How honey kills bacteria

Scientists have identifieda secretingredient in honey that kills bacteria.

They have found that bees make a protein that they add to the honey, called defensin-1, which could one day be used to treat

burns and skin infections and to develop new drugs that could combat antibiotic-resistant infections.

"We have completely elucidated the molecular basis of the antibacterial activity of a single medical-grade honey, which contributes to the applicability of honey in medicine," said Sebastian A. J. Zaat, a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Medical Microbiology at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam.

"Honey or isolated honey-derived components might be of great value for prevention and treatment of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria," he added.

To make the discovery, Zaat and colleagues investigated the antibacterial activity of medical-grade honey in test tubes against a panel of antibiotic-resistant, disease-causing bacteria.

They developed a method to selectively neutralize the known antibacterial factors in honey anddetermine their individual antibacterial contributions. Ultimately, researchers isolated the defensin-1 protein, which is part of the honeybee immune system and is added by bees to honey.

After analysis, the scientists concluded that the vast majority of honey''s antibacterial properties come from that protein.

This information also sheds light on the inner workings of honey bee immune systems, which may one day help breeders create healthier and heartier honey bees.

The study has been published in the July 2010 print edition of the FASEB Journal. (ANI)

Healthy Eating for Men

Working = Weight Gain for Many Men

It is not uncommon for men to eat out at restaurants for at least one and sometimes two or more meals in a typical workday. Reaching for food that is quick and accessible often leads to big portions of high-calorie, high-fat choices. Men gain weight as they age, mainly due to less activity and eating the same or more even though they are burning fewer calories because of sedentary jobs. Exercising and choosing lower calorie foods are key to preventing weight gain as men age.

Hydration

Many men are very active, whether through organized sports, recreational exercise, or household chores such as mowing the lawn. Men sweat more than women, so staying properly hydrated and replenishing electrolytes is important for health and safety. Even slight dehydration can cause headaches and loss of balance and put you at risk of heat exhaustion.

Building Muscle

Men have a higher amount of muscle than women and therefore have higher protein needs. While most men don’t have trouble getting enough protein, you should still be aware of eating protein at every meal. This doesn’t mean that you need to drink protein shakes; protein is found in abundance in red meat, poultry, fish and seafood, pork, milk, cheese, yogurt, eggs, soy, and legumes. Aim to have just one serving of protein at each of your three meals every day and you will get plenty to build and repair muscles.

Disease Prevention

Heart disease is the number one cause of death for American men. A diet high in saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium can be partly to blame. Reading labels carefully and preparing foods from scratch without adding excess sodium and fat can help tremendously.

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death for American men. A plant-based diet full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts is best for cancer prevention. Reduce portions of meats and fill in the gaps on your plate with vegetables.

The Truth About Coffee

6. The Claim: "100% Arabica Beans":

Coffee beans come in two main varieties: arabica and robusta. Of the two, arabica beans deliver the most complex flavors, but because they’re more difficult to grow—i.e. more expensive—commercial roasters such as Folgers often fill out their blends with cheap robusta beans. That makes for a cup with big body but low acid, which means it’s heavy in the mouth but not particularly interesting to the tongue. Small-scale craft roasters don’t generally bother putting this information on the bag, but that’s fine considering most of them wouldn’t dare to pollute their coffee with robustas. But when you’re shopping the commercial blends in the supermarket, you should seek this claim.

5. The Claim: "Fair Trade Certfied":

Much of the world’s coffee is grown in impoverished countries where farmers struggle to feed their families. The intent with fair trade certification is to lift these people out of destitution by encouraging coffee-bagging companies to pay them honest, living wages, which are determined by a German-based group known as Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO). FLO has 24 members operating worldwide, and in the U.S., the non-profit organization TransFair oversees the approval of FLO-sanctioned fair trade certification. That means that any bag of beans you buy, so long as it carries the iconic certification stamp, has been audited by TransFair to ensure it meets the same regulations as all fair trade certified products worldwide.



Now, here’s the fair-trade coffee controversy. Right now, to be eligible for fair trade certification, coffee importers must pay farmers no less than $1.35 per pound of conventional coffee and $1.51 per pound of organic. That would have been huge in 2001 when a worldwide oversupply of beans drove the average rate for a pound of coffee down to a paltry $.46. But with the demand for coffee now catching up with the supply, the average farmer today, fair trade or not, takes in a more reasonable $1.40 per pound, according to the International Coffee Organization. Some journalists have criticized FLO standards for being too low, and in some countries, farmers making fair trade wages still aren’t meeting the loosely enforced minimum wages set by their governments. So is it worth the extra cash? From an ethical standpoint, sure. The average coffee farmer today is doing far better than he or she used to, but there are still many less-fortunate farmers that could use the help. What’s more, most fair trade coffee is also organic, so the premium price you pay is also going to improve the environment and eliminate pesticides from your cup.

