Removal of Ovaries and Early Menopause

In pre-menopausal women, most of the estrogen in the body is made by the ovaries. Because estrogen makes hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers grow, reducing the amount of estrogen in the body or blocking its action can help shrink hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers and reduce the risk of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers coming back (recurring).

In some cases, the ovaries may be surgically removed to treat hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer or as a risk-reduction measure for women at very high risk of breast cancer. This is called prophylactic or protective ovary removal, or prophylactic oophorectomy. Removing the ovaries is one way to permanently stop the ovaries from producing estrogen. Medicines also can be used to temporarily stop the ovaries from making estrogen (called medical shutdown). Ovarian shutdown with medication or surgical removal is only for pre-menopausal women.

Medical shutdown of the ovaries

Medicines can be used to temporarily stop the ovaries from making estrogen. Two of the most common ovarian shutdown medicines are:

• Zoladex (chemical name: goserelin)
• Lupron (chemical name: leuprolide)

Zoladex and Lupron are both luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists. These medicines work by telling the brain to stop the ovaries from making estrogen. The medicines are given as injections once a month for several months or every few months. Once you stop taking the medicine, the ovaries begin functioning again. The time it takes for the ovaries to recover can vary from woman to woman.

Women who want to bear children after breast cancer treatment may prefer medical shutdown of the ovaries over surgical ovary removal.

Deciding to have your ovaries shut down with medicine or surgically removed requires a lot of careful thought and discussion with your doctor. Tell your doctor about any fertility concerns you may have. Together you can weigh the benefits and the risks against each other and decide on the best option for you and your unique situation.

In an oophorectomy, a surgeon removes both your ovaries — the almond-shaped organs on each side of your uterus. Your ovaries contain eggs and secrete the hormones that control your reproductive cycle. Removing your ovaries greatly reduces the amount of the hormones estrogen and progesterone circulating in your body. This can halt or slow breast cancers that need these hormones to grow.

Women with BRCA gene mutations usually also may have their fallopian tubes removed at the same time (salpingo-oophorectomy), since they have an increased risk of fallopian tube cancer as well.

Who can consider prophylactic oophorectomy?

Prophylactic oophorectomy is usually reserved for women with a significantly increased risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer due to an inherited mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene — two genes linked to breast cancer, ovarian cancer and other cancers. High-risk women age 35 and older who have completed childbearing are the best candidates for this surgery.

Prophylactic oophorectomy may also be recommended if you have a strong family history of breast cancer and ovarian cancer but no known genetic alteration. It might also be recommended if you have a strong likelihood of carrying the gene mutation based on your family history but choose not to proceed with genetic testing.

How much can oophorectomy reduce the risk of cancer?

If you have a BRCA mutation, a prophylactic oophorectomy can reduce your:

• Breast cancer risk by up to 50 percent in premenopausal women. As an example, if a woman with a high risk of breast cancer had a 60 percent chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in her lifetime, oophorectomy could reduce her risk to 30 percent. Put another way, for every 100 women just like her, 60 could be expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer without oophorectomy. And 30 would be expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer after oophorectomy.
• Ovarian cancer risk by 80 to 90 percent. As an example, if a woman with a high risk of ovarian cancer had a 30 percent chance of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer at some point in her lifetime, oophorectomy could reduce her risk to 6 percent, assuming an 80 percent risk reduction. Put another way, for every 100 women just like her, 30 could be expected to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer without oophorectomy. And six would be expected to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer after oophorectomy.

In studies, the risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer varies. And your individual risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer varies depending on many factors, including your family history, your lifestyle choices and other strategies youre using to reduce your risk of cancer. For some women, oophorectomy may offer great reduction in risk. For other women, the risks of surgery and the potential side effects may not be worth the reduction in cancer risk.

What are the risks of oophorectomy?

Oophorectomy is a generally safe procedure that carries a small risk of complications, including infection, intestinal blockage and injury to internal organs. The risk of complications depends on how the procedure is performed.

But more concerning are the complications that can come from losing the hormones supplied by your ovaries. In women who have yet to undergo menopause, oophorectomy causes early menopause. Early menopause carries many risks, including:

• Bone thinning (osteoporosis). Removing your ovaries reduces the amount of bone-building estrogen your body produces. This may increase your risk of a broken bone.
• Discomforts of menopause. Hot flashes, vaginal dryness, sexual problems, sleep disturbance and sometimes cognitive changes are problems for some women during menopause. Removing your ovaries doesnt mean youll immediately have these problems, but it does mean that any menopausal symptoms you develop will occur earlier and are more likely to reduce your quality of life than if they occurred during natural menopause.
• Increased risk of heart disease. Your risk of high cholesterol and heart disease may increase if you have your ovaries removed.
• Lingering risk of cancer. Prophylactic oophorectomy doesnt completely eliminate your risk of breast cancer or ovarian cancer. A type of cancer that looks and acts identical to ovarian cancer can develop after the ovaries and fallopian tubes are removed. The risk of this type of cancer, called primary peritoneal cancer, is low — much lower than the lifetime risk of ovarian cancer if the ovaries remain intact.

