Elixir

A new study published in the online health journal, Respiratory Research, claims that people eating soy-rich diets have a greatly diminished risk of developing chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder (COPD) - the fourth leading cause of death in the US.

And while smoking causes 90 percent of COPD cases, those among the 640 study participants who ate the most soy had better lung function. According to HealthDay,

“Previous research has suggested that soy can reduce cholesterol and ease menopause symptoms. This new study is the first to link soy intake and reduced COPD risk.”

It’s a good thing summer gives us more hours of the day to spend outdoors because Mars, the makers of M&Ms, is trying to make us all just a little fatter via their chocolatey wares.

Coconut M&Ms, coming to a store near you this August, will likely be met with the same thunderous applause (at least by me) as their current limited edition flavor, Strawberried Peanut Butter M&Ms.

Dieters beware - the 1.5 ounce package doesn’t offer any of the benefits of coconut because there isn’t a bit of coconut to be found inside the candy-coated shell. Nonetheless, it sounds like the perfect companion to a poolside afternoon.

After all, it’s less caloric than a piña colada. Or at least that’s what I’ll be telling myself …

In a televised commercial for the Healthy Lifestyle Expo at Navy Pier in Chicago, I noticed the event was sponsored by Medical Tourism Brazil. Medical tourism was new to my vocabulary - did they mean taking a vacation to have some work done or jaunting off to a country in-need of assistance to lend a helping hand?

As it turns out, it is a “vacation” during which you have a pricey procedure completed somewhere where medical expenses are far less. And, as it turns out, medical tourism is booming. In 2007, Asia generated $3.4 billion in medical tourism.

Before you book your flight, however, you might want to consider a few things to keep yourself safe. After all, sometimes  you really do get what you pay for.

If it tastes too good to be low-cal, it just might be.

A New York CBS station discovered eateries across the Big Apple have laid false claims to how many calories were in the food they served. One Starbucks customer was shocked to discovered that her “skinny”, 12-calorie peach apple tart was in fact 280 calories. The blueberry muffin and pumpkin scone both were also found to be under-reporting calorie totals.

At Dunkin’ Donuts, they found that the turkey, cheddar and bacon sandwich advertised as 360 calories was actually 460. As reported on CBS2Chicago.com, both eateries promise to re-labele the foods with updated information and, in the case of the Starbucks blueberry muffin, labeled as 420 calories but clocking in at 580,  it has been removed from the pastry case until further notice.

While the benefits of an animal companion to those aging or chronically ill are well known, the help of our four-legged friends may actually be ageless. According to a survey conducted at Ohio State University, college students also find comfort in their pets during difficult times.
The survey of students at a Midwest commuter campus and other adults in the area found that young people attribute comfort in stressful situations and a hedge against loneliness to owning a cat or a dog.

“We might not think of college students as being lonely, but a lot of freshman and sophomores are in an early transition from living at home to living in dorms or off-campus,” says Sara Staats, lead author of the study and professor emeritus of psychology at Ohio State’s Newark Campus. “Many feel their pets will help get them through these difficult and stressful situations. And many more say that without their pet, they would feel lonely.”

The study, based on survey responses from nearly 350 college students, showed that avoiding loneliness was the top reason given for owning a pet, but that pets also helped students stay active and improve their overall health in a number of ways.

“Many students said that their pets fulfill a significant role that is missing in their lives,” Staat says. “The pets are not a substitute for human social interaction and support, but do provide important interaction for these kids who might otherwise feel isolated from their current environment.”

Apparently so, according to a report on Forbes.com. It may come as a shock to those of us who love life here — we could go on forever with the superlatives — but this paragraph does at least make you see how they got to their reasoning.

Lousy weather, long commutes, rising unemployment and the highest sales tax rate in the country are to blame for the Windy City being near the top of our list. High rates of corruption by public officials didn’t help either.

Point taken, and yes, the winter’s are rough, but Chicago is still the greatest city to live in, as we all know. To come to its conclusion, the Forbes study looked at the nation’s 150 largest metro areas (population at least 378,000) and ranked them in the following categories: commute times, corruption, pro sports teams, Superfund sites, taxes (both income and sales), unemployment, violent crime and weather.

Cold and flu season is a challenging time for any parent, especially those with a sick kid in-tow, but doctors at the University of Michigan are encouraging parents to skip over-the-counter cough and cold medications for children under the age of 6.
Esther Yoon, M.D., general pediatrician at the University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, says findings by the Food and Drug Administration shows that such medications potentially can have serious side effects on the smallest of children – symptoms include hives, drowsiness, difficulty breathing and even death.