4. The Claim: "Organic":

Organic coffee, so long as it bears the official logo of the USDA, falls under the same governmental regulation as organic produce, which tells you that the coffee has been grown, transported, and roasted without the use of herbicides or pesticides. Unfortunately, no major studies have looked at how this affects your health, but there’s no question about organic’s impact on the environment. Chemical-reliant farming methods have been linked to fish deaths along the coasts of coffee-growing communities, and pesticides in water raise the concern for long-term health problems for locals. For organic beans you’ll likely pay a premium—generally about 25 percent more. Some of that trickles down to the farmer, but a wave of Latin coffee growers, for example, have been abandoning organic beans because they can’t recoup the extra expenses. In short, buy organic because you don’t like pesticides, but not necessarily because the farmer will see more of that extra cash you shell out.

3. The Claim: "Shade Grown":

A common practice in coffee farming is to clear off the native trees to make room for more coffee trees, destroying natural biodiversity and creating monocultures that rely on pesticides and fertilizers to produce beans. So in theory, “shade grown” is supposed to tell you that a diverse ecosystem still thrives on the farm. The problem is that there’s no organization governing the term, which leaves it open to abuse by any farmer whose farm has a few lonely trees scattered about. For environmentally meaningful certification, look for “Bird Friendly” and “Rainforest Alliance Certified” stamps.

2. The Claim: "Morning Blend":

A blend is simply a mix of beans from at least two different regions, and a “morning blend” is whatever that particular roasters thought you might enjoy at the start of the day. In contrast with blends are the single-origin coffees, which are identified simply by their place of birth: Brazil, Columbia, Ethiopia, or whatever the case may be. Presumably the goal with blending is to create a better-tasting cup, but often that’s not the case. Some roasters blend to bury the mistakes of flawed beans, and many connoisseurs find the pure flavors of single-origin coffee more satisfying than blends. And get this: When Consumer Reports recently rated 37 popular blends from places such as Starbucks, Peets, Caribou, and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, not one of them was considered good enough to earn the top scores of “excellent” or “very good.”

1. The Claim: "Rainforest Alliance Certified":

Rainforest Alliance Certified must meet a strict set of requirements that promote sustainable resource management and the preservation of healthy ecosystems. That means farms must be partially covered by native trees, farmers must make living wages, and farming methods must have a minimal impact on the natural environment. The only designation more meaningful than Rainforest Alliance Certification is the Bird Friendly stamp. Typical coffee farms drive out birds by removing the trees, so Bird Friendly coffees, like Rainforest Alliance Certfied beans, require a canopy of trees to remain over the farm. But Bird Friendly also goes one step further by requireing the farm to be certified organic, whereas the Rainforest Alliance allows the use of some chemicals.

Runner Diet

"Calories do count, and our underestimation of the amount we eat and the overestimation of the amount we burn is one of the fundamental reasons that recreational runners need a diet especially for them." 

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What is Tension Headaches

Tension Headaches

 Definition

A tension headache is a condition involving pain or discomfort in the head, scalp, or neck, usually associated with muscle tightness in these areas.

Symptoms

The headache pain may be described as:

• Dull, pressure-like
• A tight band or vise on the head
• All over (not just in one point or one side)
• Worse in the scalp, temples, or back of the neck

The pain may occur as an insolated event, constantly, or daily. Pain may last for 30 minutes to 7 days. It may be triggered by or get worse with stress, fatigue, noise, or glare.

There may be difficulty sleeping. Tension headaches usually do not cause nausea or vomiting.

Causes & Risk Factors

Tension headaches are one of the most common forms of headaches. They may occur at any age, but are most common in adults and adolescents.

If a headache occurs two or more times a week for several months or longer, the condition is considered chronic.

Tension headaches can occur when the patient also has a migraine.

Tension headaches occur when neck and scalp muscles become tense, or contract. The muscle contractions can be a response to stress, depression, ahead injury, or anxiety.

Any activity that causes the head to be held in one position for a long time without moving can cause a headache. Such activities include typing or other computer work, fine work with the hands, and using a microscope. Sleeping in a cold room or sleeping with the neck in an abnormal position may also trigger a tension headache.

