Informative - Useful for health !

Over 40% of cancers diagnosed each year in the UK are caused by avoidable lifestyle choices like smoking, drinking and eating the wrong things, a review reveals.

More details can be read by clicking the following link.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16031149

25 Reasons Why You Should Start Drinking Green Tea Now

Green tea has increasingly become a very popular drink worldwide because of its immensely powerful health benefits.

It is extraordinarily amazing what green tea can do for your health.

And if you're not drinking 3 to 4 cups of green tea today, you're definitely NOT doing your health a big favor.

Here Are The 25 Reasons Why You Should Start Drinking Green Tea Right Now:
*****
1. Green Tea and Cancer:
Green tea helps reduce the risk of cancer.
The antioxidant in green tea is 100 times more effective than vitamin C and 25 times better than vitamin E.
This helps your body at protecting cells from damage believed to be linked to cancer.

2. Green Tea and Heart Disease:
Green tea helps prevent heart disease and stroke by lowering the level of cholesterol.
Even after the heart attack, it prevents cell deaths and speeds up the recovery of heart cells.

3. Green Tea and Anti-Aging:
Green tea contains antioxidant known as polyphenols which fight against free radicals.
What this means it helps you fight against aging and promotes longevity.

4. Green Tea and Weight Loss:
Green tea helps with your body weight loss. Green tea burns fat and boosts your metabolism rate naturally.
It can help you burn up to 70 calories in just one day.
That translates to 7 pounds in one year.

5. Green Tea and Skin:
Antioxidant in green tea protects the skin from the harmful effects of free radicals, which cause wrinkling and skin aging.
Green tea also helps fight against skin cancer.

6. Green Tea and Arthritis:
Green tea can help prevent and reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis.
Green tea has benefit for your health as it protects the cartilage by blocking the enzyme that destroys cartilage.

7. Green Tea and Bones:
The very key to this is high fluoride content found in green tea.
It helps keep your bones strong.
If you drink green tea every day, this will help you preserve your bone density.

8. Green Tea and Cholesterol:
Green tea can help lower cholesterol level.
It also improves the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol, by reducing bad cholesterol level.

9. Green Tea and Obesity:
Green tea prevents obesity by stopping the movement of glucose in fat cells.
If you are on a healthy diet, exercise regularly and drink green tea, it is unlikely you'll be obese.

10. Green Tea and Diabetes:
Green tea improves lipid and glucose metabolisms, prevents sharp increases in blood sugar level and balances your metabolism rate.

11. Green Tea and Alzheimer's:
Green tea helps boost your memory.
And although there's no cure for Alzheimer's, it helps slow the process of reduced acetylcholine in the brain, which leads to Alzheimer's.

12. Green Tea and Parkinson's:
Antioxidants in green tea helps prevent against cell damage in the brain, which could cause Parkinson's. People drinking green tea also are less likely to progress with Parkinson's.

13. Green Tea and Liver Disease:
Green tea helps prevent transplant failure in people with liver failure.
Researches showed that green tea destroys harmful free radicals in fatty livers.

14. Green Tea and High Blood Pressure:
Green tea helps prevent high blood pressure.
Drinking green tea helps your blood pressure down by repressing angiotensin, which leads to high blood pressure.

15. Green Tea and Food Poisoning:
Catechin found in green tea can kill bacteria which causes food poisoning and kills the toxins produced by those bacteria.

16. Green Tea and Blood Sugar:
Blood sugar tends to increase with age, but polyphenols and polysaccharides in green tea help lower your blood sugar level.

17. Green Tea and Immunity:
Polyphenols and flavenoids found in green tea help boost your immune system, making your health stronger in fighting against infections.

18. Green Tea and Cold and Flu:
Green tea prevents you from getting a cold or flu.
Vitamin C in green tea helps you treat the flu and the common cold.

19. Green Tea and Asthma:
Theophylline in green tea relaxes the muscles which support the bronchial tubes, reducing the severity of asthma.

20. Green Tea and Ear infection:
Green tea helps with ear infection problem.
For natural ear cleaning, soak a cotton ball in green tea and clean the infected ear.

21. Green Tea and Herpes:
Green tea increases the effectiveness of topical interferon treatment of herpes.
First green tea compress is applied, and then let the skin dry before the interferon treatment.

22. Green Tea and Tooth Decay:
Green tea destroys bacteria and viruses that cause many dental diseases.
It also slows the growth of bacteria which leads to bad breath.

23. Green Tea and Stress:
L-theanine, which is a kind of amino acids in green tea, can help relieve stress and anxiety.

24. Green Tea and Allergies:
EGCG found in green tea relieves allergies.
So, if you have allergies, you should really consider drinking green tea.

