Guardian Unlimited | Science | Dark chocolate 'may cut smokers' heart risk'

Dark chocolate 'may cut smokers' heart risk'



Ian Sample Tuesday December 20, 2005 The Guardian



Dark chocolate could help smokers cut the risk of serious heart disease, a study at the University Hospital in Zurich has found.

Researchers used ultrasound scans to look at blood flow and clot-causing platelets in the arteries of 25 male smokers after they ate white and dark cholocate. Antioxidants rose two hours after eating 40g of dark chocolate, blood flow was smoother and the build-up of platelets halved.



White chocolate made no difference, they say in the journal Heart. "Only a small treat of dark chocolate may benefit vascular health," said Roberto Corti who led the study.



For Dark 60% Chocolate, Sugar Free, Dairy Free see Plamil

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Proof that stress makes you sick - Yahoo! News UK

Proof that stress makes you sick - Yahoo! News UK



At last it seems the medical profession is finally catching up with Nutritional Therapy. "Stress makesyou sick" well "durrr". Still it's good to have some "scientifically proven" evidence rather than just common sense and practical evidence that's been around for thousands of years.



Nutrition and Health expert Yvonne Bishop Weston a Nutritionist with The Food Doctor and Foods For Life says "especially in my city clinics I see a lot of patients suffering with the effects of stress - there's lots we can do help andsupport the immune system apart from just recommending Yoga!"



More info at The Food and Mood Project Website



SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian researchers said they had scientifically proven a long-suspected link between emotional stress and illnesses ranging from the common cold to cancer.



The group from Sydney's Garvan Institute found that a hormone released into the body during times of stress, neuropeptide Y (NPY), undermined the body's immune system and literally made you sick.



"Until now there has mostly been circumstantial evidence of a link between the brain and the immune system, but now we



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have that connection," said the institute's Fabienne Mackay.



"During periods of stress, nerves release a lot of NPY and it gets into the bloodstream, where it inhibits the cells in the immune system that look out for and destroy pathogens in the body," she said.



"That stress makes you sick is no longer a myth, it is a reality and we need to take it seriously."



The group's findings were published in Monday's edition of the Journal of Experimental Medicine and the researchers said they hoped their work would lead to new kinds of therapeutic intervention.



Herbert Herzog, another of the scientists, said neuropeptide Y had been known to affect blood pressure and heart rates, but discovering its impact on the immune system opened up new doors for tackling some illnesses.



"That makes you more vulnerable when you for example have a cold or flu and even in the more serious situations such as cancer can be enhanced in these situations," he said on ABC radio.



Other illnesses with a link to stress include rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, type 1 diabetes and lupus, the researchers said.



Mackay stressed that it would take years to develop drugs to counter the affects of NPY and that the best short-term solution for people was to combat their stress.



"The best thing to do is to remove stress from our lives just by reorganising the way we live, changing our lifestyle and using things like yoga and relaxation to the best of our ability," she said.

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All those McDonalds Milkshakes and still poor bone health

You'd think with all those cheeseburgers, milkshakes, ice creams, lattes, and the dairy that's sneaked into every kind of food imaginable that the medical establishment would have worked out that something didn't add up as dairy as a useful source of calcium for humans.



America and the UK are suffering record levels of oesteoporosis and the message is illogically is to eat even more dairy. The Doctors who get very little (2 days) training in nutrition can be excused but even some quite experienced nutritionists get suckered in to the dairy lobby's hype "Dairy is an excellent source of Calcium"



For a cow maybe?



With the amount of Dairy secreted in our food forcing the EU to legislate for better labelling laws on allergens it just doesn't add up, if dairy were the answer the problem would be solved.



But guess what? - the generation who had free milk at school are experiencing record levels of suffering - despite this the Billion Dollar Dairy industry still maintain it's not enough that is the problem



USDA statistics show only 12% of girls and 32% of boys ages 12 to 19 get the DRI (Dietary Reference Intake) of calcium. Nearly 90% of adult bone mass is established by the end of this age range, and those who are not getting enough calcium are at increased risk for osteoporosis later in life, according to Dr. Duane Alexander, director, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, MD. He warns that osteoporosis is a geriatric disease with roots that can be traced back to adolescence.



Some of the consequences don't wait for old age, however. Grace Wyshak, Ph.D., researcher, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, has conducted studies to examine the relationship between drinking carbonated soft drinks, physical activity and bone fractures. The most recent, published in the June 2000 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, showed that active girls who drink cola drinks are five times more likely to have bone fractures than girls who don't drink soda. With each population studied, from teenagers and adolescents to postmenopausal women, the researcher consistently found strong relationships between consumption of carbonated beverages and bone fractures in physically active populations.



After age 8, soft-drink intake climbs dramatically. By age 18, a teenager consumes about 19 oz. of soft drinks per day and less than one serving of milk. The problem is more acute for adolescent girls than boys the same age.



Furthermore, pediatricians are seeing the reemergence of rickets, a bone disease that results from low levels of vitamin D, a nutrient commonly fortified in all types of fluid milk. Vitamin D also aids in calcium absorption, and study results published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine in Oct. 2004 showed that nearly a quarter of 300 healthy teenagers were deficient in vitamin D.



The real answer? More green leafy veg, vitamin K, magnesium (soya, cashew, almonds, brocolli, bananas, green leafy veg) and some quality sunshine for vitamin D. Less of anti nutrients such as caffienated carbonated drinks will help to stop bone robbers too.

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