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Have you ever been around someone who wears too much perfume or cologne? It can be extremely unpleasant for co-workers and people who are close to them at the movie theater or on the bus. These people usually have no idea that their cologne is way too strong to those around them. In fact, it may be the result a zinc deficiency.

At the recent annual conference of the American College of Nutrition, researchers showed the results of an interesting study that found that those who over-apply cologne have dramatically lower zinc levels than normal. Zinc affects ones sense of taste and smell. As well, zinc is critical for a healthy immune system and neurological function.

It can be a sticky situation to approach someone about what seems like a personal hygene matter. But if anyone has ever dropped a hint that your cologne might be a little over-powering, look into the possibility that low zinc levels are lowering your sense of smell.

Good food sources of zinc include meat, dairy products, shell-fish, nuts, and beans. The Recommended Daily Allowance is around 10mg per day, but before you increase your zinc, talk to your doctor.

Tagged with: immune system • neurological function • sense of smell • zinc • zinc deficiency

Macular degeneration related to aging causes a gradual deterioration of ones central vision. It is the leading cause of blindness among the elderly. Currently there is no cure or treatment for this condition. However, researchers thought that a diet rich in anti-oxidants might prevent macular degeneration. Unfortunately, the most recent study indicates that anti-oxidants do not protect against macular degeneration.

Most researchers believe that there still may be a nutrition connection. Researchers have found that systemic inflammation is directly linked to the risk of developing loss of sight. This would imply that an anti-inflammatory diet may help in preventing this devastating condition.

Anti-oxidants by themselves may not be enough to reduce the risk of eyesight loss but including them with an anti-inflammatory diet may be important.

Anti-oxidants help reduce inflammation, but a true anti-inflammatory diet requires limiting saturated and trans fats, increasing monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fats, moderating the glycemic index, and including nutrients that lower homocysteine. Inflammation also makes the risk of heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and depression much greater. This indicates good reasons to consider an anti-inflammatory diet.

Of course always talk to your doctor about changes to your diet that you are considering.

Tagged with: anti-inflammatory • Anti-oxidants • blindness • loss of sight • macular degeneration

As part of a long-term study on preventing prostate cancer, researchers in Seattle analyzed the diets of thousands of men to see if they could identify any connection between what the men were eating and their risk of benign prostate hyperplasia. BPH is a non-cancerous inflammation of the prostate gland. Although BPH is by definition benign, it is very common condition and can be a major quality-of-life issue for men over 50. As well, having BPH increases the risk for eventually developing prostate cancer.

The researchers did spot a few trends. Men who were eating a low-fat diet and ate four or more servings of vegetables a day had a dramatically reduced risk of BPH. It was also reported that eating lean protein appeared to be protective, while eating lots of red meat increases the risk.

However, the dietary questionnaires used to collect this data didn’t distinguish between a McDonald’s hamburger (25% fat) and a grass-fed bison steak (2.4% fat). It’s all just red meat. The term “lean protein” appears to be reserved for other types of meat.

Finally, moderate alcohol consumption (2 drinks per day) appeared to be protective.

So, to keep your prostate healthy, avoid eating excess fats and eat lots of vegetables. Good advice for anyone.

Tagged with: BPH • lean protein • low fat diet • moderate alcohol consumption • prostate cancer • vegetables

Coumadin, a blood thinner, prevents blood clots by blocking the clotting action of vitamin K. Consuming too much vitamin K, like in broccoli, can interfere with the effects of the medication. But foods high in vitamin K are some of the healthiest foods you can eat. In addition to vitamin K, foods like broccoli and kale contain important cancer-fighting compounds along with lots of fiber and vitamin A.

There is a way for you to get all the health benefits of these foods without inferring with your blood-thinning medication, but you’ll have to do it under the supervision of you doctor.

With blood-thinners, it’s critical to get the dosage right. Too much medication and you are at risk of uncontrolled bleeding; too little, and you are at risk of a blood clot. Your doctor calibrates your dosage with a blood test that measures how long it takes for your blood to form a clot.

Getting all the health benefits of broccoli and other vitamin K-rich foods without messing up your medicine will take a little effort from both you and your doctor.

Once you get the OK from your doctor (don’t skip this step!), you will need to be sure that you get about the same amount of vitamin K from your diet every day. The easiest thing might be to plan to eat one serving (but only one) of a vitamin K-rich vegetable every day.

Your doctor’s job will be to test your blood-clotting time and adjust your blood thinners to work with the amount of vitamin K in your diet.

Tagged with: blood thinners • blood-clotting • brocoli • vitamin K • vitamin K-rich foods

Do you know what myocarditis is? If you answered no then you will find the answer to that question here.

Myocarditis is a medical condition where the muscular walls of the heart will become inflamed. The condition of myocarditis usually results in poor heart function.

There are many causes of the medical condition of myocarditis. These include infections, medications, chemicals, radiation, and certain diseases that cause inflammation in many different organs of the body. In most children, the medical condition of myocarditis is triggered by an infection, usually viral, involving the heart.

There are no known risk factors for developing myocarditis at the present time, but research is always going forward. The severity of disease seems to be dependent upon many factors such as the patients age, sex, and the genetic make-up of the patients immune system.