25. Green Tea and HIV:
Scientists in Japan have found that EGCG(Epigallocatechin Gallate) in green tea can stop HIV from binding to healthy immune cells.
What this means is that green tea can help stop the HIV virus from spreading.

BBC's Article on Jain Temples in Palitana‏

I am sure most of you have heard of the amazing Jain temples on the Shatrunjay hills in Palitana, Gujarat. Some of you might even have been there. For those of you who haven't (or even for those who have), here is your opportunity to go on a video pilgrimage to this holy site with over 1,500 temples, some of them dating back hundreds of years.

The video, which is about three and a half minutes long, is made by BBC News and was on BBC in January 2010. Just turn on your speakers, click on the link below and go on the pilgrimage. If you are not able to click open the URL, just copy and paste on your Internet Explorer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8456435.stm

Informative !

In Tamilnadu, in Salem area on the road from Salem to Coimbatore there are many saboodana factories. We start getting terribly bad smell when we are about 2 kms away from the factories.

Saboodana is made by root like sweet potato. Kerala has this root each weighing about 6 kgs. Factory owners buy these roots in bulk during season, make it to pulp and put it in pits of about 40ft x 25ft. Pits are in open ground and the pulp is allowed to rot for several months. Thousands of tons of roots rot in pits. There are huge electric bulbs throughout the night where millions of insects fall in the pits.

While pulp is rotting, water is added everyday due to which 2" long white colour eel is automatically born like pests are born automatically in gutter. The walls of pits are covered by
millions of eels and factory owners with the help of machine crush the pulp with the eels who also become paste. This action is repeated many times during 5-6 months.

The pulp is thus ready as roots and millions & millions of pests and insects crushed and pasted together. This paste is then passed through round mesh and made into small balls and then polished. This is saboodana.

This might be the reason why many people don't eat Saboodana treating this as non-vegetarian.

Useful for Health !

If this is true, it could save you from getting sick.

Do not turn on A/C immediately as soon as you enter the car! Please open the windows after you enter your car and do not turn ON the air-conditioning immediately. According to a research done, the car dashboard, sofa, air freshener emits Benzene, a Cancer causing toxin (carcinogen - take note of the heated plastic smell in your car).

In addition to causing cancer, it poisons your bones, causes anemia, and reduces white blood cells. Prolonged exposure will cause Leukemia, increasing the risk of cancer. May also cause miscarriage.

Acceptable Benezene level indoors is 50 mg per sq. ft.. A car parked indoors with the windows closed will contain 400-800 mg of Benzene. If parked outdoors under the sun at a temperature above 60 degrees F, the Benzene level goes up to 2000-4000 mg, 40 times the acceptable level... & the people inside the car will inevitably inhale an excess amount of the toxins. It is recommended that you open the windows and door to give time for the interior to air out before you enter.

Benzene is a toxin that affects your kidney and lever, and is very difficult for your body to expel this toxic stuff.

Q & A about our heart !

A chat with Dr.Devi Shetty, Narayana Hrudayalaya (Heart Specialist) Bangalore was arranged by WIPRO for its employees. The transcript of the chat is given below. Useful for everyone.

Q: What are the thumb rules for a layman to take care of his heart?
A:
1. Diet - Less of carbohydrate, more of protein, less oil
2. Exercise - Half an hour's walk, at least five days a week; avoid lifts and avoid sitting for a longtime
3. Quit smoking
4. Control weight
5. Control blood pressure and sugar

Q: Is eating non-veg food good for the heart?
A: No.

Q: It's still a grave shock to hear that some apparently healthy person gets a cardiac arrest. How do we understand it in perspective?
A: This is called silent attack; that is why we recommend everyone pastthe age of 30 to undergo routine health checkups.

Q: Are heart diseases hereditary?
A: Yes.

Q: What are the ways in which the heart is stressed? What practices do you suggest to de-stress?
A: Change your attitude towards life. Do not look for perfection ineverything in life.

Q: Is walking better than jogging or is more intensive exercise required to keep a healthy heart?
A: Walking is better than jogging since jogging leads to early fatigueand injury to joints.

Q: You have done so much for the poor and needy. What has inspired you to do so?
A: Mother Theresa , who was my patient.

Q: Can people with low blood pressure suffer heart diseases?
A: Extremely rare.

Q: Does cholesterol accumulates right from an early age (I'm currently only 22) or do you have to worry about it only after you are above 30 years of age?
A: Cholesterol accumulates from childhood.

Q: How do irregular eating habits affect the heart ?
A: You tend to eat junk food when the habits are irregular and yourbody's enzyme release for digestion gets confused.

