Category Archives: Diet And Food

This week lets start with a pop quiz: What is a P3?

Is it a new ski boot? The latest fad diet? A new sci-fi alien or super hero?

I could give you unlimited guesses, but unless you were watching or attending the first selectman candidates debate Thursday night, the answer would most likely elude you.

Times up: A P3 is a catchy acronym for public/private partnerships. I do not know if Republican Fred Camillo coined the term, but he used it frequently during the debate with his Democratic rival, Jill Oberlander. As a journalist, I would like to thank Camillo for saving me multiple keystrokes on my laptop.

Oberlander was first to arrive on the GHS Auditorium stage Thursday evening. She took her place at the small table armed with a sheaf of notes and a bottle of water. Camillo arrived many minutes later, a bottle of water his only prop. This was going to be a night of Ms. Good Government versus Mr. Townie Good Guy. It proved to be the best municipal debate Ive seen in the last 10 years.

Over the course of the evening, Camillo had to walk a fine line between being true to his belief that Greenwich is the best run town in the state while claiming that some things would change at Town Hall were he elected to succeed First Selectman Peter Tesei, who is leaving office after 12 years on the job.

For her part, though Board of Estimate and Taxation chair, Oberlander is not nearly as well known to voters as is Camillo. Her debate objective was to convince voters that she could do the job better than her opponent, and that she had been a careful guardian of town money as BET chair.

Camillo would rely heavily all evening on his belief that P3s are an inherently good concept. Oberlander also embraced the private sector, but said she sees its role as providing supplemental funding.

The Republican had to be happy that the first question was about the now delayed Greenwich Plaza redevelopment, a P3 that is more public giveaway than partnership. Camillo answered first and put some distance between himself and Tesei by bemoaning his effort to give away a valuable town asset. A controversial aspect of the plan as currently devised involves the town transferring air rights above the plaza to the private developer that owns most of the properties involved. But as a true P3-er, Camillo said he holds out the hope of coming to a better deal.

Oberlander said the plan falls far short of being the gateway to Greenwich it should be, largely because Tesei kept negotiations a secret process and did not call on real estate, land use and municipal finance experts to help protect the towns interests.

If you are undecided about whom to support in November, you should look for a replay of the debate on GCTVs YouTube channel. I have a hard time deciphering the GCTV schedule, but one can hope they post the video quickly.

Without going back and forth on the specific issues addressed, such as the chronically mismanaged Parking Services Division, the politicization of the town auditors function, and the Harbor Management Commissions inability to work with the state harbormaster for Greenwich, the debate did put in sharp relief the different approach to governing each candidate would adopt.

Camillo is cut out of the GOP townie mold (as a townie myself, I dont consider it a pejorative label). They have led the town for years, and feel it is their birthright to govern. Several times during the night, Camillo emphasized he knows everyone in Hartford and in Greenwich government. He can pick up a phone and call a friend to get what the town needs. Those relationships, and a bottle of water, are all he needs to run the town.

Oberlander is a lawyer who spent 10 years in NYC municipal government. Like many people in town, she and her husband moved here for the schools and the community. I have put down roots here, she said. She will govern with a bottle of water and a sheaf of notes.

More than any municipal election in generations, this one will tell Greenwich if it is still a townie run, Republican stronghold, or if the electorate has changed; whether it is still reliably Republican or if the unaffiliated voters are looking for leadership, not party labels.

And, it will be the true test of the political strength of a new class of activists and voters energized by what I call the Trump Experience. Indivisible and other groups have transformed Greenwich elections and politics over the last two years. Tesei, on his radio show this week, called Indivisible Greenwich one of the most divisive groups the town has seen. He said it is great they exist, but considering Indivisible was created to oppose the Trump agenda, Tesei said, One has to draw the conclusion that youre very divisive people.

The groups success at the polls certainly ended his run as first selectman; now it is time to see what comes next.

More here:
Bob Horton: Election will define where and what Greenwich is - CT Insider

During the month of October, Soleil Ho is only reviewing vegetarian restaurants. Have a suggestion? Let us know: food@sfchronicle.com

When driving through East Palo Alto, its easy to miss Chua Giac Minh, a buttercream-colored pagoda tucked into a residential street behind Ikea. The Vietnamese Buddhist temple, the oldest in Northern California, isnt much taller than the nearby houses. I showed up one Sunday based on a reader tip; until I spied the buildings curved eaves, I was worried I had wasted an afternoon on a plant-based goose chase.

I was searching for Vietnamese temple cuisine, a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that has refined its own plant-based versions of fish sauce, chicken wings, pork belly and seafood over the course of 2,000 years. As someone who didnt grow up Buddhist, I was curious about how Vietnamese food, a cuisine that is notorious for fish sauce and beefy banquets, would translate to a vegan paradigm. In the Catholic church wherein I was raised, post-service meals appeared on festival days: trays of vermillion- and green-tinted sticky rice, glazed barbecue chicken wings and spring rolls filled with pork and canned crab meat.

At Chua Giac Minh, the offerings proved to be an absolute treasure trove of delights, a must-visit for vegans, Vietnamese food lovers and anyone in between. The audience for Chua Giac Minhs meals is definitely the temples adherents, but random people who just want to eat lunch (like your intrepid food critic) are welcome to join in. The recipes are generated by the volunteers as well as the nuns, and many of the ingredients are sourced locally or grown on-site.

