grown in abundance in south-Asian countries, and used as a routine condiment in meal preparations in south-Asian homes.


Enterprising entrepreneurs amongst us might find it an attractive proposition to conduct a survey to find out whether anybody else has already brought a curcumin-filled cigarette filter in the market; and if not, then be the first off the mark to do so!


There is an interesting twist to the saga of nicotine addiction, and the application of curcumin to this twist is interesting too. Of late, a number of societies around the world have begun taking to a smoking device that originated in India centuries ago. Why and how it spread can be explained by the internet. Very slowly, an entire social culture and etiquette is building around this device. I am of course referring to the hookah, also known as Shisha or Nargeela or Argeela, depending on which community you are a product of or have come in touch with. Besides the languid glamour that has come to be associated with hookah, another (mis)conception that has added to its attractiveness is the notion that the nicotine loses some of its toxicity when it bubbles through boiling water, so you can still enjoy your high but with a reduced risk. Which, unfortunately is not true. This fad is growing to such an extent that niche cafes are springing up in the unlikeliest nooks and corners to cater to the fast growing clientele, the entire cuisine revolving around this ingenious contraption with burning coal in one container and water in another.


Cafes now offer hookahs with water laced in different flavors. Why not lace the water with curcumin? The interesting point is this: while it is confirmed that the boiling water makes no impact on tobacco's toxicity, it is confirmed that curcumin's extraordinary properties are further enhanced when it is mixed in water that is then boiled. The recipe suggested is to add 5mg of curcumin in every ml of water. Boiling the mix for ten minutes is all it takes for the contraption to turn from a liver-killer to a liver-saver.


So in case you are planning to launch the next hookah cafe in your town, you might consider adding curcumin-flavor to your menu-card, and tom-tom in the advertisement fliers about how your clientele's health-consciousness is your uppermost concern.


[Talking of health consciousness, here is an article that describes cultures whose inhabitants enjoy the best of health --- across generations, all because they are very conscious about it: "You've Entered The Blue Zone".]