YOUR HORMONE BALANCING ACT

Ignore what your girlfriend says: Hormones are good. They can help you burn fat and have better sex, so manipulate yours to positively channel their power

MORE SEX TESTOSTERONE

What it does Luteinizing hormones (LH) and Follicle- stimulating Hormones (FSH) stimulate your gonadsto produce estosterone, crucial for sex drive and muscle size.

Tune it up Viewing a quick YouTube clip,or better stillan entire match of your favourite sports team winning, can have a powerful effect on your testosterone! according to Utah University research. After studying the saliva of Brazilian and Italian football fans, it was found to bat testosterone levels increased dramatically in the fans of winning teams,To boost them even further, reach for the free-weights in front of the screen. Trials have shown that compound weight-lifting workouts increase  your testosterone levels the most.

NEW ENERGY THYROXINE (T4)

What it does T4 is produced by the thyroid when your brain tlag up a distinct lack of ‘oomph’. “T4 raisesyour metabolic rate, energises your body and gives you thetools requiredtogo that extramile,” says DrAjay Aggarwal, senior consultant, endocrinology, Fortis. ‘If your thyroid doesn’t create enough thyroxine, it causes yourbody’s functions to slow.”

Tune it upThyroxineforms by combining the amino acid tyrosinewith iodine. A protein shake is agreatsourceof tyrosine, but iodine—crucial forthe overall health of your thyroid —requires foods that won’t sitwell inagym bagfor an hour. “Smoked mackerel! mussels and seaweed are natural sources ofiodinethat helpactivethethyroid gland,” says DrAggarwal. Or, getyour recommended I 5omcg iodine RDAfrom a multi-mineral tablet.

03. IMPROVE SLEEP MELATONIN

What it does “Your pineal gland starts secrfing melatonin whenever it gets dark,” says Dr Aggarwal. “lt helps to lower your core body temperature and induces drowsiness so you can sleep.” Tune it up Production of melatonin can easily be unbalanced by artificial light. “Plug a child’s night light fitted with a red bulb in the hallway for trips to tho bathroom,” says Richard Stevens, anepidemiologist atthe University of Connecticut. “Waking in the night only affects your body badly if you’re exposed to light.” Buy heavy curtains and turn your alarm clock away from you.

04. LOSE WEIGHT GHRELIN,

What they do Ghrelin recognises an empty gut and shouts’ eat!’ Cholecystokinin (CCK) then detects a full stomach, triggering insulin to meta bolisethefood into energy and leptin tells your brain that you’resatisfied. “Together, they ensure the energy regulation neessary for your survival,”
says Dr Ritesh Gupta, head of clinical operations and men’s health clinic, Fortis. Tune them up Overweight people suffer a resistance to leptin, and exercising outdoors isthe ideal solution. Studies in the Obesity Journal revealed exposure to bright light, during exercise, increases serotonin levels, which upsyourleptin.

05. BEAT STRESS CORTISOL

What it does Known as the ‘alarm system hormone’, cortisol increases your heart rate and hastens oxygen toycur brain for quickerthinking. Buttoomuch and you’ll overdose, which can give you the urgeto overeat. Tune it up Channel cortisol to fuel exercise and burn off stress. “Aim f orthree cardio and two resistancetraining sessions with free-weights a week,” says exercise physiologist Ian Craig. “Yourgoal isto work at 75-80 per cent of your max heart rate,” Putthis into effect beforework:
Levels of the hormone are highest between6and8am.

Flava flow

Your diet may actually help your bloodflow. A high intake of flavanols – the compoullds that are found in wine, tea and cocoa—improved indications of blood-vessel dilation by as much as 47 per cent in people with coronary heart disease, according to researchers from California and Germany. This is because flavanols may boost the circulation of angiogenic cells, a variety that repairs arteries.

TEA  FOR TEETH

What you drink may help your smile, according to a study in Preventive Medicine. Researchers in Japan assessed the drinking habits of some25,000 adults and found that those who drank at least a  cup of green tea a day had a lower risk of tooth loss than those who drank none. The reason: Antioxidants known as catechins can kill the mouth bacteria associated with gum disease and tooth decay, the study says. Black tea contains only low levels of catechins, so consider making the upgrade to green tea.

Mix a handful of blackcurrants into your morning porridge and you’ll blow out your risk of developing asthma, shows a Molecular Nutrition & Food Research study. Epigallocatechin, a compound found in the currants, works with your immune responses to fight inflammation of your lung tissue. Scottish Crop Research Institute scientists also believe they may help reduce the advancement of Alzheimer’s.