I have to admit, though: Religion kind of scares me. As I wandered into the temple kitchen with the tentativeness of a child looking for a midnight snack, a follower waved me down. I cringed, expecting to be asked what I was doing there or told what I was doing wrong.

But she smiled and asked if I needed help.

That question carries a lot of weight in a house of worship, but I nodded and she showed me the ropes. When I sat down with my food, she came over to talk to me. She told me that when she first visited the temple with a friend years ago, she was habitually spending her evenings partying at bars and just floating along, living for herself. But she was welcomed despite being a complete stranger and has been a loyal follower and volunteer ever since.

Until my visits to this temple, I hadnt entered a religious space for years and was a little worried Id burst into flames as soon as I crossed the threshold. But what I didnt realize going in was just how drastically my attitude toward veganism, weighted down and muddled by press releases about the Impossible Burger and pseudoscientific influencer rhetoric, would shift.

Here, everything the food, the sense of community is rooted in a culture of care.

In efforts to welcome guests of all persuasions, Buddhist missionaries and clergy have historically crafted foods that would appeal to the masses. At this temple, that tendency comes through clearly in dishes like the soy-based mock fish, which cleverly uses sheets of nori to imitate the skin of a fish filet. Strips of tofu skin, steamed together in the nori, are dead ringers for the fibrous flesh of a tilapia. The texture was, in a word, stunning.

763 Donohoe St., East Palo Alto

Hours: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays.

Accessibility: No steps to dining area, but entry to the temples upper level requires climbing a flight of stairs. Gendered multistall restrooms that run narrow.

Noise level: All outdoors in the courtyard; quiet, but more raucous on major holy days.

Meal for two, sans drinks: $15-$20. Donation based; cash only.

What to order: Braised tofu skin roll, spring rolls, braised fish, bao. For dessert, be sure to grab che bap ($1.50), a thick corn-and-tapioca pudding covered with a layer of coconut cream. Its sweet in the way a perfect can of corn is, with the lusciousness of a creamy corn potage.

Plant-based options: Everything is vegan except for the yogurt.

Drinks: Fresh-pressed sugar cane juice available; sometimes with additional fresh fruit juice.

Transportation: On the 281 and 296 SamTrans lines. Private parking available.

Best practices: Youre welcome to eat lunch with the temples worshipers at the communal tables. Carry-out is also an option, but go early in the day before they start running out of items.

The minced tofu and mung bean noodle chicken ($3 for 5, baked or fried), hefty and moist like thigh pieces, came complete with lemongrass bones and tofu skin. The imitations were clearly imitations, less like uncanny meat changelings and more like the Dionne Warwick impersonator at your friendly neighborhood drag bar.

For many Buddhists, the practice of eschewing meat, and sometimes alliums like onions and garlic, is an integral part of their religious lives. Onions and garlic are considered by devout followers as aphrodisiacs, making them inappropriate for temple food. Most lay followers are vegetarian on holy days, while the diet is a daily requirement for clergy. (Though I came into this with the hope that vegan Vietnamese food would be excellent in its own right, it was the exclusion of onions and garlic that really impressed. Somehow, I didnt miss them.)

While certain sects vary in their rationale, the general practice of vegetarianism in Buddhism resonates with secular environmentalism: Both are about recognizing the myriad ways our actions reverberate outside of private acts and using that knowledge to minimize harm. For them, what we eat has an inherent philosophical significance beyond its plain function. While some people may take issue with the idea of infusing food with so much meaning, I didnt pick up on much anxiety or stress while eating at the temple with its followers. They were all in this together, and it just felt normal. To that end, Chua Giac Minh also serves food to homeless people in Redwood City once a month, though the volunteers tailor the menu to their audience with a broader range of foods like spaghetti, fajitas and cookies.

Heres what it looks like in the moment: Every Sunday, a team of nuns and volunteers at Chua Giac Minh cooks food underneath the elevated temple, mainly for community members who are attending the weekly morning service. When the service ends, usually at 12:30 p.m., the temple offers each person a free bowl of noodles, vegan takes on classic soups like bun bo Hue or bun rieu. The latter is a particularly inspired rendition, and I realized how well it took to a vegan preparation: fluffy clumps of tofu absorbed the juicy sweetness of the tomato-scented broth and took on the same delicate texture of the eggy meatballs in the omnivorous version. Annatto oil and thin shreds of shiso and rau ram added so much character to the broth.

In addition to the free noodles, which change each week, the temple provides a selection of vegan dishes for people to take home in exchange for donations, in a practice that will seem familiar to anyone whos been to a church fish fry or bake sale.

When you go, head past the steps leading up into the temple and make your way into the courtyard. Youll find someone crushing fresh sugar cane for juice ($5 for a pint). Flavorings are seasonal; mine was floral and bright with kumquat juice and zest. The cane is chopped and run through a hand-cranked press. In the Caribbean, this juice would go on to become rum, but the Vietnamese way is to consume it fresh.

The kitchen, where youll actually be able to buy food, is underneath the temple in an enclosed space. In the center of the room is a stall laden with food: glistening fried tofu flavored with minced lemongrass; Styrofoam trays of chow mein; a mushroom- and taro-stuffed bao with a perfect dough-to-filling ratio; and banana leaf-wrapped banh bot loc filled with tofu, minced carrot and wood ear mushroom. The banh bot loc, a dumpling made with steamed tapioca flour, is akin to fresh-made har gow and slip-slides down your tongue.

