FDA Says HCG Weight-Loss Products are Illegal
December 7, 2011 § 6 Comments
Over-the-counter HCG products being sold for weight loss are illegal and claims that the drugs work are unsubstantiated, the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers Tuesday.
HGC products are sold online and in stores as pellets, sprays or oral drops. These products are considered by the FDA to be unapproved new drugs.
Last week, the FDA, along with the Federal Trade Commission sent warning lettersto seven companies manufacturing human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG, products labeled “homeopathic.” The products in question are “hCG Diet Drops Weight Loss Formula,” “hCG Diet Pellets Weight Loss Formula,” “Alcohol Free hCG Weight Loss Formula,”"HCG Fusion 30,” “HCG Fusion 43,” “Homeopathic Original HCG,” Homeopathic HCG,” “HCG Platinum X-30,” “HCG Platinum X-14″ “HCG Diet Homeopathic Drops,” and “HCG Extra Weight Loss Homeopathic Drops.” « Read the rest of this entry »
Eating Canned Soup ‘Poses a Chemical Risk’ (via BBC Health)
November 29, 2011 § 1 Comment
People who eat canned soup should be aware that a chemical used to line the tin can leach into the food and end up in the body, say scientists.
Tests on 75 volunteers revealed the compound bisphenol A (BPA) was readily ingested and detected in large amounts in the urine, the Journal of the American Medical Association reports. « Read the rest of this entry »
It Could Be Old Age, or It Could Be Low B12
November 29, 2011 § 1 Comment
The New York Times recently posted an article regarding the connection between the vitman B12 and memory loss, specifically regarding the elderly. The article told the story of Ilsa Katz, an 85 year old woman whose daughter, Vivian Atkins, noticed that she was becoming increasingly confused.
“She couldn’t remember names, where she’d been or what she’d done that day,” Atkins recalled. “Initially, I was not too worried. I thought it was part of normal aging. But over time, the confusion and memory problems became more severe and frequent.”
Atkins recalled that her mother had lost touch with much of reality, unable to recall the names of close relatives or what day it was. « Read the rest of this entry »
November 21, 2011 § Leave a Comment
C-Health Online recently posted an interesting article that begged the question, “what’s on your bucket list?” We all have bucket lists, things we want to do or accomplish in our lives, and C-Health urged readers to consider something a little different when thinking about our bucket lists… cholesterol.
As the article states, not everyone gets to accomplish everything on their bucket list. Heart disease and stroke represent some of the leading killers in the U.S. and Canada. High cholesterol puts you at an increased risk of developing one of these two conditions. Whether you are at low, moderate, or high risk of developing heart disease, the goal is to reduce your LDL-C (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) by at least 50%.
You can calculate your heart disease risk yourself or ask your doctor about your risk at your next visit. In general, people are classified into 3 risk groups. Do you know where you stand? Take a look, and study up… because with something like cholesterol, prevention is key!
- low risk: Less than 10% risk of developing heart disease over the next 10 years. This means that less than 10 out of 100 people at this level of risk will develop heart disease in the next 10 years.
- moderate risk: 10% to 19% risk of developing heart disease over the next 10 years. This means that 10 to 19 out of 100 people at this level of risk will develop heart disease in the next 10 years.
- high risk: 20% or greater risk of developing heart disease over the next 10 years. This means that 20 or more out of 100 people at this level of risk will develop heart disease in the next 10 years.
Does Green Tea Trim “Bad” Cholesterol?
November 21, 2011 § 3 Comments
Whether its consumed in a liquid form or taken from a capsule, studies are showing that green tea may shave a few points off “bad” cholesterol readings, according to a U.S. study.
The findings were published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, and showed that green tea trimmed 5 to 6 points more from people’s total cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol levels than dummy capsules or other treatments.
The Vicious Physiology of Stress (Via CNN)
November 17, 2011 § Leave a Comment
CNN contributor Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity: the quest for well-being and life balance in stressful times.
One of my favorite parts of this job is stalking busy scientists researching different aspects of stress.