“Some 7,000 children end up in the emergency room each year because of problems associated with these medicines,” Yoon says.
Nearly two-thirds of these incidents arose when children drank medication while unsupervised, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. Many problems have also resulted from administering improper doses.So what’s a parent to do? According to Yoon, to lessen pain from productive coughs or throat pain, use over-the-counter acetaminophen and ibuprofen in age-appropriate doses.

To relieve symptoms, Yoon recommends the following:

• For blocked noses, parents should use nasal saline drops and a bulb suction to loosen up and remove mucus or have the child blow their nose.

• For coughs, the child should be given a teaspoon of honey or corn syrup if over the age of 1. Have the child drink warm fluids like water, apple juice and chicken broth to help with coughing.

• Take the child into the bathroom and run a hot shower. The steam relaxes the airways and helps with coughing spasms.

• Increase the humidity in the home to help reduce nasal congestion and coughing.

According to a new study published in to an article published in Chest, the peer-reviewed medical journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, the use of Vicks VapoRub on infants and toddlers could exacerbate symptoms.

The study found that the rub actually can stimulate mucus production and spark inflammation of the airways, making it difficult for children to fight off chest congestion.

According to the article posted at the Chicago Tribune, a spokeswoman for Vicks believes the product to be safe.

“We have conducted human safety studies in over 1,000 children, 1 month to 12 years of age,” Harrell said to the Tribune. “We did not see any of the types of adverse events . . . mentioned in this paper.”

A little extra weight around the middle isn’t cause to buy new jeans – it’s cause to rethink overall health.

“There are two types of belly fat. One is subcutaneous, or right beneath the skin – the fat you can pinch and try to diet away before bathing suit season,” says Dr. Tim Church, professor of preventative medicine at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. “From a medical standpoint, it doesn’t concern us as much as the deeper visceral fat that surrounds the liver and other abdominal organs.The more visceral fat you have, the more at risk your health is.”

Heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and gallstones have all been linked to visceral fat, and recent research has expanded that list to include the development of

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia later in life. “Visceral fat is a toxic fat that produces harmful substances that cause inflammation, disrupting blood flow to the heart and possibly the brain, which could be one reason for its link to dementia,” says epidemiologist Rachel Whitmer of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland, Calif., who led the study.

Making matters worse, belly fat might have the capacity to reproduce itself. Canadian researchers found abdominal blubber produces a hormone that prompts the development of cells that turn into fat.

The upside: Visceral fat responds to diet and aerobic exercise (30 minutes six days a week) more readily than subcutaneous fat, and stress reduction and adequate rest can hasten results.

“The link between stress and fat is well-established,” says exercise physiologist Tiffany Crate,  TLC Fitness Consulting, Chicago. “Stress hormones like cortisol block weight loss because, despite adequate or excess calories, the body interprets prolonged stress as a famine and goes into hoarding mode.”

Her prescription for shedding that toxic spare tire is simple: Eat less, move more, rest up and chill out.

Wake up every day at 6 a.m. Deliver a report at a staff meeting at 10 a.m. Eat lunch at 12:15 p.m. Surf the Web for tomorrow’s weather at 3 p.m. Take a 4-mile run at 5:45 p.m. Eat dinner at 7 p.m. Go to sleep at 9 p.m.

Why do we choose to do what we do when we do it? Or are we actually really “choosing” at all?

In her book “Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body” (Houghton Mifflin, 2007), science writer Jennifer Ackerman takes the reader on a 24-hour day-trip into the human body as it goes through the motions of work, play, refueling and rest.

From the arousal of the senses in the morning to the reverie of sleep and dreams, Ackerman uncovers the latest findings about the cause and effect of everyday experiences, from stress, fear and fatigue, to sex, exercise and learning. The better we understand our bodies and what’s going on inside them, she attests, the easier it is to maximize the mental and physical potential of each day.

“Most of us are aware of the obvious 24-hour rhythm in our sleep and wake patterns, but we also have daily rhythms in body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, levels of stress hormones and sex hormones, alertness and even in the workings of the individual cells of our liver, heart, lungs and blood,” Ackerman says. “These rhythms are produced by our internal circadian clocks, little oscillating timekeepers in our bodies.”

In fact, says J. David Glass, Ph.D., a professor of biological sciences at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, the human body actually has thousands of these small circadian clocks “ticking” away within the endocrine system. Each one functions independently to produce a desired result (digestion, exertion, cell renewal, etc.), but they also are synchronized among themselves for optimal efficiency, output and health. For instance, hunger usually hits at a time when your temperature is higher and therefore more capable of metabolizing food. It’s not simply a matter of being more focused or less weak – there really are, as Ackerman points out, better and worse times of day for certain activities such as eating a big meal, napping, proofreading a manuscript, exercising, going to the dentist, taking medication for your rheumatoid arthritis or even making important decisions.