The spread varies week by week, but the fare is always vegan and allium-free, with the exception of the yogurt, which the nuns make from cows milk and sell in plastic cups. There are about 15 savory items and five dessert items on the menu, ranging from $1 to $8. The prices are suggested minimum donations, but you are free to donate more if the spirit moves you. (Theres a lot of single-use plastic and Styrofoam in play here, but you can bring your own containers.)

The dining area includes communal tables with plastic chairs and a central hub for flatware and napkins. If you decide to eat here rather than grabbing everything to-go, a volunteer will load up a plate for you of whatever you choose. Some of the tables are reserved for worshipers who are commemorating special occasions, but the tables without settings are available.

Spring rolls ($1 for two), filled with wood ear mushroom, mung bean noodles, jicama and dried daikon radish shreds, are savory and grease-free. They somehow taste just as rich and complex as my grandmothers, and theyre well-seasoned enough to be excellent even without the customary fish sauce dip. Your order will be tucked into a brown paper bag, toasty and warm like a handful of roasted chestnuts. Theyre nice to nibble as you browse the rest of the selection.

If youre lucky, youll find a seared and soy sauce-braised tofu skin roulade ($8) filled with wood ear mushrooms and lily buds. Its a shareable, burrito-size monster that the volunteers will cut up for you. I loved the tender layers of tofu, which had absorbed the slightly sweet and five-spice-tinged braising liquid and taken on the springy texture of thin wheat noodles.

The ingredients are wholesome and clearly very local: On a recent sunny afternoon, the staff was drying bowls and trays full of jujubes, shiso leaves, lime leaves and shredded daikon in the courtyard. Around the temple grounds, you can spot dragonfruit plants, collards, pomegranates and citrus trees. This is plant-based cuisine made concrete, with dishes from plants that had absorbed the same sun and oxygen that youre enjoying in that moment.

The binary political stereotype of the liberal, hippy-dippy Californian often includes vegetarianism as a pejorative, but the religious aspect of occasional meat-free eating seems strangely distant from that conversation. In some Catholic regions, abstaining from meat on Fridays is considered a charitable or pious act. Jains have long considered food containing meat, fish or eggs as one of the religions four maha-vigai, or great perversions. Within Judaism, some have argued for pro-vegetarian interpretations of the Torah and kosher laws. The conflation of meat-free diets with morality and self-discipline has a long history.

Vegetarianism here feels less like self-discipline and more like indulgence. Its not my community or religion, but I appreciate the reminder that our actions do have an impact on our personal karmic debts and on the world at large and that we dont truly live in isolation.

Soleil Ho is The San Francisco Chronicles restaurant critic. Email: soleil.ho@sfchronicle.com. Twitter @hooleil.

Link:
Where do you find amazing vegan Vietnamese food in the Bay Area? Look for this Buddhist temple in East Palo Alto - San Francisco Chronicle

The State of Nature report (Revealed: the shocking decline of UK wildlife, 4 October) confirms what we already knew we are losing the battle to save nature. Fundamentally, despite some successes for rare species, our efforts are failing.

The report identifies many causes for the collapse in nature infrastructure development and pollution must take a large portion of the blame but it is clear that farmers hold the keys to unlocking natures recovery.

Agri-environment schemes are at best only a partial solution. Yes, they can help turn around the fate of some species, but they dont help farmers address the root cause of wildlife decline. This will require a wholesale change to how we farm and what we eat we can only eat what the planet can sustain. We cant just carry on as usual, engineering the recovery of a few species while the rest decline.

We all have a role to play. The government needs to support farmers as they shift to proven, more nature-friendly practices, like organic, making sure they earn a fair living while doing so and protecting them from cheap imports that harm the environment elsewhere.

Consumers need to be prepared to change to diets that are healthier and more sustainable. And NGOs, including those who compiled this excellent and groundbreaking report, need to acknowledge that only a dramatic transition will turn the state of nature around.Gareth MorganHead of farming and land use policy, Soil Association

Your report states: The causes of the losses are the intensification of farming, pollution from fertiliser, manure and plastic, the destruction of habitats in order to build houses, the climate crisis and invasive alien species.

There is no mention of the domestic cat. As reported in Nature Communications, free-ranging domestic cats are estimated to kill 1.3bn-4bn birds and 6.3bn-22.3bn mammals annually.

Another report has found that Australian land mammal fauna has suffered an extraordinary rate of extinction ([more than] 10% of the 273 endemic terrestrial species) over the last ~200 [years] and commented that the loss of Australian land mammals is most likely due primarily to predation by introduced species, particularly the feral cat.

I am not aware of similar UK studies, but extrapolation would suggest that cats (domestic or feral) are a significant cause of reductions in wildlife numbers. Perhaps choosing a photograph of a Scottish wildcat to accompany your article was unwise.Prof Julian WisemanEmeritus professor of animal production, University of Nottingham

The likeliest cause is loss of habitat. Landowners, including farmers, local councils and roadside businesses who have a fetish about removal of weeds and tidy frontage are ever increasingly mowing and/or treating with weedkiller areas such as roadside verges and whole fallow fields which previously would have supported a whole range of wild flowers and bees and other insects. I live in the countryside, and the results are to be seen right outside my house: a long expanse of mown verges and brown fields.David MillsHolme-on-Spalding-Moor, East Yorkshire

Thirty years ago I was asked to paint a sign of a frog to be placed beside a C road in our village. This was to warn drivers to take care while many frogs crossed to lay their frogspawn, and later for when many more froglets crossed back to the original ditch. Both ditches bordered agricultural fields. Within a decade not a single frog could be seen. To me this seemed evidence of the chemical run-off into the ditches, destroying the fertility of the frogs. But who to tell, or who would care, in the world of agribusiness?Penny SnookStubton, Lincolnshire

Join the debate email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

Read more Guardian letters click here to visit gu.com/letters

Do you have a photo youd like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and well publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition

Go here to read the rest:
What we can do to halt Britains wildlife decline - The Guardian

Find all our Lessons of the Day here.