Prophylactic oophorectomy might relieve much of your anxiety about developing either disease, but this type of surgery can also take an emotional toll on you. Even if you didnt plan on having children, you might mourn the loss of your fertility. Or you may, like some, have a strong sense of femininity tied to your fertility and reproductive cycle.

Do women have to take post-menopausal hormone therapy after oophorectomy?

Use of low-dose hormone therapy after oophorectomy is controversial. While studies have shown that use of hormone therapy after menopause may increase a womans risk of breast cancer, other studies suggest early menopause can cause its own serious risks.

Women who undergo prophylactic oophorectomy and dont use hormone therapy up to age 45 have a higher rate of premature death, cancer, heart disease and neurological diseases. Its not clear that the higher rates of these diseases are due to low estrogen levels caused by oophorectomy, but doctors typically recommend that younger women who have surgically induced menopause consider taking low-dose hormone therapy for a short time and stopping by age 45 or 50.

Prophylactic oophorectomy may also increase your risk of memory loss and dementia. But studies show this risk may be reduced with the use of hormone therapy after surgery.

It isnt entirely clear what effect hormone therapy might have on your cancer risk. Several studies have found that short-term hormone therapy doesnt increase the risk of breast cancer in women with BRCA mutations who have undergone prophylactic oophorectomy. Ask your doctor about your particular situation. If you decide to take low-dose estrogen, plan to discontinue this treatment after age 50.

You may opt to have your uterus removed during your oophorectomy surgery, so that you can take a type of hormone therapy (estrogen only hormone therapy) that may be safer for women with a high risk of breast cancer. Discuss the benefits and risks of hysterectomy with your surgeon.

Differences Between Natural and Surgical Menopause

Natural menopause begins when the ovaries cease to produce an egg every four weeks, menstruation ceases and the woman is no longer able to bear children. Postmenopausal begins after menstruation has ceased for 12 months. For intact women, this process usually happens on average between the ages of 35 and 51. The ovaries reduce their production of estrogen and progesterone and physical changes and side effects occur that coincide with natural aging. In contrast, surgical menopause causes an immediate plunge into postmenopause after the ovaries are removed. Note that if youve had your ovaries removed after menopause, you wont be in surgical menopause and you wont feel any hormonal differences in your body. If youve had your ovaries removed before youve reached natural menopause, youll wake up from your surgery in postmenopause.

Once the ovaries are removed, your body immediately stops producing estrogen and progesterone. Your follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) will skyrocket in an attempt to make contact with ovaries that no longer exist. Unlike women who go through menopause naturally, women wake up after a bilateral oophorectomy in immediate estrogen withdrawal. Its that sudden: One day you have a normal menstrual cycle, the next day you have none whatsoever. This can cause you to become, understandably, more depressed, and youll also feel the physical symptoms of estrogen loss far more intensely than a woman in natural menopause.

Symptoms can include:

• Hot flashes, flushes, night sweats and/or cold flashes, clammy feeling
• Bouts of rapid heart beat
• Irritability
• Mood swings, sudden tears
• Trouble sleeping through the night (with or without night sweats)
• Loss of libido
• Vaginal dryness
• Crashing fatigue
• Anxiety, feeling ill at ease
• Feelings of dread, apprehension, doom
• Difficulty concentrating, disorientation, mental confusion
• Memory lapses
• Itchy, crawly skin
• Headache change: increase or decrease
• Depression
• Electric shock sensation under the skin and in the head
• Tingling in the extremities
• Osteoporosis
• Changes in fingernails: softer, crack or break easier

Fortunately, you most likely wont experience all of these symptoms, and the ones you do have will vary in degree and duration. The great news is that nature offers you alternatives to the damaging effects of convential horomone replacement therapy. Soy isoflavones are phytochemicals (naturally occurring plant chemicals) in soy products. Some isoflavones, such as genistein and daidzein, exert mild estrogenic effects and are thus called phytoestrogens. Structurally similiar to estrogen, soy isoflavones have the capacity to bind to empty estrogen receptors and relieve hormonally based symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes. It is this ability to decrease hormone reception that also seems to be the mechanism by which phytoestrogens such as soy isoflavones prevent hormone-dependent cancers.

In addition to the physiological changes that occur during hysterectomy, there can also be emotional and psychosocial changes after the surgery. The natural, gradual transition from peri- into post-menopause normally gives the woman an opportunity to gradually adjust to her biological and emotional changes and to ease into the second part of her life. Women undergoing surgical menopause dont have the luxury of easing into it over time. Rather, the woman is faced with both the challenge and opportunity to establish a new hormonal balance and make the mental adjustments necessary to not only deal with the shock of surgery, but also to establish a relationship with her new and different body/self.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/hormonal/ovary_removal.jsp

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-cancer/WO00095

http://www.womenlivingnaturally.com/articlepage.php?id=97

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070829162824.htm

How to Cure Acne Naturally

Growing acne is very annoying for us who experienced it, acne can reduce confidence in ourselves. But do not worry for those of you who experience acne growing on the face, this time we give you tips How to Eliminating Acne naturally that you can try at home.