At the helm of this intricately choreographed ballet is a special part of the brain called the supra-chiasmatic nucleus (SCN); although one could argue that the real master of ceremonies is the sun.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, Washington, D.C., exposure to light stimulates a nerve pathway from the retina in the eye to the SCN in the brain. It sets off a regulated pattern of activities such as raising body temperature and releasing stimulating hormones like cortisol, while also stemming the release of other hormones like melatonin, which is associated with sleep onset, until many hours later when darkness arrives.

One of the interesting aspects of this daily journey, Ackerman points out, is that the body usually experiences a dip in energy during the afternoon, usually between 1 and 3 p.m.

“This is what I call the ‘Doldrums,’” Ackerman says. “When the fog of sleepiness drifts into cloud thinking and you function about as well as if you had quaffed a couple of beers.”

Contrary to what you might think, this drowsiness is not related to what you ate for lunch. No one knows exactly why we experience this afternoon trough, says Ackerman, but some scientists suspect it arises from two opposing processes that reach equilibrium about this time – the homeostatic sleep mechanism, which registers increasing sleep debt, and the circadian alerting mechanism, which has been growing in strength from its low at 3 or 4 a.m.

“Throughout the day, there’s this push-pull process going on – the need for sleep versus the drive for wakefulness,” Ackerman explains. “Around midday, the accumulating pressure for sleep is powerful and the wake signal hasn’t achieved adequate strength to offset sleepiness, so we feel this mountain of drowsiness.”

This natural ebb in energy means the early afternoon is not the best time to, say, give a lecture. Ackerman actually recommends taking an afternoon nap if at all possible – a common occurrence in Spain and other Latin cultures. Research shows that even 15 or 20 minutes of sleep in the afternoon boosts alertness, mood and productivity later in the day.

Once you make it through these hours, your energy starts to rise again, and it is then, in the later afternoon or evening, that you are most likely to maximize your athletic performance. The circadian alerting system is strong, your body temperature is at its highest, your muscles are powerful, your joints are flexible, you breathe your easiest and your heart pumps more efficiently.  It’s also when your perception of your own exertion is lowest, so your workout doesn’t feel as difficult.

But keep in mind that this schedule is heavily dependent on normal sleep patterns and proper exposure to light. Without regular light exposure at the right times, the SCN can literally lose its way, making it harder for your body to renew itself mentally and physically.

According to Glass, people who upset their circadian rhythms by working night shifts, such as nurses or factory workers, often suffer from more physical ailments, have more family problems, are more likely to have unhealthy diets, are more prone to alcoholism and have significantly higher rates of morbidity.

“When night shift workers walk out to their cars after work, they experience real sunlight, which confuses their clocks and can make it hard for them to get proper rest,” Glass says. “To make matters worse, they want to socialize with their families during normal hours on weekends and then return to work on Monday night, which is very hard to do because their bodies can’t adjust to the new schedule fast enough. Getting off-track makes them less productive, and more prone to accidents.”

The real crux of the matter is that it is incredibly important to get enough sleep (seven to nine hours), and regularly. As long as plentiful, quality sleep is taken care of, individual circadian rhythms can actually differ.

“Some people are larks,” Ackerman explains, “happily up in the early morning, happily asleep by 8:30 or 9 p.m. – just as an owl is revving up for a long night of wakefulness.

There can be as much as six hours’ difference in the circadian cycles of extreme morning and extreme evening types.”

According to Ackerman, most people fall somewhere in between, with the majority of

Americans tending toward owlishness. (You can find out your own lark/owl chronotype by going to a link on Ackerman’s Web site:  www.jenniferackerman.net.) Our circadian rhythms are shaped by small variations in the genes that run our clocks, as well as age and daily exposure to light, both natural and artificial. We may have more owls in our society because of our exposure to nighttime artificial light, which delays our body clocks. If you are looking to “reset” your SCN in order to perform at an optimal level in a nine-to-five world, accomplish more and be your healthiest, the experts agree that exposure to morning light can help advance your clock.

“A brisk walk in the morning can also be just as effective because it boosts Serotonin,” Glass says, “and some people find that taking Melatonin (3 mg tablets) is helpful because it can aid in a more restful sleep. On the other hand, studies have found that both alcohol and marijuana effectively ‘blind’ the body clock to light, thereby disrupting your rhythms, so avoid heavy intake.”

We can’t add more hours to the day, but if we do our best to listen to our bodies and synchronize our actions with our biological rhythms instead of forcing them to follow unnatural routines, when it comes to energy and health, maybe we can turn back the clock.