Featured Article: How to Develop an Appetite for Insects

Scientists who study bugs are thinking harder about how to turn them into good food. In this lesson, students explore the stigma against eating insects, plus how and why researchers think we should undo it.

If insects were to show up in your next school lunch, how would you feel?

In A Change in the Menu, a winning entry from our 2019 Student Editorial Contest, Grace Silva urges Westerners to reconsider their aversion to bugs. Her essay begins:

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, an estimated two billion people eat bugs as part of their standard diet. Thats nearly a quarter of the global population, and yet most countries in Europe and North America, despite the nutritional and environmental benefits, are fiercely reluctant to the idea of consuming bugs.

And she concludes:

The Western consensus is best stated by New York Times writer Ligaya Mishan: Europeans, and by extension European settlers in North America, never had a bug-eating tradition. Indeed, we largely consider insects dirty and drawn to decay, signifiers and carriers of disease; we call them pests, a word whose Latin root means plague. This is a ridiculous stigma that we need to shake. The adoption of bugs into a normal diet would not be unlike the transition from raw fish being largely unaccepted in America, to sushi becoming a normal meal option.

Have you ever eaten insects before? Are they accepted in your culture or country as a healthy part of a complete meal? Or do you generally regard them as pests?

What do you think about Graces proposal? If youve never eaten bugs before, would you be willing to try them? Why or why not?

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. What is entomophagy? Why is it in the news right now?

2. How did Christopher Columbus help deepen the stigmatization of entomophagy?

Read more:
Lesson of the Day: How to Develop an Appetite for Insects - The New York Times

Stevia is a natural sweetener that is supposed to be sweeter than sugar. It is native to South America and the Guarani tribes of Paraguay have been using this since ancient times. It is basically a bushy shrub that also goes by the names of honey leaf plant and sweet chrysanthemum. Today, it is grown in many parts of the world. The leaves of this plant can be used to give a sweet flavour to food and drinks. You can easily grow this plant at home and use the leaves to sweeten your morning cup of tea. Or, you can buy it from the market in liquid, powder or granulated form.

An interesting fact about this herb is that, despite being extremely sweet, it does not increase blood sugar levels of diabetic patients. They can safely use this natural sweetener to add sweetness to their diet. A study at the University of Leuven, Belgium, says that stevia stimulates a protein that is essential for our perception of taste and is involved in the release of insulin after a meal.

According to researchers, the active components of stevia extract, stevioside and steviol, stimulate the ion channel TRPM5. The proteins known as ion channels are a kind of microscopic pathway through which minuscule charged particles enter and leave the cell. These channels are behind many processes in the body, they say and add that TRPM5 is first and foremost essential for the taste perception of sweet, bitter, and umami on the tongue. The taste sensation is made even stronger by the stevia component steviol, which stimulates TRPM5. This explains the extremely sweet flavour of stevia as well as its bitter aftertaste.

Researchers say that TRPM5 ensures that the pancreas releases enough insulin. Therefore, it helps prevent abnormally high blood sugar levels and the development of type 2 diabetes. They conducted experiments on mice and saw that a high-fat diet over a long period of time along with a daily dose of stevioside negates the risk of diabetes in mice with TRPM5. But stevia did not have this protective effect on mice without TRPM5. Hence, researchers concluded that this indicates that the protection against abnormally high blood sugar levels and diabetes is due to the stimulation of TRPM5 with stevia components. They are hopeful that these findings will open up doors for the development of new treatments to control or possibly prevent diabetes.

Stevia is a low-calorie herb that can be used without any fear of weight gain. It is also sweeter than sugar as mentioned earlier. This is a non-carbohydrate glycoside compound with a long shelf life. Stevia can be easily stored at any temperature and it does not ferment. It is a rich source of sterols and antioxidants like flavonoids, triterpenes and tannins. The presence of chlorgenic acid in this herb helps in keeping blood sugar levels down.

Stevia is natural alternative to sugar and is a good choice for diabetics and weight watchers. It also comes with quite a few health benefits. Let us take a look at a few of them.

Stevia contains the contains a non-carbohydrate glycoside compound called stevioside. When this compound breaks down in the body, the gut bacteria absorbs the glucose-containingparticles and prevents it from entering the bloodstream. This ensures that your blood sugar level remains stable. Hence, this is a perfect sweetener for diabetic people.

Obesity is rampant today and there is an urgent need to control this disorder. Despite being sweeter than sugar, there stevia is very low in calories. You can add it to your desserts and cookies without worrying about gaining weight. It can also be safely added to kids diet to satisfy their sweet cravings without increasing their risk of weight gain. If you want to lose weight, you must make the switch from sugar to stevia.