Q: How can I control cholesterol content without using medicines?
A: Control diet, walk and eat walnut.

Q: Can yoga prevent heart ailments?
A: Yoga helps.

Q: Which is the best and worst food for the heart?
A: Fruits and vegetables are the best and the worst is oil.

Q: Which oil is better - groundnut, sunflower, olive?
A: All oils are bad.

Q: What is the routine checkup one should go through? Is there any specific test?
A: Routine blood test to ensure sugar, cholesterol is ok. Check BP, Treadmill test after an echo.

Q: What are the first aid steps to be taken on a heart attack?
A: Help the person into a sleeping position , place an aspirin tablet under the tongue with a sorbitrate tablet if available, and rush him to acoronary care unit since the maximum casualty takes place within the first hour.

Q: How do you differentiate between pain caused by a heart attack and that caused due to gastric trouble?
A: Extremely difficult without ECG.

Q: What is the main cause of a steep increase in heart problems amongst youngsters? I see people of about 30-40 yrs of age having heart attacks and serious heart problems.
A: Increased awareness has increased incidents. Also, edentary lifestyles, smoking, junk food, lack of exercise in a country where people are genetically three times more vulnerable for heart attacks than Europeans and Americans.

Q: Is it possible for a person to have BP outside the normal range of120/80 and yet be perfectly healthy?
A: Yes.

Q: Marriages within close relatives can lead to heart problems for the child. Is it true?
A: Yes, co-sanguinity leads to congenital abnormalities and you may not have a software engineer as a child.

Q: Many of us have an irregular daily routine and many a times we have to stay late nights in office. Does this affect our heart? What precautions would you recommend?
A: When you are young, nature protects you against all these irregularities. However, as you grow older, respect the biological clock.

Q: Will taking anti-hypertensive drugs cause some other complications (short / long term)?
A: Yes, most drugs have some side effects. However, modern anti-hypertensive drugs are extremely safe.

Q: Will consuming more coffee/tea lead to heart attacks?
A: No.

Q: Are asthma patients more prone to heart disease?
A: No.

Q: How would you define junk food?
A: Fried food like Kentucky , McDonalds , samosas, and even masala dosas.

Q: You mentioned that Indians are three times more vulnerable. What is the reason for this, as Europeans and Americans also eat a lot of junkfood?
A: Every race is vulnerable to some disease and unfortunately, Indians are vulnerable for the most expensive disease.

Q: Does consuming bananas help reduce hypertension?
A: No.

Q: Can a person help himself during a heart attack (Because we see a lot of forwarded emails on this)?
A: Yes. Lie down comfortably and put an aspirin tablet of any description under the tongue and ask someone to take you to the nearest coronary care unit without any delay and do not wait for the ambulancesince most of the time, the ambulance does not turn up.

Q: Do, in any way, low white blood cells and low haemoglobin count lead to heart problems?
A: No. But it is ideal to have normal haemoglobin level to increase your exercise capacity.

Q: Sometimes, due to the hectic schedule we are not able to exercise. So, does walking while doing daily chores at home or climbing the stairsin the house, work as a substitute for exercise?
A: Certainly. Avoid sitting continuously for more than half an hour and even the act of getting out of the chair and going to another chairand sitting helps a lot.

Q: Is there a relation between heart problems and blood sugar?
A: Yes. A strong relationship since diabetics are more vulnerable to heart attacks than non-diabetics.

Q: What are the things one needs to take care of after a heart operation?
A: Diet, exercise, drugs on time , Control cholesterol, BP, weight..

Q: Are people working on night shifts more vulnerable to heart disease when compared to day shift workers?
A: No.

Q: What are the modern anti-hypertensive drugs?
A: There are hundreds of drugs and your doctor will chose the rightcombination for your problem, but my suggestion is to avoid the drugs and go for natural ways of controlling blood pressure by walk, diet to reduce weight and changing attitudes towards lifestyles.

Q: Does dispirin or similar headache pills increase the risk of heartattacks?
A: No.

Q: Why is the rate of heart attacks more in men than in women?
A: Nature protects women till the age of 45.

Q: How can one keep the heart in a good condition?

A: Eat a healthy diet, avoid junk food, exercise everyday, do not smoke and, go for health checkup s if you are past the age of 30 ( once in six months recommended) ....

Sound Advise

There was an article in the St. Petersburg Times newspaper last Sunday.

The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?"

Here's what one guy wrote back:

Dear Mr.President,

There are about 40 million people over the age of 50 in the work force.

Pay each of them $1 million as severance with the following stipulations:

1) They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.

3) They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage- Housing Crisis fixed.

All this and it's still cheaper than the "bailout" !