Other causes of tension headaches include:

• Alcohol use
• Caffeine (too much or withdrawal)
• Colds and the flu
• Eye strain
• Excessive smoking
• Fatigue
• Nasal congestion
• Overexertion
• Sinus infection

Tension headaches are not associated with structural changes in the brain.

Tips to quit smoking

 10 ways to give up smoking

Giving up smoking is not an easy task but you can up your chances of stopping smoking successfully with a little forward planning and support. Here are our 10 essential tips to help you become a ‘non-smoker’.

Pick a target date

It helps to have a target date in mind for when you’re planning to quit. Choose a date — for example a month from now — and stick to it. Although some people can quit by cutting down over time, the best way is give up completely in one stroke. Make sure the day you choose is going to be a relatively stress-free one.

Keep a diary

Keep a diary, perhaps for a week just before you intend quitting. It’s important to understand your smoking before you give up. Write down all the times that you smoke every day — as well as where you are and who you’re with — and note how much you needed each cigarette. You may then spot patterns, triggers or habits which you can think of dealing with once you start trying to quit.

Prepare to stop

Get rid of all smoking materials around the house. First of all, throw out all cigarettes or tobacco — don’t be tempted to keep a secret emergency stash of any! If you’ve got to make an effort to get them, such as going to the shops, then your craving might pass (or the guilt may have gotten to you) by the time you get there. Also get rid of lighters, ashtrays and matches — anything that will make it easy to light up again. Clean your house, removing stale smoke smells from everywhere — including your clothing.

Enlist help

Get help from all manner of sources. Start with family and friends and let them know that you’re giving up. You might have to ask smokers not to smoke in front of you, or you may have to ask the family to bear with you as you might be a little short tempered for a while. Other assistance can be provided by your doctor or a pharmacist, who will be able to give you advice on how to stop and to let you know about specialist services and helplines.

Quit with others

One way of gaining strength when quitting is to do it at the same time as other people. Find at least one other person who would like to give up — a good example would be a colleague at work, since working may be the most stressful part of your day — and agree to support each other. Alternatively, you might like to choose a friend who you would like to make a pact with to quit at the same time — or you could go to a smoking cessation group, where you’ll be surrounded by plenty of other people who will provide support for one another.

List your reasons for quitting

Write down all the reasons why you want to stop smoking. Don’t forget all the reasons such as saving money, being and looking healthier, or doing it for the sake of your family. Keep this list somewhere handy — perhaps on your desk at work — or leave little ‘reminder’ notes around your house, so that wherever you go there’ll be a note staring you in the face to remind you why you are quitting.

Break the routine

Most smokers will have times when and places where they always have a cigarette. For some people this could be a cigarette after their first couple of hours at work, while for others it may be or to accompany their first hot drink of the day. Some smokers like to light up after a meal or when they have a drink in a bar after work. Try to avoid these situations — for example by not going outside to smoke, or by visiting somewhere where smoking is banned.

Find new distractions

Smoking is a habit, and so to kick the habit you’ll need to find something else to replace it. Some people mistakenly replace cigarettes with another vice such as alcohol or junk food, which are similar ‘hard-to-break’ habits. Instead of taking up another vice, occupy yourself with something else — even if it’s something very simple such as chewing gum. If you’re feeling particularly brave, you could even get into something more challenging and constructive such as committing to get fit.

Take the ‘cold turkey’ approach

Many people attempt the ‘cold turkey’ approach, and try to stop smoking without any additional help other than their own willpower. Although it does work for some, it will certainly make the first week after you’ve quit rather difficult, as your body will crave nicotine. One way to make the experience easier to deal with is to use nicotine replacement therapy to help minimise your withdrawal symptoms.

Use ‘quit aids’

There are plenty of ‘quit aids’ out there that can ease the withdrawal symptoms from nicotine. Your cravings can be greatly eased by using treatments such as patches, chewing gum, nasal sprays, or even types of non-nicotine drugs that help to suppress cravings. Smokers who get help from such aids are significantly more likely to successfully quit than people who try to quit through willpower alone.

Stay off

Once you’ve stopped, stay off the cigarettes. Even just one cigarette can undo all the hard work and lead to the habit forming again, making all that hard work giving up pointless. Keep reminding yourself about the benefits of giving up smoking, and keep using your nicotine replacement treatment — even when you think you have kicked the habit. Set yourself a target and reward yourself for reaching it.

And if it doesn’t work out …

It’s important not to beat yourself up if you fall back into bad habits. Just treat it as part of the process of giving up. Everyone is different, and while some give up smoking the first time they try, others may take several attempts, often over many years. Try to regain your original thoughts of giving up, rediscover your determination, and try again. You can do it!