This herb contains powerful antioxidants and this makes it a potent anti-cancer food item. It is particularly useful in prevention of pancreatic cancer. In fact, the presence of the antioxidant, kaempferol, can reduce your risk of pancreatic cancer by almost 23 per cent.

Stevia contains glycosides that rejuvenates and dilates the blood vessels, stimulate urination and aid in the removal of excess sodium from the body. Because of these actions, there is less pressure on the cardiovascular system. This helps in keeping blood pressure levels stable. It offers protection to the heart and reduces your risk of heart attacks and strokes.

This is a non-toxic herb. But if you are a diabetic, consult your doctor before using stevia as it may interact with your diabetes medication. Excessive intake of raw stevia may have an adverse effect on your kidneys and reproductive system. It may also affect your cardiovascular health. This non-nutritive sweetener may also be harmful for beneficial gut bacteria and may cause metabolic diseases in some people.

If you are growing your own stevia, avoid using it if you are pregnant. But the refined version is comparatively safer. Some people may be allergic to this herb. They may experience diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal cramps and also bloating. At times, it may induce dizziness in some people. But it is generally safe if you have it in moderation.

Published : October 12, 2019 2:52 pm | Updated:October 12, 2019 2:53 pm

Continue reading here:
Stevia: A sweet gift of nature that can help you lose weight - TheHealthSite

More than 50% of people with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) a rare disease characterized by the formation of blood clots in the small blood vessels of the kidneys experience impaired kidney function. This can lead to end-stage kidney disease.

Such complications can occur in addition to aHUS symptoms such as hemolytic anemia, which is the destruction of red blood cells, and thrombocytopenia, meaning a low platelet count.

Healthcare professionals say maintaining good kidney health is important in preventing more severe complications.

Here are a few tips to protect your kidneys if you have been diagnosed with aHUS.

Exercising is a good way to keep blood pressure in check and reduce the risk of chronic kidney disease. People with aHUS often experience shortness of breath, which can make strenuous exercises difficult, so ensure that you dont push yourself too much. If in doubt, consult with a physiotherapist who will be able to suggest exercises that can be performed safely.

A good diet and a healthy fluid intake are essential for proper kidney function. Its recommended that you reduce your salt intake to 5 to 6 grams per day, which is about a teaspoon. Try to drink at least 1.5-to-2 liters of water daily. However, be sure not to have an aggressive fluid intake, as that can cause side effects such as hyponatremia.

It also is important to reduce the amount of sugar and fat in your diet, especially if you are already at risk of obesity or diabetes.

Smoking is a risk factor for both kidney and heart disease. Smoking can harden the blood vessels in the kidneys, leading to increased blood pressure and insufficient blood supply to the kidneys (hypertensive nephrosclerosis).

Kidney function and heart health are interdependent on each other. Therefore, it is important to consult a cardiologist to monitor your heart health if you are having kidney problems.

Dialysis is the process of artificially removing waste and chemicals from the blood in the event of kidney failure. Your doctor will suggest a schedule for dialysis based on the severity of kidney damage. Over time, aHUS patients can recover their kidney function. But it is important not to delay any dialysis session and to stick to the schedule.

Last updated: Oct. 09, 2019

***

AHUS Newsis strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

Total Posts: 0

zge has a MSc. in Molecular Genetics from the University of Leicester and a PhD in Developmental Biology from Queen Mary University of London. She worked as a Post-doctoral Research Associate at the University of Leicester for six years in the field of Behavioural Neurology before moving into science communication. She worked as the Research Communication Officer at a London based charity for almost two years.

See the original post here:
Protecting Your Kidneys When You Have aHUS - aHUS News

If youre one of the 40 million American women between the ages of 45 and 65, theres a chance you could be having a hot flash right now. If your flushes are mild and infrequent, good for you. But if you are often going up in flames, then it could be time to check in with your doctor.Thats because science is discovering hot flashes are much more than just a sweaty sign of menopause their frequency or severity may also be linked to heart problems, stroke and cognitive decline later in a womans life.

A study presented at the 2019 conference of the North American Menopause Society recently found night sweats were linked to cognitive dysfunction in menopausal women, decreasing the ability to pay attention and perform higher-level thinking tasks.

Another found a direct link between the frequency and persistence of hot flashes and cardiovascular events later in a womans life. And heres a startling finding: Another study found theres even a link between childhood trauma and hot flash severity later in life.

Having a hot flash is a much more significant event than providers actually appreciated for many years, said psychiatry professor Rebecca Thurston, who directs the Womens Biobehavioral Health lab at PittPublic Health.

Were starting to link these hot flashes to various different health indices and outcomes, including womens cardiovascular health, she said.

Thurston is one of the researchers analyzing the sweltering menopausal journey of more than 3,000 women enrolled in a national multi-site study called Swan, which is a longitudinal look at womens midlife health that started in 1996. Most women entered the program in their mid-40s while they were pre- or early perimenopausal and have been followed for 20 years, into postmenopause.

What we found is that women with more frequent hot flashes when they entered into the study in their mid-40s had double the risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure later in life, said Thurston, who is presenting her findings this week at the North American Menopause Society meeting.

The results held true even when traditional cardiovascular risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes, were ruled out.

We also found that women who had more persistent hot flashes over the course of the transition had increased risk for these clinical outcomes of heart attack and stroke, Thurston said. In fact, the study found these women had an 80% greater risk of cardiovascular events over the 20-year period.