Eliminating acne does take a little longer, we are in demand to perform hygiene on a regular basis in order to grown return acne facial surface. For more details you can see the tips below.

How to Eliminating Acne

Acne is a skin disease usually affects the face. Handle acne should not be arbitrary. In general, the principle of facial skincare as follows.

• Facial skin should be kept clean at rest at home.
• Do not break the acne and not often in touch.
• Avoid the use of cosmetic makeup while sleeping.
• The need different cleaners for dry skin with oily skin or normal skin, and vice versa.
• Cleaning a different face in the afternoon with the morning.

The natural way to overcome acne

• Take 2-3 papaya leaves are old and dry in the sun.
• The crushed leaves of papaya and water then squeezed for juice taken.
• Apply the juice of the papaya leaves on the acne.

Treatment of acne.

• Wash  enough radishes, then grated the radishes and take the water.
• Add a little apple cider vinegar and mix until blended.
• Apply on acne, let stand until dry.
• Once dried, wash with water.
• Perform routine until the acne is resolved.

The most important thing besides using products and materials to eliminate acne, is to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Because the bodys metabolism and excretion of a good process, will help the disposal of residual substances. Healthy lifestyle should be done as below:

• drinking enough water - no less, no more.
• always avoid stress and relax
• eating vegetables and fruits in order to defecate more smoothly
• wash face with clean water (wear mineral water), because it could be in the tap water contains high levels of iron too
• Routine washing towels, helmet and cushion
• do not squeeze force, except by means of appropriate
• wash your face with soap 2x/day special enough to be able to reduce excess oil. Do not be too often because it can eliminate the moisture required by the skin
• Avoid sugary foods and iodized, coffee drinks as well carbonized
• diligent exercise enough, but do not overdo it
• facial routine will speed up the healing of acne. Regular facial once every 2 weeks. Wear facial products that have been registered in the pom body. Mistakenly choose the products facial could actually make your problem becomes worse.
• Other means can also be done with herbal ingredients. Seed and honey is very good to eat.

2 3g of Betaine Per Day Double Your IGF 1 Reduce Your Body Fat By 19 ! Plus Spermine Gets Fat Rodents Lean in 4 Weeks 29 Common ! High Spermine Foods

They "take" spermine everyday!

This may not look like it, but todays SuppVersity post contains a hell lot of information about an amino acid you do know and a polyamine you probably dont know yet.

When youll be done with the article, the latter will change and one or the other will probably start googling the words "spermine bulk powder" or "spermine buy" and thus disregard the advice I have to give in the bottom line of this fat loss-oriented compilation of short news right from the labs of international research teams...

Well, I guess before I start sounding even more pathetic, I will just begin with study #1 - the study that covers the amino acid you all know - betaine!

• Double Your IGF-1 & Reduce Your Body Fat By 19% W/ Betaine!? I have to admit, the evidence I have to support this hilarious claim is not conclusive, but its interesting. Thats for sure.

➲ IMPORTANT REMINDER - This is "betaine" as in trimethylglycine aka TMG, not "betaine" as in betaine HCL, which may help you if you have serious problems with your digestive system, but is otherwise (i.e. for 99% of the healthy population) a complete waste of money and will have NO effect whatsoever on your IGF-1 and body fat levels.

• The data was published in a not exactly totally recent paper from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Science of the Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. The subjects were pigs and the objective of the present study was, therefore, to evaluate the effect of betaine supplementation (at 0.125% of the total diet) on carcass quality, growth performance and changes in serum IGF-1 and TG concentrations of finishing pigs.
  

  

  Figure 1: Relative IGF-1 & triglyceride levels, as well as thickness of back fat (Lothong. 2013)

  Aside from the previously mentioned improvements in body fat and IGF-1, the pigs on the "high" betaine diet (my calculation would suggest that we are talking about a human equivalent of only 2-3g per day) did also lead to significant reductions in serum triglyceride and could thus also help people with high blood lipids. 
• The Unknown Fat Loss Power of Spermine - You dont even know what spermine is? Thats funny, cause you all have plenty of it in your body. Its after all a polyamine thats involved in cellular metabolism found in all eukaryotic cells.

➲ Additional Info: Spermine and allergies, heart disease & diabetes: According to Peulen et al. (1998) 5.02 nmol ml−1 of spermine is a critical value for the spermine content of human breast milk. If there is less spermine in it, the likelihood of your children developing allergies will increase. A high spermine / generally high polyamine intake has also been suggested to protect against heart disease (Soda. 2010) and help with diabetes (Jafarnejad. 2008).

• On the other hand, if you google it, you will soon realize that not just you, but also we (as in we as humans) know relatively little about Aethylenimin, as Spermin has previously been called. Thus, it took me a brief excursion into the archives the scientific journals of the world to come up with some information about its distribution in the mammalian body (see Figure 2) and following information (Tabor. 1976).

