Posts Tagged ‘health food benefits’

Going Nuts

Depression and anxiety treatment has proven to be ineffective. An increasing number of U.S. adults are being prescribed combinations of antidepressants and antipsychotic medications, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Facts

To examine patterns and trends in psychotropic polypharmacy-or the prescription of more than one psychiatric medication-Ramin Mojtabai, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., of Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and Mark Olfson, M.D., M.P.H., of Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, analyzed data collected from a national sample of office-based psychiatry practices. The number of medications prescribed and specific medication combinations were assessed from a total of 13,079 office visits to psychiatrists by adults (18 years or older) between 1996 and 2006.

Overall, there was an increase in the number of psychotropic medications prescribed during office visits. Between 1996 to 1997 and 2005 to 2006, the percentage of visits at which two or more medications were prescribed increased from 42.6 percent to 59.8 percent and the percentage of visits at which three or more medications were prescribed increased from 16.9 percent to 33.2 percent. In addition, the median (midpoint) number of medications prescribed at each visit increased from one to two (an average increase of 40.1 percent).

“While the evidence for added benefit of antipsychotic polypharmacy is limited, there is growing evidence regarding the increased adverse effects associated with such combinations,” the authors write. For example, some combinations have resulted in increases in body weight and total cholesterol level, whereas others may be associated with an increase in fasting blood glucose level.

Truth

A small new study provides more evidence that, on average, antidepressants may be little more effective than a sugar pill in most patients who take them.

“I think we’ve made decisions (about how to treat depression) more difficult,” says co-author Robert DeRubeis, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. The findings are published in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association. “I hope we have.”

“The health establishment needs to take stock and ask about costs and benefits” of antidepressants, DeRubeis says. Meanwhile, he says, his study “should give one pause” about prescribing antidepressants to mildly, moderately or even severely depressed patients. Instead, he says, doctors might want to consider non-drug options, such as exercise or psychotherapy.

Better Yet

Brain function is a product of nutrition. It is a known fact that a diet high in sugar and refined carbohydrates causes depression. Omega 3 fatty acids are needed for proper brain function. According to research published in 2003, kids that consumed soft drinks and sugary snacks performed at the level a 70-year-old in tests of memory and attention. Studies have shown that B vitamins have brain-boosting powers.

Sugar depletes vitamin stores, and causes nutritional deficiencies. A diet high in vitamins, minerals and omega-3 has been shown to affect psychological health. This is what holistic depression and anxiety treatment is based on.

There is a direct relationship between nutrition and aggression. In 2002, Bernard Gesch, a physiologist at Oxford University tested nutritional supplements on inmates in British prisons. He worked with 231 detainees for four months. He gave half the group of men, ages 18 to 21, multivitamins, minerals and fatty-acid supplements with meals. The other half were given placebos. Violence among the group taking the supplements fell 37 percent and minor infractions fell by 26 percent.

“Fruits and vegetables are like Mutual funds,” says university of Kentucky professor of neurology David Snowdon, PHD. “They’re a big pot of literally thousands of compounds that offer protection against a variety of diseases including Alzheimer’s disease.” Fresh fruits and vegetables have been proven to lower the risk of dementia.

Nutrients that feed the brain help it handle stress and stay alert. Good nutrition feeds body, mind and spirit.

Glen Olsen a Fomer Pharmaceutical Rep-Spills The Beans

Children’s packed lunches are a disaster. It is a failure to provide not just proper nutrition, but to pack know chemical poisons. The taste that kills is what we feed our children year in year out. 

Research that is going to be in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports that only one per cent of primary school children who brought lunches met the nutritional standards set for school meals in England.

What this means is that chips, sweets, and sugary drinks are preferred to vegetables, fruit, and milk based products. It also means children’s lunch disasters are in the lunch box they bring to school.

No Surprise

This is the trend in most industrialized nations. In the United States children are suffering from the same type of carbohydrate overload. Convenience is only one of the factors. The lethal effects of excess calories are known. Couple that with empty calories and we have the ingredients for a generation of obese and sickly children.

Formula for Lifelong Health Problems

A recent report from the American Institute of Cancer Research (AICR) states that excess body fat is now seen as a major cause of some cancers. There are newer studies that seem to find that excess body fat lowers immune function and increases oxidative stress. All this can lead to DNA damage.

All these lunches provide excess calories and turn off the longevity genes. The habits formed in early childhood, are the ones that persist throughout life. The most effective way to prevent disease and extend life is watching what goes in to children’s lunchboxes.

Childhood is when taste preferences are formed. The type lunch that is sent to school with children will either set them up for impaired glucose control or undermine their metabolic functions.