I recently tracked down the brilliant Dr. Rajita Sinha, director of the Yale Stress Center, and spoke to her about what she’s working on. In this first part of our conversation, we discussed the physiology of stress and its connection to maladies, ranging from addiction to chronic disease, diabetes and obesity.
How did you come to study stress?
Early on I was working with different types of emotions – anger and sadness – and how they affect the body and change our responses to different stimuli in the environment. One of the things I observed was that generally people don’t have pure emotions, like anger or fear.
They mostly have mixed emotions. If you ask them about it, they will say they’re stressed and upset. I wanted to understand how emotions work together – both to protect us and to feed into things that wear us down. « Read the rest of this entry »
Study: Eat Slower, Stay Slimmer (Via Fox News Latino)
November 15, 2011 § 1 Comment
A woman who eats slow and prefers whole grains to refined grains is more than likely to be on the slimmer side, according to a new study from the University of Rhode Island.
Associate professor of nutrition at URI, Kathleen Melanson, headed up the study and presented her findings at The Obesity Society’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. last month, according to a press release from URI.
Self-reported eating rates in a laboratory study found that fast eaters ate 3.1 ounces of food a minute, and slow eaters ate 2.0 ounces of food a minute. Men also ate faster than women, but the fastest eating woman ate as fast as a man, both eating 3.1 ounces per minute.
A second study was done to examine the correlation between the body mass index (BMI) of the individual and their eating habits.
Melanson found that those with a higher BMI were more likely to eat the fastest.
“One theory we are pursuing is that fast eating may be related to greater energy needs, since men and heavier people have higher energy needs,” Melanson explained. « Read the rest of this entry »
Overweight Fathers More Likely to Have Children with Weight Problems, Study Reveals (via Fox News Latino)
November 14, 2011 § 1 Comment
Reprinted from Fox News Latino
Wondering whether your toddler will battle with their weight in years to come? Have a look at dad’s waistline.
According to a new Australian study of more than 3,000 families by researchers at the University of Newcastle, 4-year-olds whose fathers were overweight or obese were at least four times more likely than other children to have weight problems themselves by the time they were eight.
On the other hand, an overweight or obese mother made little difference to the chances of her child developing their own weight problems.
“We know that when both parents are overweight or obese, their children are more likely to also be overweight or obese,” researcher Emily Freeman said. “This project investigated patterns in families and tracked children from ages 4 to 8, where only one parent was overweight or obese.” « Read the rest of this entry »
A Drink a Day May Increase Breast Cancer Risk
November 9, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Even moderate drinking increases a woman’s breast cancer risk, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The research found as few as three to six glasses of wine a week increased the chance of developing breast cancer. The risk of breast cancer rose with the amount of alcohol consumed, the study found, with the best measure of risk being a woman’s cumulative alcohol consumption throughout her lifetime.
“This study doesn’t tell women, ‘Don’t drink at all,’” said Dr. Wendy Chen, lead author and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “It’s really what someone does on average over a long period of time, not what they did this past month, not what they did this past year.” « Read the rest of this entry »
Cyber Eyes (Via Yoga Journal)
November 2, 2011 § 1 Comment
You’ve been sitting in front of your computer for two hours trying to ignore your stinging, dry eyes and get through your work. You can’t quit now….If only your eyes would stop burning.
Tired eyes and blurry vision are but two symptoms of what is now recognized as a broader problem called computer vision syndrome, or CVS. As computer use continues to rise, so do cases of CVS. A recent study showed that nearly 90 percent of employees who work with computers for more than three hours a day suffer from some form of eye trouble.
CVS has a host of causes, from improper lighting, screen glare, and an ill-adapted workspace, to poor posture and glasses or contact lenses with incorrect prescriptions, according to Kent M. Daum, O.D., Ph.D., of the School of Optometry of the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Infrequent blinking is another culprit. We blink to keep the eyes lubricated, explains Daum. When staring at a computer screen, we blink less, so the eyes become dry. And the more we concentrate, the less we blink, so casually surfing the Web may be easier on the eyes than focused work, he says. Also, deficiencies of vitamin A may cause severe eye dryness, so be sure to get enough. « Read the rest of this entry »