  

  Figure 2: Spermidine content of various tissues (left; Tabor. 1976); effects of 4 weeks of spermidine supplementation on body weight (g) of pre-fattened (high fat group) mice (Sadasivan. 2014)

  With respect to its functions, Anthony E. Pegg, a researcher from the Pennsylvania State University writes in his latest review published in January 2014:
  

  

  Table 1: Spermine-rich foods (data in mg/100g calc. based on Nishimura et al. 2006)

  "Polyamines play important roles in cell physiology including effects on the structure of cellular macromolecules, gene expression, protein function, nucleic acid and protein synthesis, regulation of ion channels, and providing protection from oxidative damage.
  
  Vertebrates contain two polyamines, spermidine and spermine, as well as their precursor, the diamine putrescine. Although spermidine has an essential and unique role as the precursor of hypusine a post-translational modification of the elongation factor eIF5A, which is necessary for this protein to function in protein synthesis, no unique role for spermine has been identified unequivocally. The existence of a discrete spermine synthase enzyme that converts spermidine to spermine suggest that spermine must be needed and this is confirmed by studies with Gy mice and human patients with Snyder-Robinson syndrome in which spermine synthase is absent or greatly reduced. In both cases, this leads to a severe phenotype with multiple effects among which are intellectual disability, other neurological changes, hypotonia, and reduced growth of muscle and bone." (my emphasis in Pegg. 2014)

  In other words, we know that we know... well, very little ;-) What we do know from a very recent study that was conducted (red alert!) by scientists working for Connexios Life Sciences Private Limited and is about to be published in one of the future issues of European Journal of Pharmacology is that spermine has the ability to bring diet-induced obese rodents back to a normal weight within four weeks! At least if its dosed at a human equivalent of ~60-75mg per day.
  
  Aside from the profound reduction in body weight (-24%), the Connexios researchers observed in their fattened up mice, the spermine treatment did also reduce the fasting blood glucose levels by -18%. The corresponding improvements in glucose metabolism came hand in hand with the increases in fatty acid oxidation that were responsible for the rapid loss of white adipose tissue mass. 

As SuppVersity reader you know that betaines IGF boosting effects occur in humans as well | learn more

Bottom line: Contrary to the use of spermidine supplements, which is still pie in the sky, betaine aka TMG (trimethylglicine) is a readily available amino acid of which you, as an avid SuppVersity reader know that it has also been shown to increase size and strength gains in athletes (learn more), to sooth the negative inflammation in your adipose organs (learn more), to set the anabolic stage for muscle growth by increasing IGF-1 and decreasing cortisol (evidence, more evidence) and to have a mild yet possibly overblown effect on the purported cardiovascular disease (CVD) marker homocysteine (learn more).

If you asked me, my money would thus be on betaine, not spermine on the moment, if I had to bet which of those could make a valuable addition to your supplement routine. Why? Thats a question you shouldnt be asking if this aint your first visit to the SuppVersity. With one sponsored rodent study supporting its efficiacy, spermine may qualify as the "new go to supplement" for the supplement industry, but for you as a critical thinker, it will obviously take independent human trials before you throw your money at Connexios and possible copycats.

References:

• Jafarnejad, A., et al. "Effect of spermine on lipid profile and HDL functionality in the streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat model." Life sciences 82.5 (2008): 301-307.
• Lothong, Muttarin, Pornchalit Assavacheep, and Kittipong Tachampa. "Effects of Dietary Betaine Supplementation on Growth Performance, Carcass Quality and Serum IGF-1 and Triglyceride of Finishing Pigs." (2013). 
• Nishimura, Kazuhiro, et al. "Decrease in polyamines with aging and their ingestion from food and drink." Journal of biochemistry 139.1 (2006): 81-90.
• Pegg, Anthony E. "The function of spermine." IUBMB life (2014). 
• Soda, Kuniyasu. "Polyamine intake, dietary pattern, and cardiovascular disease." Medical hypotheses 75.3 (2010): 299-301. 
• Sadasivan, SK et al. "Exogenous administration of Q2 spermine results in improved glucose utilization and decrease in bodyweight of mice." European Journal of Pharmacology (2014). Accepted article.
• Tabor, Celia White, and Herbert Tabor. "1, 4-Diaminobutane (putrescine), spermidine, and spermine." Annual review of biochemistry 45.1 (1976): 285-306.

Dubai Tour Guide to stay in budget

I have recently been to Dubai with my husband, it was a great experience totally loved it. Dubai is no doubt one of the most luxurious cities of the world. It can cost u much much more then u planned, no matter how much u bring u can spend all.
Here are some highlights from my trip as well as some tips to stay in budget.

1st and most important thing is dont arrange a tour to Dubai for more then a week you will get bore. Dubai is v beautiful and attractive but 90% of the attractions are artificial and its human nature once u see it all u cant enjoy it over and over again. Beside Dubai is a small city u can definitely cover it all in seven days.