The treatment for myocarditis is ever evolving as the disease and it’s process is better understood. Many adult patients as well as patients that are children experience a complete recovery. However, some may develop serious heart failure and require chronic care by a cardiologist. There is no way to predict which patients will be palced in which category. Your cardiologist would best be able to give you the information for your particular situation.

Tagged with: • cardioomyopathy • cardiovascular disease • Heart Disease • heart failure • heart health • myocarditis

Cardiomyopathy is a serious disease. However, like most diseases, dilated cardiomyopathy happens with a range of severity and outcome.

Depending on the cause and the degree of irreversible damage to the heart muscle, about 1/3 of patients have persistent poor heart function, 1/3 improve but are left with some heart dysfunction, and 1/3 recover completely.

It is difficult to predict which category a patient will be in, therefore frequent cardiology follow-ups are extremely important. Patients who do have irreversible damage and persistent poor function may go on to need a heart transplant.

The exact number of patients with cardiomyopathy is unknown, as some patients will have no symptoms. The chance of premature death is estimated to be less than 1 %.

Risk factors for sudden death include episodes of fainting, family history of sudden death, marked heart thickening on echocardiogram and fast heart rhythms seen on monitoring.

Less than 5 % of patients will have later complications like enlargement of the left ventricle and decreased pumping function.

Restrictive cardiomyopathy accounts for only 5 % of patients with the disease. Only 45 to 50 % of patients with this type of cardiomyopathy are estimated to survive two years after the diagnosis. Some patients may also require heart or heart lung transplantation.

Of course each patient is different and only a trained physician can give you the correct data in your case.

Tagged with: cardioomyopathy • cardiovascular disease • Heart Disease • heart failure • heart health

Every woman wants to get back in shape as soon as possible after pregnancy. While quick weight loss strategies are accepted during your regular lifetime, after giving birth you may need to think on another ways to lose weight.

While there are some great post pregnancy diets which you can use to lose weight safely, you can also find different exercise routines to do with the diet. Your doctor should be able to recommend the kind of foods which will provide you with the nutrition that you need the most. Loosing weight too quickly can also affect your baby if you’re nursing.

The addition of gentle workout exercises will also help you to lose weight. You should always ask your doctor to recommend a safe post pregancy diet and a good set of workout exercises.

By taking things slow and easy you will be in a position where you can watch what you eat and lose the excess weight as you start on your workout after pregnancy. So instead of looking for quick routes to weight loss make sure that you combine exercise with a healthy diet.

Remember, a gradual workout routine combined with a healthy post pregnancy diet is the best way to go about it. These activities combined together should produce the results that you are looking for.

Tagged with: pregnancy diet • safe weight loss • weight lose • Weight Loss • weight loss diets

If you haven’t heard about the Fat Flush Diet you’ve been missing out on a weight loss program that has been very beneficial to many.

The Fat Flush Diet boasts of an accelerated weight loss and then weight control while managing your hormones and making you look great.

There are three phases to the Fat Flush Diet. The first two weeks will be used to jump start your weight so that you get the best results. The pounds will melt away as your body’s favorite fat storage areas are targeted. Some have reported as much as a 12 inch loss in just phase one.

Phase two is simply an ongoing of phase one then it’s on to phase three of the Fat Flush Diet which is the maintenance program that will be used to control your weight for the rest of your life.

Any diet that leads to a decrease in calories will result in weight loss but whether it is sustainable for any length of time is doubtful and generally the weight is gained back. It takes a whole balanced program. That’s where the Fat Flush Diet comes in. It includes the exercise regime that needs to be part of your program in order for it to be an overall healthy program.

Many who have jumped on board the Fat Flush Diet have experienced healthier nails, hair that had a much nicer texture, higher energy levels, and they also claimed that dreaded fat around the mid section that seems to be cemented there just melted away.

Remember, before beginning any diet check with your doctor first.

Tagged with: fat flush diet • healthy diets • high fiber diet • how to lose weight • lose weight

You can go all out with your weight loss program, or your weight-loss program could be as simple as your budget allows. Here you will learn a few free weight loss tips that can help you to shed those pounds.

They include:

1. Reduce your calorie intake so that it is less than your energy expended for you daily life and activities.

2. Properly hydrate your body so that it can function at its optimal level.

3. Perform a moderate level of exercise on a very consistent basis to burn calories.

4. Increase your body’s metabolism rate by eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day.

If you try to lose weight only by reducing your calorie intake you run into the situation where you have to almost starve yourself to death. You are always hungry and cranky and easily cheat just to get rid of the feeling of hunger.

Therefore, another free weight loss tip; you need to increase your exercise level, which enables you to burn fat without reducing your food intake to a starvation level.

Your body more easily burns fat when it is being fed regularly. This is why it is important to eat between six and seven smaller meals throughout the day as opposed to one big meal or even the regular three meals per day.

One last free weight loss tip is; you need to understand that your body burns fat on a relatively equal basis across your entire body.

Your body is not capable of losing fat only in a specific area. For example, you cannot lose fat only on your belly or on your hips and nowhere else.

Keep these free weight loss tips in mind when you’re trying to shed some pounds and as always speak to your doctor before starting any weight loss or exercise program.

Tagged with: diet • diet programs • diets • eat enough to lose weight • free weight loss