Another study presented at the conference found a link between a childhood history of sexual, physical or emotional abuse and hot flash frequency in mid-life.

We found that women with a history of childhood physical or sexual abuse had more frequent, objectively measured hot flashes during sleep, said lead author Mary Carson, a psychology doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh.

When the women were evaluated five years later, the study found those with a history of abuse showed an increase in hot flashes over time, Carson said, while women who didnt have this history of abuse showed decrease in hot flashes over time.

Not long ago, little of this knowledge existed. Science is finally starting to dig into why women melt down as a rite of reproductive passage. And that understanding is leading to a change in attitude.

We felt that menopausal symptoms, hot flashes specifically, were just benign symptoms that women should just suffer through and that they only lasted a few years, Thurston said. Weve really had this rapid advancement in the understanding of hot flashes just within the past decade.

For example, science now realizes that some 75% of women have hot flashes during their menopausal transition. Frequent moderate to severe hot flashes can often last 7 to 10 years, on average, and less frequent or severe hot flashes can last even longer.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, estrogen therapy, with or without progestin, is the most effective treatment for the relief of hot flashes and night sweats. After years of fear of hormone replacement therapy, doctors now say that a healthy woman between ages 50 and 60, with normal weight and no family history of breast cancer, could safely use a hormone to assist with their transition.

But there is no one-size-fits-all in the world of hormone therapy, so be sure to discuss the many options with your gynecologist.

However, women who begin therapy more than 10 years from the start of menopause have a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, blood clots and dementia.

There are many other options. Some antidepressants, such as paroxetine, can be used to treat hot flashes at doses less than what is given for depression.

An antiseizure medication called gabapentin and a blood pressure medicine called clonidineare can ease sleep problems and hot flashes.

Selective estrogen receptor modulators such as raloxifene act on tissues that respond to estrogen. They may help lessen hot flashes as well as pain during intercourse caused by vaginal dryness.

Some women swear by herbal supplements, such as black cohosh, soy and red clover, but studies on their effectiveness have been mixed. Since there are no federal regulations governing how supplements are manufactured, the Food and Drug Administration warns theres no way to know the quality of the supplement you are taking.

Then theres a range of different behavioral approaches, such as cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness training that can help women manage their hot flashes, Thurston said. Now, this wont get rid of the hot flash itself, but it can help manage its interference with your life.

The governments Office on Womens Health says yoga, tai chi and acupuncture may help with sleep and mood problems, stress, hot flashes and muscle and joint pain. A 2013 study also found that hypnosis helped decrease hot flashes by 74% in postmenopausal women.

When it comes to the link between hot flashes and future cardiovascular events, will treating the broken internal thermostat reduce a womans risk? Unfortunately, science doesnt yet know that answer.

How I conservatively conceptualize this work right now, Thurston said, is to consider hot flashes as telling you something about your underlying vascular health.

At a minimum, its a marker. If youre having lots of hot flashes, now is the time to engage in all those things you should be doing to take care of your cardiovascular health at midlife.

That means if you smoke, stop. Get high cholesterol under control. Take care of any high blood pressure with appropriate medication. Keep your weight in check to avoid diabetes. Exercise regularly. And eat a healthy well-balanced diet.

And stay tuned. Science is working away on more options to ease the trauma of that scorching, sweaty, excruciating torment some idiot named a hot flash.

Written by Sandee LaMotte for CNN.

The-CNN-Wire & 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

See the rest here:
Hot Flashes Linked To Heart Problems And Cognitive Decline, According To New Research - Simplemost

An Auchnagatt couple are to be recognised with a special award from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) at the House of Lords, honouring their dedication to rescuing and rehabilitating sick, injured or orphaned wildlife.

Animal lovers Keith, 62, and Pauline Marley, 55, have to-date rescued an estimated 15,000 animals since opening their North East Wildlife and Animal Rescue Centre (NEW ARC) 13-and-a-half years ago, with the number of animals they are asked to take in increasing all the time.

They care for a minimum of 500 animals and birds at the centre at any one time, with this figure rising to around 750 at the busiest times of year.

Their wildlife rescue work first began 15 years ago when Pauline, then a legal PA, moved to the area from Somerset and noted a lack of facilities for animals needing rescue or rehabilitation. Her and Keith, who worked in sales, discussed how they could assist and, having both always had a keen interest in nature and wildlife, quickly began rescuing sick, injured or orphaned wildlife themselves. They started work to found the centre soon after.

Since then they have worked around the clock to rescue all kinds of wildlife, from hand-reared birds to squirrels, otters and foxes, and nursed them back to health so they can be safely released back to the wild. They are assisted by around 20 volunteers who either travel to pick up animal emergencies from all over the north of Scotland or help out at the centre. An additional rota of volunteers staff the couples fundraising charity shop.

Pauline said: The most fulfilling aspect of the work is definitely releasing the recovered animal back to the wild. It can be very sad to let them go, especially those that have needed to stay with us a long time, and I do cry a lot!

"But really I am delighted for them, and pleased to know we have done a good job. From the point of release their future is not in our hands any more; it is up to them to fend for themselves but we have comfort in the knowledge we have put them back in the best condition and with the best chance possible.

Keith added: We are really grateful to IFAW for recognising we exist and it is humbling to receive an award for what we do. It is hard work but we really enjoy it and we have experienced all kinds of interesting callouts and incidents over the years, including taking in probably one of the worlds most overweight hedgehogs which had to go on a strict diet for a year before it was slim and healthy enough to waddle off back to the wild.