Hotel:

Of course one need a hotel to stay in. There is a huge list of hotels in  Dubai to stay in. I will never recommend a very expensive hotel because if you are there to visit and explore Dubai dont spend much over some place where u will just get a few hour of sleep or rest. We stayed in IBIS hotel Al-Barsha its a well standard above average hotel cost us about 300 AED per night and most importantly its situated on the most beautiful and famous Sheikh Zayed Road...
The main advantage was its almost in the center of Dubai, so access to other important places was very easy. This is not the only hotel, there are many many more on the same road you can visit and chose the one which best suits your budget but just consider one thing that you are not in Dubai just to have a comfy bed and a luxury room. Save your money for much more Dubai has to offer...

                                          Next 2: Burj Khalifa.................

 

Study Suggests Frozen Veggies Worse Than Common Wisdom Says Frozen Asparagus Zucchini and Green Beans Lose More Antioxidants During Boiling

Green asparagus from the fridge and  from the market are not created equal - at least not when they finally end up on your plate after a short bath in hot water.

You just have to watch one of the consumer report shows on television to hear it: "Frozen veggies are way better than their reputation would suggest." Actually, here in Germany this sentence has been repeated to soften that Ive even heard people say theyd buy the frozen broccoli because it contained "more vitamins and the other good stuff, you know." And you know what? For some veggies like spinach, for example, this may actually be the case. For others, like broccoli or peas, the nutrient status of the frozen and the raw uncooked vegetable appears to be more or less identical (Favell. 1998). But thats something you cannot say for the green asparagus stems, zucchini and green beans in a recent study from the Università degli Studi di Parma in Italy.

Warning: Dont take this article as an excuse and stop eating veggies completely. The frozen stuff may lose more vitamins, when you boil it, but (a) you can still blanch it and (b) even with significantly reduced antioxidant effects veggies are still among the healthiest things you can eat.

I am not an asparagus expert and can still tell that the cell structure of the Transverse  sections boiled (C - from raw | D - from frozen) is profoundly messed up compared to the raw (A) and blanched (B) variety | legend: c = collenchyma; vp = vascular bundle; p = parenchyma; f = fissure.

In the corresponding experiment, the Italian researchers bought Green asparagus stems (Asparagus officinalis L., var. Grande), zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L., va Quine) and green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L., var. Giamaica) from a local producer and processed them within 24 hours from harvesting. For each of the veggies four samples were prepared: Raw/uncooked  (R), raw/boiled  (B), blanched (BL) and industrially frozen/boiled (FB)

The raw (ten kilograms of each vegetable), blanched (five kilograms of each vegetable) and industrially frozen  samples  (five  kilograms  of  each  vegetable) had been transported were  transported  to  the  University of  Parma laboratories  under  adequate  refrigerated conditions to avoid the exuberant nutrient loss that occurs upon inadequately slow (re-)freezing.

SuppVersity Suggested Read: " Conventional vs. Organic: Its Not About Getting More, But Getting Less For Your Money. Less Pesticides, Dioxins & Co" | read more if you want to know if the claim "organic is always better" is a similar misconcept as "frozen over fresh".

If you "freeze" your veggies in the freezer compartment of your fridge, this will make the cells blast, so that even before they are cooked, and the nutrients flow out. It is generally assume that the latter would not happen, if the veggies are shock-frosted.

Figure 1: Total antioxidant capacity of green asparagus, zucchini and green beans raw, blanched, boiled and frozen and boiled (Paciulli. 2014); as the data tells you frozen veggies with similar  icy grease on them like you see on the right may not really be a better source of antioxidants than fresh veggies from the farmers or even the supermarket.

If we look at the data in Figure 1, though, it would appear that the cells may have "cracked" already so that they are more susceptible to the subsequent heat assault and the frozen + boiled samples end up having consistently lower total antioxidant (Figure 2) and feric acid reducing capacity than their raw + boiled counterparts.

For a similar reason (nutrient retention), the blanched samples have been cooled immediately after blanching in an ice-water bath for 3 min before they have been transported to the laboratories, where their analysis shows that only the Zucchini lost a small, but significant amount of their total antioxidant activity.

Figure 2: It would be interesting to see if the negative effects of freezing and boiling occur in all vegetables. In view of the fact that previous studies compared raw vs. frozen, but nor raw + cooked vs. frozen + cooked, frozen Broccoli + cooked broccoli could be exactly as "bad" as asparagus, zucchini and green beans.

The thing that is of most practical relevance, tough, is the significant negative effect of freezing + boiling on both, the total antioxidant capacity (Figure 1) and the ferric reducing capacity (Figure 2) of all three vegetables.

The previously "cited" statement that youre better of with the "fresh" frozen veggies is thus probably only right, if you eat them raw. Compared to fresh veggies, the previously frozen asparagus, zucchini and green beans lost almost 11-30% of their antioxidant prowess during the cooking process - and the same may well happen to other veggies, including broccoli, which have been compared in previous studies only on a raw vs. frozen, but not on a cooked vs. frozen + cooked basis. Unless youre afraid that all the good veggies may limit your gains due to their potent anti-oxidant effects, it appears smart to stay away from their frozen varieties.