An Indian-origin scientist-led team has produced a compound from fish oil that targets and kills leukaemia stem cells, a key finding which they say could pave the way for new and effective treatments for the blood cancer.

The researchers, who detailed their findings in journal Blood, said the compound kills cancer-causing stem cells in the mice’s spleen and bone marrow. Specifically, it activates a gene in the leukaemia stem cell that programs the cell’s own death. Killing the stem cells in leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells, is important because stem cells can divide and produce more cancer cells, as well as create more stem cells.

The current therapy for CML extends the patient’s life by keeping the number of leukaemia cells low. But the drugs fail to completely cure the disease because they do not target leukaemia stem cells. During the experiments, the researchers injected each mouse with about 600 nanograms of the compound D12-PGJ3 each day for a week.

Tests showed that the mice were completely cured of the disease. The blood count was normal, and the spleen returned to normal size. The disease did not relapse. Robert Paulson, who co-authored the study, said: “The patients must take the drugs continuously… If they stop, the disease relapses because the leukaemia stem cells are resistant to the drugs.”

Current treatments are also unable to kill the leukaemia stem cells. “These stem cells can hide from the treatment, and a small population of stem cells give rise to more leukaemia cells,” said Paulson. “So, targeting the stem cells is essential if you want to cure leukaemia.”
The researchers focused on D12-PGJ3 because it killed the leukemia stem cells, but had the least number of side effects.They are currently working to determine whether the compound can be used to treat the terminal stage of CML, referred to as Blast Crisis.
There are no drugs available that can treat the disease when it progresses to this stage. The researchers, who applied for a patent, are also preparing to test the compound in human trials.

In experiments on mice, researchers at the Pennsylvania State University found the compound, produced from an Omega-3 fatty acid found in fish and fish oil, completely cured the animals of the disease with no relapse. The compound, named delta-12-protaglandin J3 (D12-PGJ3), was found targeting and killing the stem cells of chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML), the researchers said.
Sandeep Prabhu, associate professor of immunology and molecular toxicology in the Department of Veterinary and Medical Sciences at Penn State said: “Research in the past on fatty acids has shown the health benefits of fatty acids on cardiovascular system and brain development, particularly in infants.”

“But we have shown that some metabolites of Omega-3 have the ability to selectively kill the leukaemia-causing stem cells in mice,” Prabhu was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. “The important thing is that the mice were completely cured of leukaemia with no relapse,” he added.

The ‘Daily Express’ reported that the team aims to boost that to 90 per cent by tweaking the technology.

The team hopes to have the device in production within three years.

Executive Chairman of Micrimia Roy Johnston said that MARIA which stands for Multistatic Array processing for Radio wave Image Acquisition, is made from 60 antennas which create a complete scan of the breast in eight seconds.

A team at Micrimia from Bristol University in Britain says that the new screening tool, called “MARIA“, is safer and more comfortable than traditional mammogram X-rays. They said that it can be used on women of any age, unlike current technology.

The team said that they have already carried out three successful trials with 300 women at Frenchay and Southmead hospitals.

They also claimed that results from the trials showed a diagnostic success rate of 80 per cent.

Scientists claim that now a simple test can “diagnose breast cancer” in women in eight seconds. They claim to have developed it from a technology that is used to detect land mines.

SPINACH

One serving (around Bog) will supply almost all the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A and half of your vitamin C. Like beetroot, spinach is loaded with folate—a vitamin that helps protect against heart disease, stroke and colon cancer—and also contains two antioxidants that protect against progressive deterioration of the retina and the choroid in the eye, the leading cause of blindness among over-65s.

How to sweeten the pill Hate sarson ka saag? In spite of what your mom will have you believe, that’s not the only way to have spinach. Start by buying the right stuff: Look for thin stems, as thick-stemmed spinach is bitter Boil it, drain it and add it in lasagna. With all the mozzarella, lean meat and tomato sauce, you won’t even noticethe layer of spinach, but your body will, Or try a Japanese salad. Dress your spinach salad

with a concoction made of 1 20m1 of rice vinegar, 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 60m1 of vegetable oil, 1½ tsp grated lemon zest, 3½ tsp soya sauce, ltsp Dijon mustard, ¼ tsp sugar, 2 tsp crushed ginger and garlic.

