41 secrets your doctor would never share...

both good and bad aspects are there in the three pages @ the site: a visit is recommended to read through the complete article...

clipped from www.rd.com Shocking Stats 60% of doctors don't follow hand-washing guidelines. Source: CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 96% of doctors agree they should report impaired or incompetent colleagues or those who make serious mistakes, but ... 46% of them admit to having turned a blind eye at least once. Source: Annals of Internal Medicine 94% of doctors have accepted some kind of freebie from a drug company. Source: New England Journal of Medicine 44% of doctors admit they're overweight. Source: Nutrition & Food Science; Minnesota Medicine 58% would give adolescents contraceptives without parental consent. Source: New England Journal of Medicine Anatomy of a Doctor's Bill Just how much of the $100 your doctor charges for taking 30 minutes to investigate your stomach pain goes into his pocket? After paying the bills, he gets less than half. The breakdown, according to Robert Lowes, senior editor at Medical Economics From Reader's Digest - July 2008

CANCER: The Facts!

need 2 visit the site to click on the various links for more info...

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk One in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer during our life. The disease tends to affect older people - but can strike at any time. Excluding certain skin cancers, there were more than 270,000 new cases of the disease in 2001 - and the rate is increasing by about 1% a year. Some cancer, such as breast, are becoming more common, while new cases of lung cancer fall away due to the drop in the number of smokers. However, while the overall number of new cancers is not falling, the good news is that successful treatment rates for many of the most common types are improving rapidly. BBC News Online has produced, in conjunction with Cancer Research UK, a guide to some of the most common forms of cancer and the treatments used to tackle them. To learn more about different types of cancer, and to read the experiences of patients, click on the links to the right.

Red wine may mitigate red meat’s dangers

clipped from www.world-science.net What hap­pens when red wine meets red meat? If that hap­pens in the stom­ach, wine’s health­ful chem­i­cals may thwart forma­t­ion of harm­ful sub­stances re­leased dur­ing di­ges­tion of fat in the meat, sci­en­tists re­port. Re­search­ers at­trib­ute the doc­u­mented ben­e­fits of mod­er­ate wine con­sump­tion—in­clud­ing pro­tec­tion against can­cer and heart dis­ease—to its high lev­els of polyphe­nols, com­pounds al­so found in fruits and veg­eta­bles.  Polyphe­nols are pow­er­ful an­ti­ox­i­dants, sub­stances that sup­press de­struc­tive chem­i­cal re­ac­tions pro­mot­ed by ox­y­gen. But the body does­n’t ab­sorb polyphe­nols eas­i­ly; sci­en­tists have puz­zled over how and where they ex­ert their ben­e­fits.  The stom­ach acts as a “biore­ac­tor” that fa­cil­i­tates the ben­e­fi­cial ef­fects, the re­search­ers wrote. The polyphe­nols work not only to pre­vent genera­t­ion of tox­ic com­pounds, but al­so to in­hib­it their en­try to the blood stream, they added.

"Good" Cholesterol May Protect Memory

clipped from www.reuters.com Middle-aged people with low levels of so-called good cholesterol may be at higher risk for memory decline that could foreshadow Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia, European researchers said on Monday. The study, involving about 3,700 British men and women, found that falling levels of high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, cholesterol were linked to declining memory by age 60. Such memory declines often precede the development of dementia such as Alzheimer's in the elderly. Experts predict increasing numbers of people worldwide will develop Alzheimer's in the coming decades as populations in many countries grow older. Scientists are trying to identify risk factors that may appear years before the onset of dementia to help find ways to prevent or postpone it. The researchers looked at blood cholesterol readings and the results of a simple memory test collected when the people in the study were on average 55 years old and then again when they were on average 60.

Healthy Lifestyle Turns Off Genes That Cause Cancer

clipped from www.newscientist.com It's no secret that a healthy lifestyle can slow the progression of cancer, but how this happens has been a mystery. Now new evidence suggests an answer: dieting and exercise may turn crucial genes on and off. In a pilot study involving 30 men with early-stage prostate cancer, Dean Ornish and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, US, tested the effects of a dramatic lifestyle change on gene expression in the prostate. Biopsies taken before and after 3 months of healthy eating, moderate exercise, stress management and psychotherapy showed a significant change in the expression of hundreds of genes. Many, including several genes involved in tumor formation, were down-regulated, or less active. Others, including some disease-fighting genes, were more active. Long-term follow-up studies are needed to determine if these genetic changes can truly slow or prevent cancer, he says. "But it's a very important first step," he adds. "This will usher in a new wave of research."

Muscle Myths and Fat Facts

If you are unclear about muscle and fat and how they relate, this is a good article to read. Anyone interested in "shaping up" should read this to gain a fundamental understanding.

clipped from www.truestarhealth.com Muscle Myths and Fat Facts Body fat and muscle are two completely different tissues. Body fat is completely related to calories, and the amount that we have is directly influenced by the number of calories consumed versus calories expended. Muscle is very different from fat Assuming you are eating a well-balanced diet, changes within your muscles are most influenced by the direct stresses that you place on each of them individually. The key factor is that the muscle will only react if the stress placed on it exceeds the everyday stress it is accustomed to. Quick Summary of Fat Fat can not become muscle and muscle can not become fat. Fat can only be reduced if the number of calories expended in a day exceeds the number of calories consumed in a day Quick Summary of Muscle Weight training is the easiest way to control and monitor the changes in your muscle physiology. Unlike fat, each muscle can be specifically targeted, so you can choose the specific area you would like to improve.

Health Benefits of Apples

clipped from www.elements4health.com Cholesterol In a study on moderately obese male and female subjects, polyphenols extracted from apples significantly decreased total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels. Apples are also high in pectin, a soluble fiber with the ability to lower cholesterol levels, and it has been demonstrated that an apple a day lowered cholesterol levels by up to 16 percent. Dietary fiber The high fiber content of apples is also of great benefit to the bowels. A 5-ounce apple can supply the body with more than 3 grams of fiber, 10 percent of the daily-recommended intake. The fiber in apples will be beneficial for losing weight, and the fructose will help to stabilize blood sugar levels. Apple polyphenols have demonstrated the ability to regulate fat metabolism. Heart disease The quercetin found in apples is associated with reduced risk of coronary heart disease, and apple consumption has consistently been associated with reduced heart disease.