well working long term diet? hahahha

Confirming what many dieters like my mom and i already know, most diets don’t work all that well over the long term. In a study that just came out today, over 300 moderately obese subjects (average Body Mass Index; 31) were placed on one of three different diets for two years. Participants lost 10-14 pounds within five months, but then they stopped losing weight and even gained some of the weight back over the next year and a half. At the end of a full two years, participants had lost only 6-10 pounds on average – not a lot, considering they were obese to start with.The study’s authors most likely were disappointed (the study was funded in part by the Atkins Foundation, and a low-carb diet was one of the diets tested.) But based on some observed changes in lipid profiles, they suggest that the diets may have conferred some health benefits to the participants despite the minimal weight loss. It’s an interesting hypothesis, but it’s certainly not a valid conclusion at this point.

r red bullz good 4 u?

There’s growing concern among school officials and health care workers that teen use of energy drinks such as Red Bull and Spike Shooter are early warning signs of the willingness to take risks. According to researchers, high consumption of energy drinks is associated with aggressive and risky behaviors, including substance abuse, violence, and unprotected sex. No one is saying yet that these energy drinks cause such behaviors, but parents should probably be aware that teens who are willing to abuse caffeine may be more likely to engage in other risky behaviors as well. The research is published in the March issue of The Journal of American College Health and discussed in a recent news article.The energy drink Spike Shooter contains 428 mg of caffeine in 12 ounces, or about 12x that of Coke or Pepsi and 2-5 times that in a cup of coffee. Teens have been sent to the emergency room with heart palpitations, jittery behavior, and sweating as a result of drinking too many energy drinks. Some teens are combining these drinks with alcohol in the mistaken belief that it makes them less drunk.

Speedier Speedos ....omg...

Can a swimsuit make you go faster in the water? sound funny huh? Will athletes be willing to pay more than $500 for one? itz not gonna happend on me..XD Speedo is betting that the answer to both questions is “yes”. Its new high-tech Speedo LZR Racer is designed to do for swimming what titanium golf clubs and carbon composite rackets did for golf and tennis, respectively. And it might do just that!The new suit has no stitching; the parts are all bonded ultrasonically. Low-drag panels are incorporated into the nearly complete body suit to compress the swimmer’s body. According to the company, the new suits have 5% less drag than older models. Critics argue that a suit doesn’t make a world-class swimmer, and of course on one level they’re right. On the other hand, in the past two months 14 new world records have been set in swimming – 13 of them in the LZR suit.

Running<----->Hurting KNEEs?

Runners are often told (usually by non-runners) that running is hard on their knees. According to commonly held belief, the constant pounding wears out or damages knee cartilage and leads to either knee injury or an increased likelihood of osteoarthritis later in life.But the available scientific evidence suggests that running is not a risk factor for knee osteoarthritis, and may in fact keep you healthier later in life. In one study, runners were compared to age-matched non-runners over an 18-year period. There was no difference in the rate of development of osteoarthritis between the two groups. In another study, overall disability rates in runners increased at only one quarter of the rate seen in age-matched sedentary persons.A major risk factor for knee osteoarthritis is not running per se; its having had a previous knee injury. That is why there is so much osteoarthritis among former N.F.L. football players and former soccer players. But if you’re a recreational runner and manage to stay injury-free, don’t worry about wearing out your knees – just keep running!

Cleansing Blood With Magnets ??!!

2 Days ago, I saw this on my friends blog, saying that researchers at Harvard University are working on an innovative method for treating blood infections - drawing the bacteria out of blood with magnets. They mix infected blood with tiny antibody-coated magnetic spheres only 1/8 the size of red blood cells. The antibodies on the spheres attach to bacteria in the blood, and then the spheres and the bacteria are drawn off together using a powerful magnetic field. In initial experiments the method removed up to 80% of the bacteria in small samples . Can the method be tooled up to cleanse the larger volume of blood in human patients? 2) Will reducing the bacterial or fungal load in a patient’s blood actually improve the patient’s recovery? 3) What might happen to the patient if a few magnetic beads are not removed from the blood before it is returned to the patient?

It may be several years before we know if the method can be used safely and effectively to treat blood infections in human patients

"DATEING" birth cells??!

I saw this question on my mom's magezine yesterday,'How can scientists determine the age of human cells? How frequently are human cells replaced, if at all?'In 2005 scientists hit upon an ingenious method that takes advantage of a dark period in recent world history - the above-ground testing of nuclear weapons between the mid-1950s and 1963. Nuclear weapons testing resulted in a sharp spike in carbon-14 levels worldwide. The levels peaked in 1967 and have since declined as carbon-14 diffused and equilibrated with the atmosphere, the oceans, and the biosphere. Carbon is incorporated into the chemical components of all new cells, of course, including DNA. It turns out that the carbon-14 levels in nuclear DNA correspond very closely to the atmospheric levels at the time the DNA was synthesized. So by comparing the cells’ nuclear DNA carbon-14 levels to a chart of atmospheric cabon-14 levels each year, one can determine the cells’ birth date.How does this help us determine cell turnover? Think about it: if all of the cells in a piece of tissue are the same age as the individual, then cells are not being replaced throughout life. But if the average cell age is much younger than the individual, then cell turnover must be relatively high. The scientists who developed the cell-dating technique report that neurons in the cerebral cortex (the most highly developed area of the brain) do not undergo significant replacement throughout life - you’re born with all the cortical brainpower you’re ever going to have. In contrast, cells lining the intestine are replaced frequently.

Obesity effect people around you

If your closest friend becomes obese your risk of obesity goes up dramatically, according to online sources. And it was not just a matter of the friends eating the same foods, because the relationship holds even if the friends are separated geographically. Your risk also goes up if you have a sibling or a spouse who becomes obese, though the effect is not as great as between best friends. How might social relationships affect obesity? Researchers speculate that when a person who becomes obese is already a close mutual friend, a sibling, or a spouse, one may tend to perceive obesity as more acceptable than if the person is a total stranger. Close mutual friends may also influence a person’s eating habits, even if the friends are not always together. The data also offer a clue for why many of the most successful weight-loss programs are those that offer peer support. By modifying a person’s social network to include people who are also trying to lose weight, one’s view of normal and acceptable begins to change. The bottom line is that obesity is not just a medical problem with genetic roots, but also a public health problem with social causes. Understanding obesity will require a full understanding of both.

food nutrients 4 packed foodz

Finally, someone has decided to make it easy for consumers to pick the healthiest packaged foods! A coalition of some of the biggest food companies has teamed up with scientists and the federal government to develop and promote a simple front-of-package logo called “Smart Choices” to indicate that a food meets certain nutritional standards. The standards include limited quantities of total and saturated fats, cholesterol, added sugars and salt, as well as minimum quantities of nutrients for good health, such as calcium, potassium, fiber, and certain vitamins. And like the “Heart Healthy” program originally developed by the American Heart Association, the new program is based on good scientific evidence. Once consumers understand what the logo means and accept its underlying health assumptions, they can simply look for the logo on the front of the package. “Pattern recognizers” such as myself (who can’t find their favorite products in the grocery store if the manufacturer changes the packaging!) will appreciate the help in picking healthful foods. The logo is a green check mark in a square along with the words, “Smart Choices Program”.