Example

The food in a child’s lunchbox can contain as much sugar as ten doughnuts research shows.

A snapshot survey by a consumer watchdog group found that a packed lunch made up of five seemingly healthy items, including cheese and biscuits and fruit juice, contained 60g of sugar. This may be a complaint in Britain, but it sure is not that different here. The results of our food supply shows health concerns seem to take back seat to the food industries goals.

The Children’s Food Campaign coordinator, Jackie Schneider, commented: “Although these findings are appalling, we are not surprised. A whole industry has grown up around producing foods for lunchboxes, which can contain high levels of salt, fat or sugar. Parents are often misled by marketing for these lunchbox products, which make health claims like ‘high in vitamins’ but also turn out to be high in salt, fat or sugar as well.”

Spoiling

Sometimes parents offer these delights in the lunch box and spoil their children with these so called treats. What they are spoiling is a chance for their children to remain disease free. 

“Junk foods are altering the structure and function of the human brain while increasing and decreasing insulin levels so quickly that junk food leaves students groggy in class. (Simontacchi, 2000) A child’s brain continues to develop through until adulthood; many of the foods that students eat affect the growth of critical areas of their brain. When growth is disrupted, it can cause negative behavior reactions in the classroom. Often times, doctors do not seek the root of the problem (food) but instead they mask the behavioral symptoms with drugs such as Ritalin or Prozac which have their own series of side effects, all while the brain development continues to be damaged. (Simontacchi, 2000)

Simotacchi is the author of the book The Crazy Maker: the Food Industry is Destroying our Brains and Harming our Children.

Performance analytics show that children who consume low-nutrient content junk food diets perform poorly in academics. Their cognitive skills are impaired and at the same time they become anxious and hyperactive. Concentration is down so they do not have the opportunity or capacity to learn as well.

Success vs. Failure

Most of the calories are not only empty, but are in a large part from sugar. It is a problem because it creates a roller coaster in the body, with highs of hyper energy followed by drowsiness. It takes anywhere from one to three hours to come down from a sugar high. Sugar addiction comes because of the need for the fix again.

This kind of eating is not due to the failure of the food industry. They are succeeding in making a profit at the expense of our children. Dominating the market is their goal and they are succeeding, better than all expectations. Their job from a business standpoint is not in providing health food, but to successfully market their products.

Biology is not the corporate board meetings topic when looking for ingredients, it is global business. Every document, and task is geared for growing a global market.

Convincing adults and children that their food meets their nutritional needs is easy. We are addicted to the taste, and they know that is key to their profit. Their job is to maintain their brand and they have done that brilliantly.

They succeeded at the expense of our children’s health. Our children’s health suffers, while the food industry prospers. This is not a good trade-off.

Over The Top Perhaps

Almost all health advice has a grain of truth. A lot of the advice is recycled with some enhanced features. For it to be easy, painless, and effective it has to be right for you.

What You Need To Know About What You Eat

What you need to know about what you eat will not come from advertisers, food manufactures, or food pyramids. You betcha. there are vital parts left out of the diets suggested by government agencies, food manufactures, lobbing groups, and slick marketing. Leave it to Madison Avenue to create cleaver advertising campaigns.

Many of the major diets that are based on the food pyramid are style without substance. Hyped up phases such as it creates the life you are meant to live. Letting go of the story and honoring your own body’s needs is the right health strategy.

Looking for What’s Right

This is an inner journey, which you choose to embark on. Yet, everyone seems to know what is right for you. What’s right is if it answers what you are looking for in a healthy way. Health strategies are about you.

You know the saying, if I knew years ago what I know now, well that applies. You have to gain knowledge when looking for what’s right. Vegetarianism is an example; unless you know what you are doing it can be junk food paradise. The low carb high fat diet is one that you need to research to learn than unless you are buying grass fed meat, you are loading up on junk food.

The cattle are fed all sorts of high Omega 6 grains, some rancid, diseased animal by products, and all sort of nasty things along with hormones, and antibiotics. These are needed because of their compromised health. When you consume high quantities of pasteurized and homogenized milk, cheese, and dairy products you are going to encounter the downside of this diet.

Shining a light on Nutrition

The question is who you are inviting into your home. Your body is your home, and just as you are selective about whom you let into your house, your mouth is the entrance to your most important dwelling. Your job is to protect every cell in your body the best you can.

It seems in style to be on a diet. A good diet is elementary it’s green. Don’t be fooled a green wrapper still makes it a packaged processed food.

A good diet is an incredible experience providing you both energy, and health. The amazing benefit of the right way of eating not only turns back the clock, but also makes time more enjoyable.