References:

• Paciulli, Maria, et al. "Impact of the industrial freezing process on selected vegetables Part I. Structure, texture and antioxidant capacity." Food Research International (2014).

SMOKING IS HARMFUL FOR HEALTH

Say No To Smoking for health

The relationship between cigarette smoking and the development of many serious diseases is becoming clearer. This has led to an increase in inquiries in the health community and mental health.

WHO considers an addiction to snuff dependence? Such dependence, as well as many others, must be addressed properly, because nicotine can control some important aspects of a persons behavior.

Like other euphoric substances (alcohol and cocaine), on snuff is able to produce effects that enter into the mood of the person and their deprivation triggers search behavior of the substance.

The cigarette smokers have a significantly reduced life expectancy compared to the rest of the population. Some authors have estimated that 5.5 minutes of life lost per cigarette has been smoked. In 30 - 35 years of age who smokes two packs a day, life expectancy decreased from 8 to 9 years compared to a nonsmoker the same age. 

 Effect in Human

It has not been widely established, unlike other addictions, which smoking causes serious psychological disturbances, apart from the impulse or need to consume and how hard it is abandoned.

Cigarette smoke contains lots of toxic substances, including carbon monoxide (CO). CO has high affinity for hemoglobin, red blood cell component that carries oxygen to the tissues, so that red blood cells of smokers lose 15% of the oxygen carrying capacity. This can injure the heart and circulatory system. Can be found also other gases such as nitrous oxide and hydrogen oxide, responsible for cough and restrict the flow of air through the bronchi. 

Tar is a carcinogen that causes absolute and encourages the development of various tumors.

Nicotine produces an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac output and oxygen consumption in the tissues.

The risk of lung cancer is 10 times higher in a smoker, and heavy smokers (2 or more packs per day) the risk is 15 to 25 times higher.

The children of smoking mothers weigh less at birth compared to infants of nonsmokers. 

 Treatment

Currently there are a variety of interventions to help the smoker to quit their habit, many of whom have better long-term, between 6 and 12 months. Numerous studies have demonstrated that treatment approaches that incorporate behavior change of the person are those that offer a greater chance of success. 

Lately it has incorporated the use of nicotine replacement therapies in the form of gums and patches.

For treatment to be effective must be met in three stages: • Commitment to quit and setting goals. • Initial change: mainstay of treatment includes group therapy, nicotine replacement, behavioral management techniques and relaxation, individual follow-up, etc.. • Maintenance of quitting: mainly ready to face the withdrawal symptoms, as many of those who relapse have at least one symptom of nicotine withdrawal

The latter is very important because it is responsible for 70% of those who quit falls in the same year.

History of Smoking

The first Europeans who came to America found that the Indians smoked a pipe leaves snuff, and introduced the practice in Europe in the mid-sixteenth century. Almost all the snuff was consumed in pipes, cigars or as snuff. This pattern changed in the early twentieth century, when every smoker had been consuming more than one thousand cigarettes a year. The general attitude of society was that the tension eased snuff and had no ill effects. During World War II doctors recommended sending cigarettes to the soldiers, so it was included in batches of rations. 

However, epidemiologists were quick to note that lung cancer, rare before the twentieth century, had increased considerably in the early 1930s. Some organizations initiated studies comparing the deaths of smokers with non-smokers over a period of several years, either to die of cancer or other causes. Furthermore, experimental animal studies showed that many of the chemicals in cigarette smoke are carcinogenic. In 1962, the U.S. government chose a group of ten scientists to analyze the evidence available to them. Their findings were included in the annual report on health in 1964, which stated that "smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance to justify the need for appropriate remedial actions."

The first step taken in 1964 was to include a warning on cigarette packs. This warning was reinforced in 1969 to read as follows: "Health authorities warn that the snuffs seriously damage your health." Since 1971 banned all cigarette advertising on radio and television. In the 1970 and 1980 several cities and states passed laws requiring spaces reserved for non-smokers in public places and work. In February 1990 a federal law banned smoking on all domestic flights whose duration is less than six hours. In Europe the situation was similar including the warning on cigarette packs that smoking is harmful to health and banning smoking in public places. These measures are aimed at eradicating this habit as bad.

The risks of passive smoking

Passive smoking is a person who does not smoke, but is forced to breathe air laden with snuff smoke in enclosed spaces (offices, public places or at home). The so-called "secondhand smoke" includes two types of smoke exhaled by the smoker and the cigarette that usually when qualm. Ester mixture contains over 4,500 chemicals of which over 40 are known to cause cancer in humans or animals and many are strong irritants. The secondhand smoke is also called snuff environmental smoke, and exposure to it is called involuntary smoking or passive smoking. 