James Sawyer, UK Director of IFAW, said: Pauline and Keiths commitment to rescuing and rehabilitating so many wild animals is outstanding and they are a great example of animal welfare in action. We hope that their efforts will inspire the next generation of animal welfare campaigners and carers. They are both very deserving winners of IFAWs Wildlife Rescue Award.

The couple have become well known and appreciated in their local community over the years. After planning on getting married but never having found the time, they were touched when in 2015 staff at a local wedding venue offered them free use of all their facilities as a thank you for having rescued an orphaned baby deer and other wildlife in need from their grounds.

Innovative methods they have come up with over the years to increase the comfort of some of the animals in their care has included appeals to the public to donate knitted jumpers to keep warm chickens taken in from intensive farming facilities and old mascara wands used to brush and clean birds, rabbits and other small animals. Both of these appeals have since closed after huge responses from the public.

They are currently fundraising for a new purpose-built animal hospital to cope with the ever-increasing demand for wildlife rescue, which is outgrowing their current resources. The urgency for new facilities has grown with a 30% rise in the number of wildlife cases taken in so far this year.

Pauline and Keith will receive their award at IFAWs prestigious Animal Action Awards event, presented by TV wildlife presenter Bill Oddie at the House of Lords on October 15.

More:
Auchnagatt couple recognised for dedication to rescuing wildlife - Buchan Observer

Stop feeding into your depression.

Many of us turn to comfort foods when we are feeling down, which are generally defined as those dishes and snacks that are easy to make (or order out thanks, GrubHub GRUB, +2.84% and Postmates or open from a package) that are filled with nostalgic or sentimental value. (Theyre also often loaded with sugar, salt, fat and/or refined carbs.)

But new research shows that were doing comfort food all wrong. In fact, cutting out processed foods and adding in more fruits, vegetables and fish doesnt just make you healthier it may also make you happier.

A small, randomized trial published in PLOS One this week (just in time for World Mental Health Day) looked at 76 adults ages 17 to 35, who all scored moderate to high on a scale of depression symptoms used by doctors, and who also consumed diets that were high in processed foods, saturated fats and refined carbohydrates.

Related: Your no B.S. guide to losing weight in the New Year

The subjects were split into two groups. One was encouraged to eat healthier by receiving money for grocery shopping, a small hamper of pantry items, as well as tips to eating healthier, whole foods. Researchers checked in on them twice a week for three weeks to see how their diets were going. The control group, on the other hand, didnt receive any food, money or nutritional guidance.

And at the end of three weeks, those on the diet who ate more fruits, vegetables and fish aka a Mediterranean-style diet saw their moods significantly improve, and their moderate to high depression scores dropped within a normal range. Those in the control group who had stuck to their less healthy diets didnt see change to their moods or scores. Three months later, the subjects who continued with the healthy eating habits continued to have elevated moods and more improved life outlooks.

Related: When children stop eating these foods, theyre more likely to become obese

Now, this was a very small trial, and more randomized control trials are needed to establish whether there really is a cause-effect relationship between diets and depression. The control group in this case did nothing, for instance. Future research should compare the outcomes of people who eat healthy with those trying a different intervention, such as social support, to show how effective a new diet would be in comparison.

And no one is saying that simply eating more vegetables can take the place of therapy and medication in treating depression and other mental health conditions.

But as study co-author Heather Francis, a nutritional neuroscience researcher from Macquarie University in Sydney, told Live Science, These findings add to a growing literature to suggest that healthy diet can be recommended as an effective therapy to improve depression symptoms, as an adjunct to pharmacological and psychological therapy.

Related: Eating this spice found in Indian food could make you happier

One in five U.S. adults experience mental illness each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and one in six U.S. youth ages six to 17 also have a mental health disorder. Its estimated that serious mental illness causes $193.2 billion in lost earnings in the U.S. alone each year, and costs the global economy $1 trillion annually, NAMI reports.

Previous studies have also suggested that changes to diet and following a Mediterranean diet, in particular could improve symptoms of depression and anxiety.

A 2018 meta-analysis of more than 1.5 million healthy adults found that those who most closely followed a Mediterranean diet had a 33% lower risk of developing depression over eight to 12 years compared with those whose diets were the most opposite. Whats more, a 2018 study published in theWorld Journal of Psychiatry came up with an Antidepressant Food Scale. And topping its list of the 12 best foods loaded with nutrients that influence depression were bivalves (clams and mussels) and seafood packed with vitamin B12, iron, zinc, copper, calcium and omega-3 fatty acids, as well as leafy greens, lettuces, peppers and cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower and broccoli) also packed with iron and vitamins.

Related: This is the right way to eat carbs

On the flip side, those familiar sweet or salty comfort foods that provide a pick-me-up in the moment can end up making you feel worse. Foods that spike your blood sugar (like sweets, white breads and processed starches like pasta and french fries) often lead to a crash later on like feeling shaky, lethargic, irritable or anxious in the afternoon.

In fact, a systematic review of 12 studies that looked at diet and mental health in children and adolescents found that eating more saturated fat, refined carbs and processed foods led to worse mental health.