CABBAGE

Cabbage contains an amino acid called glulamine that has anti-inflammatory properties that protect you against colon and lung cancer and may cut your risk of prostate cancer “Other than that, cabbage also has a healthy dose of vitamin C, which is definitely good for you,” says Bansal How to sweeten the pill Choose a darker or reddish cabbage, which is loaded with nutrients and antioxidants. Remove a couple of outside layers and wash the rest of the leaves properly. It’s a great snacker, raw with yourfavourite dip. If youfind the taste a bit bitter, sauté it slightly in olive oil, a couple of garlic cloves and a squeeze of lemon.

For patients of lung cancer, there could be a safer and more efficient treatment in the offing as researchers in Scotland are developing a method to give drugs by inhalation rather than the approach of intravenous delivery currently followed.
The system could administer the treatment far more quickly than existing methods and without the harmful side effects associated with current systems, which can cause kidney damage.
Scientists at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland have devised a method for giving drugs by inhalation to patients through a nebuliser, rather than the current approach of intravenous delivery, the University said in a release today.
It could enable health authorities to deliver the drugs in smaller doses without diminution of benefit to patients. Lung cancer and mesothelioma caused 4,147 deaths in Scotland in 2009, and deaths of women from the disease increased by 12 per cent in the preceding decade, despite a corresponding fall of 20 per cent among men.
Dr Chris Carter, a Senior Lecturer the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, led the research, partnered by Professor Alex Mullen and Dr Valerie Ferro.
She said: “Increasing awareness of cancer risks and improvements in treatment do not alter the fact that it remains one of Scotland’s biggest killers and lung cancer is its most common form”.
“This means that new, improved treatments are still essential. By delivering cisplatin, one of the most widely used drugs for lung cancer, in a vaporised form, we would be able to get it to the cancerous cells and avoid the damage to healthy cells which can be hugely debilitating to patients.
“It would make the treatment far less onerous for them and we hope it would help them to live longer”.
The research is an example of the pioneering work of the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences in developing new medicines for illnesses and conditions including infectious diseases, cancer, heart disease, and schizophrenia.
An 8 million pounds fundraising campaign is underway for the Institute’s new 36 million pound building, to expand and enhance its innovative research and education in medicine discovery, development and use.
The research received funding from Scottish Enterprise’s Proof of Concept Programme, which supports the pre-commercialisation of leading-edge technologies emerging from Scotland’s universities, research institutes and NHS Boards.
It helps researchers to export their ideas and inventions from the lab to the global marketplace and create new sustainable technology businesses in Scotland or license the technology to Scottish companies.
The programme is developed and operated by Scottish Enterprise in partnership with key stakeholders including: Scottish Government, Universities Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council. It is partly funded by the European Union.

The rice and idlis immersed in sambar that South Indians are so fond of, are the worst enemies for the heart and also are major causes of diabetes, according to leading nutritionists.

Healthier dietary choices along with increased physical activity play a vital role in checking this, he said.

Health experts also said that as many as 90 people in India would have died because of cardio-metabolic diseases even as this article is being read.

“Rice, idli, milk, potatoes and basically all that is tempting to the palette make sugar levels in the body shoot up drastically and result in increased glycemic index,” Dr Chenniappan, senior consultant cardiologist, Ramakrishna Hospitals, Tiruchy, said at a national conference on Nutrition in Metabolic Disorders at Women’s Christian College, Chennai.

Staple foods were traditionally eaten with less refined grains high in dietary fibre but have been replaced by polished rice, resulting in an increased calorie load.

RLS is a common yet under-recognised disorder marked by intense, unpleasant leg sensations, and an irresistible urge to move the legs. RLS symptoms can lead to poor sleep and daytime drowsiness. It affects as many as 15 per cent of the adult population.

In 2005, researchers asked 97,642 women participating in the Nurses Health Study II about their RLS symptoms and hypertension status. More than 80 per cent of the participants responded. The average age was 50.4 years.

Researchers found there was a significant relationship between RLS severity and blood pressure, and greater frequency of RLS symptoms was associated with higher blood pressure.

“If future prospective research confirms this association, early diagnosis and treatment of RLS might help prevent hypertension,” said study author Salma Batool-Anwar, researcher in the sleep medicine division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“In some cases, the treatment of RLS is as simple as prescribing iron supplements, therefore, women who have symptoms suggestive of RLS should talk to their physicians,” Anwar was quoted as saying in a hospital statement.