It is estimated that a person who breathes the smoke present in an environment where smoking takes damage equivalent to smoking one cigarette per hour. The Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) has classified secondhand smoke as a known cause of lung cancer in humans (Group A carcinogen). The agency estimates that the United States, passive smoking causes about three thousand deaths annually from cancer in nonsmokers.

Exposure to secondhand smoke irritates the nose, eyes and throat. Also can irritate the lungs, resulting in coughing, excess phlegm, chest discomfort and reduced lung function. The secondhand smoke can affect the cardiovascular system. A person who is married to a smoker has a 30 percent increased risk of developing lung cancer than a person living with a nonsmoker. 

 

Children at risk

The secondhand smoke is a serious risk to child health. Exposure to secondhand smoke seriously affects the lungs of young children that are under development. Among the most seriously affected by this exposure are infants and young children of smoking parents, for whom an increased risk of infections, lower respiratory system, such as pneumonia and bronchitis, increased hospitalizations annually. It also increases the possibility that these children suffer a decline in lung function and symptoms of respiratory irritation like cough, excess phlegm and asthmatic breathing. It can also cause middle ear infection, the most common cause of infant surgical ward. 

Asthmatic children are especially at risk. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of them suffer episodes and increased symptom severity and that many patients get worse due to secondhand smoke. Also it may be the cause of thousands of children without asthma, the contract every year.

Another risk to consider is the passive intoxication of the fetus when a pregnant woman smokes but does not live with smokers. This issue is so important that in some countries, smoking is prohibited in places where there is a pregnant. 

Message to the smoker

It is now difficult to be a smoker. As the public becomes aware that smoking poses a danger not only for him but for others, people who do not smoke, they begin to speak more frankly and smokers are proving a group disapproved.

If you choose to smoke, here are some things you can do to protect those around him:

• Do not smoke around children. His lungs are very susceptible to smoke.

• If you are pregnant, stop smoking.

• Become active in the development of smoking policy in your company. Encourage the establishment of smoking cessation programs for those interested.

• Keep your home smoke free. Because smoke lingers in the air, can expose them if they are not present when you smoke.

• If you must smoke inside, limit yourself to do it in a ventilated room with windows open.

• Submit your home tested for radon. Radon contamination in combination with the smoke produced by smoking is a much bigger risk to health than each alone.

• Do not smoke in a car with the windows closed with passengers.

The high concentration of smoke in a small, closed compartment substantially increases the exposure of other passengers.

Many people quit smoking; most of them fail on their own, without the help of a program or medication. But if not, there is help.

It may be that your employer will offer a treatment, or ask your doctor.

In the house:

• Do not smoke in your home, or allow others to do so.

• If a family member insists on smoking indoors, increase ventilation of the place where people smoke. Open windows or use exhaust smoke.

• Do not smoke around children, especially infants and preschool children, as they are especially susceptible to the effects of smoke snuff.

Where children:

• Do not allow babysitters or others working in your home to smoke indoors or near their children.

• Find out the rules for smoking who cares for her children during the day, babysitters, day care, school, among others.

• Help other parents understand the serious health risk to the child by secondhand smoke. Work with your parent-teacher associations, your school board, community leaders and other citizens interested in getting the childs environment smoke-free.

What to do at work?

We recommend that every company has a smoking policy that effectively protects nonsmokers from involuntary exposure to tobacco snuff. Many companies and organizations already have standards in place but their effectiveness varies. Simply separating smokers from nonsmokers, and in the cafeteria, you can reduce exposure, but even so, the latter will be exposed to re-circulated smoke or seeping to places of no smoking.

Two options to effectively protect non-smokers are:

• Prohibiting smoking indoors or limit it to rooms especially designed, thus preventing smoke from escaping to other parts of the building.

• The costs of establishing rooms designed for this purpose vary according to the building and possibly more costly to eliminate smoking completely.

If smoking is permitted inside a building should occur in a room that meets certain conditions. The air in the smoking room must be taken directly to the outside by an exhaust fan. Do not continue to circulate in other parts of the building. It is necessary that the amount of air that is removed from the room is greater than the amount received, ensuring that secondhand smoke does not leak to the nearby places.

The smoking cessation programs sponsored by companies form part of any general rule for smoking. If smoking is permitted in designated areas outdoors, they should not be placed near the doors (or near air intakes of the ventilation system) where nonsmokers are forced to cross the smoke of smokers congregating around doors. Some companies have installed outdoor locations with shelters and ashtrays for the convenience of the smoker. With these measures the company will be protected from potential lawsuits from employees who do not smoke, which would otherwise be affected by pollution from smoking. 

Smoking and its consequences

Why quit?

What are the physical benefits?

What do to quit smoking?

Why smoking is considered an addiction?

Among the substances contained in cigarette nicotine is present, which is responsible for producing drug addiction.

When smoked, nicotine enters the circulation and reaches the brain. Blood levels of the substance halve in the first 30 minutes and this partly explains the need for frequent whistle smoker. The body develops tolerance to nicotine and then it takes more and more cigarettes to achieve the same effect.