Follow this link:
This is the best diet for treating depression - MarketWatch

Depression symptoms dropped significantly in a group of young adults who ate a Mediterranean-style diet for three weeks. It's the latest study to show that food can influence mental health. Claudia Totir/Getty Images hide caption

Depression symptoms dropped significantly in a group of young adults who ate a Mediterranean-style diet for three weeks. It's the latest study to show that food can influence mental health.

There's fresh evidence that eating a healthy diet, one that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables and limits highly processed foods, can help reduce symptoms of depression.

A randomized controlled trial published in the journal PLOS ONE finds that symptoms of depression dropped significantly among a group of young adults after they followed a Mediterranean-style pattern of eating for three weeks. Participants saw their depression "score" fall from the "moderate" range down to the "normal" range, and they reported lower levels of anxiety and stress too.

Alternatively, the depression scores among the control group of participants who didn't change their diets didn't budge. These participants continued to eat a diet higher in refined carbohydrates, processed foods and sugary foods and beverages. Their depression scores remained in the "moderate severity" range.

"We were quite surprised by the findings," researcher Heather Francis, a lecturer in clinical neuropsychology at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, told NPR via email. "I think the next step is to demonstrate the physiological mechanism underlying how diet can improve depression symptoms," Francis said.

Scientists are learning more about how a poor diet can increase inflammation, and this can be one risk factor for depression. "Highly processed foods increase inflammation," Francis said. What's more, "if we don't consume enough nutrient-dense foods, then this can lead to insufficiencies in nutrients, which also increases inflammation," she said.

In this study, participants in the "healthy eating" arm of the study ate about six more servings of fruits and vegetables per week, compared with the control group. Participants "who had a greater increase in fruit and vegetable intake showed the greatest improvement in depression symptoms," Francis said.

Participants were also instructed to increase consumption of whole grains to a recommended three servings per day, as well as three servings per day of protein from lean meats, poultry, eggs, tofu and beans. In addition, they were told to get three servings of fish per week.

As for dairy, the recommendation was three servings per day, unsweetened. Participants were also instructed to consume three tablespoons of nuts and seeds per day, as well as two tablespoons of olive oil per day, and were advised to add in spices, including turmeric and cinnamon.

One of the shortcomings of nutrition science is that it often relies on asking people to recall what they ate in the past. Given our flawed memories, these measures can be unreliable. But this study included a clever way to validate how many fruits and vegetables people consumed. Using a device called a spectrophotometer, the participants had their palms scanned. The device can detect the degree of yellowness in your skin, which correlates with your intake of carotenoids, which you get from eating fruits and vegetables.

The scientists used several research questionnaires to evaluate participants' mental health, including one that asked them how often over the prior week they'd experienced symptoms of depression.

The new study adds to a growing body of research that supports the connection between diet and mental health. "We have a highly consistent and extensive evidence base from around the globe linking healthier diets to reduced depression risk," says Felice Jacka, a professor of nutritional and epidemiological psychiatry at Deakin University's Food & Mood Centre in Australia.

For example, a 2013 meta-analysis of 22 previously published studies showed that the Mediterranean diet was associated with a lower risk of depression.

Similarly, a 2017 study found that a diet rich in fruit, whole grains, vegetables, fish, olive oil and low-fat dairy was associated with a lower risk of depression, whereas a diet rich in greater amounts of red meat, refined grains, sweets and high-fat dairy products was linked to a higher risk of depression.

These associations between diet and depression are independent of other confounding factors such as "education, income, body weight and other health behaviors," notes Jacka, who's also the president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research. And "this is true across countries, cultures, and importantly, age groups," added Jacka in an email.

"The field is certainly very exciting," says Jerome Sarris, a professor of integrative mental health at the NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University in Australia.

However, most of these studies show an association and "can't imply causation," cautions Sarris. In other words, the studies don't prove that changes in diet directly cause the improvement or decline in mood.

It's complicated to unravel how dietary changes may help improve mental health. Though this new study was a randomized controlled trial considered the gold standard in medical research people in the study knew that they were part of the group assigned to eat healthy foods. And there's lots of research showing that if you tell people that they're doing something that may make them less depressed, they will indeed report less depression. That's known as the placebo effect. Unlike in a study of medication, in a diet study there's no way to "blind" the participants so that they don't know if they're getting the "medicine" or the "placebo."

"We need further mechanistic studies to understand how diet influences mental and brain health," notes Jacka.

In addition to inflammation, there's also some preliminary evidence from animal studies suggesting that the gut microbiome can affect brain functioning and, therefore, mental health for example, by altering levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is largely synthesized by gut bacteria.

More studies are needed to understand those connections in humans and to be able to develop targeted interventions for individuals with different mental illnesses, notes Jacka.

Even so, mental health doctors should consider assessing their patients' diet and lifestyle as a routine part of care, says Drew Ramsey, a psychiatrist at Columbia University. "We need to talk to mental health patients about what they eat," Ramsey says. "When people make efforts to care for themselves and adhere to a belief system they feel is good for them, their mental health is going to improve." He teaches a medical education course for health care providers who want to learn more about incorporating nutrition into their practices.

However, while diet may be important to our mood and mental health, it is unlikely to be a silver bullet for treating mental illness, notes Sarris.

"Diet is certainly part of the picture, but so are physical activity, good psychological care, medication [when needed] ... adequate sleep, adequate exposure to nature and balanced lifestyle," he says. "My general take-home message is about having an integrative approach."

See more here:
Diet And Depression: What You Eat Can Help Improve Mood, New Study Finds : The Salt - NPR