Why people start smoking?

People start smoking, usually in adolescence, for several reasons:

1. Peer pressure: Many people, especially young people, care about their appearance, do not want to be different, if their friends smoke they should also smoke to feel accepted.
2. Misleading advertising messages: magazines, television, radio, etc., make people believe that smoking is beneficial and that they will see better smoking.
3. Insecurity: Some people choose to smoke to try to feel relaxed or when they are with other people.
4. Concern about body weight: many people smoke because they mistakenly believe that if you leave a lot of weight increase.

What is the health problems related to smoking?

 






There is evidence that smoking causes specific health risks: 

• It Smoking creates addiction to nicotine. 
• It decreased sense of smell and taste. 
• Low physical ability, headaches, contractions, cough, asthma, frequent colds and bronchitis. 
• Osteoporosis, early menopause, wrinkles, impotence. 
• In pregnancy, increased fetal death, premature labor, low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome in infants
• Atherosclerosis and vascular disease: angina, myocardial infarction, hypertension, aneurysm, stroke.
• Diseases of the mouth and teeth including oral cancer.
• Other types of cancer: breast, cervix, lung, bladder, kidney and pancreas.

What are the physical benefits if you quit smoking? 

• In the early days of the body improves oxygenation and less fatigue, and headache contractual and more physical ability.

• In the first weeks improves the taste, smell, texture of the skin and decrease asthma, bronchitis and colds. 
• In the first months reduces greatly the risk of vascular problems such as heart rate and brain, improve emphysema and chronic bronchitis and can improve sex life. 
• In the early years, and increasingly, reduces the risk of cancer by smoking and improving osteoporosis. 
• In pregnancy, the risk to the fetus and newborn decreases greatly.

How dangerous is passive smoking?

• Nonsmokers who breathe tobacco smoke regularly (at home or at work) have specific health risks including:

• Increased risk of lung cancer, emphysema and heart attack is more than other people who are passive smokers.

• In children increases the frequency of bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma and sudden infant death.

How to quit?

Quitting smoking is a physical and mental task. The person must be prepared and be convinced to want to try to leave for their benefits. Some motivations to quit are as important as an example to children and grandchildren, increase (regardless of age) physical performance, not depending on the cigarette, prevent disease, avoid pregnancy problems, save money, etc..

Tips for quitting: 

•  Think about why you want to quit. 
• Select a date to quit smoking (does not leave "little by little"). 
• Ask for support from family, friends and coworkers. 
• Eat a balanced, drink plenty of water and not drink alcohol to excess. 
• Do things that enhance stress (exercise yoga, recreation, etc.)

Tips To Get Healthy Skin And Acne Free Natural Way

Having healthy skin acne free becomes the desire of every woman. There are many factors that cause acne. From the heredity, stress, increasing testosterone at puberty or menstruation, to pollution. But the main thing is because of excessive production of oil glands that cover the skin pores.

Acne often appears on the skin area that has the most oil glands, such as the face, neck, chest, back and shoulders. Most people, especially young, are vulnerable to acne. However, you can prevent or get rid of acne.

To get healthy skin acne free, here are some tips you need to do:

1. Always keep the face clean, diligently wash the face with soap that matches your skin PH. Avoid soap / cleanser that makes our skin becomes dry after use. Because if our skin is dry then automatically your skin will make more oil. If too much oil, and rarely cleaned, the oil will cover the skin pores and sooner or later the bacteria cause inflammation of acne will go.

2. Diligent exercise or physical akitivitas produce sweat, it produced positive results for reducing the severity of acne.

3. Drink plenty of water. With a good irrigation system in our body, blood or other organs of the body will be more clean and healthy so acne healing process will be faster.

4. Avoid excessive stress can be a trigger because of more and more acne.

5. If the acne appears, do not squeeze your acne, especially if your hands are not clean because of acne will get worse and can lead to other injuries or infections.

6. Avoid fatty foods and multiply the consumption of vitamin C and foods containing zinc.

7. Avoid alcohol. Avoid ingredients that can make your skin dry like alcohol and alcohol-based toners, even though you have oily skin. This product can erode the natural protective layer of moisturizer and skin. Additionally, these products will also get you into trouble tolerate acne medications are prescribed.

8. Use oil-free moisturizer. Healthy skin tend to be moist. Choose an oil-free moisturizer with the words "noncomedogenic" on the label. This means that these products will not clog your pores or cause acne. You may hesitate to apply moisturizer to skin that tends to develop acne. But, a good moisturizer actually helps soothe the skin and prevent acne

9. Choose oil-free sunscreen. Apply an oil-free sunscreen or moisturizer with a sun protection factor (SPF) 15 or higher. This product provides protection from both ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB). Chose products with noncomedogenic label, so it does not clog your pores. And apply every two hours.

10. Avoid over-wash your face. Dirty skin does not trigger acne. Washing your face too often and strong it can irritate the skin and aggravate acne. Try washing your face twice a day with mild soap and warm water.