I got interesting information from sport news recently  that a professional footballer whose severe feet injury for a long time eventually had the right treatment and healed completely after his doctor found out  certain  problem with the athlete’s teeth and fixed it.

Your teeth and gum, it seems, may speak volumes about your well-being. For starters, there are conditions that affect oral health. Researchers continue to look at the associations between cavities, gum disease, and heart disease, but a cause-and-effect relationship has not yet been established.

There are some disease that are associated with an increased risk of infections. Diabetes increases the risks of gingival and periodontal inflammation and infections.  Also, loose teeth could be a sign of osteoporosis.

When there’s an underlying condition in play, your dentist may be able to draw an important connection between your oral health and your overall health. So sit back, relax, and open wide. Here’s what you need to know about the mouth-body connection.

Oral Health and Diabetes

Bleeding gums, dry mouth, fungal infections, cavities — these oral signs might clue your dentist into a serious health issue: diabetes. And these symptoms also might suggest other serious conditions, such as HIV and leukemia.

“Diabetes is the one disease that we know can have a direct impact on infections in the bones and gums around the teeth,” says Sally Cram, DDS, consumer adviser for the American Dental Association.

Diabetes and your mouth have blood sugar in common. If blood sugar levels are out of control in your body , they’re out of control in your mouth. With sugar to feed on, bacteria find a happy home in which to grow and thrive. The bacteria then attack the protective enamel layer on your teeth, and over time as the enamel breaks down, cavities develop — one of the dental signs of diabetes.

A person with diabetes has more mouth woes to worry about: Uncontrolled diabetes reduces the body’s first line of defense against infection, white blood cells, which can then put a person’s oral health at risk. With bacteria teeming around the gums from high blood sugar levels, periodontal or gum disease is an easy next step.

Unfortunately, because diabetes lowers a person’s resistance to infection, managing periodontal disease isn’t easy.

“If you have diabetes and periodontal disease, you have to get your blood sugar levels under control for both the sake of your body and your mouth,” says Cram.

Your dentist should be one of your best friends if you are among the 24 million Americans living with diabetes.

Frequent professional cleanings are important in helping to prevent or control periodontal disease, and home care requires flossing and brushing after every meal.

Oral Health and Heart Disease

If on your last visit to the dentist you were told you had gingivitis or gum inflammation, cavities, missing teeth, molar infections, and/or decay so severe it’s left only the roots of a tooth, your dentist may say your mouth isn’t the only thing being attacked.

The jury is still out, but according to research from the American Heart Association, poor oral health could increase your chances of developing heart disease. The exact way that periodontal infections are linked to heart disease are not known. There are no studies that show that maintaining good dental health improves heart disease outcomes such as heart attacks or strokes.

“We think it’s the bacteria, or the inflammatory response from the bacteria, that might cause inflammation of the heart and more plaque buildup in the blood vessels,” says Rick Kellerman, MD, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Unfortunately, neither your dentist nor your doctor fully understands how your mouth is connected to your heart. So while you wait for more research related to the impact of oral health on heart health, your dentist will recommend you do two things: brush and floss.

Oral Health and Osteoporosis

Has the tooth fairy recently paid you a visit? That’s a problem, since you stopped believing in mythical characters decades ago. Your dentist may tell you that osteoporosis, a disease that causes the bones to become less dense over time as the body loses calcium, could be at the root of tooth loss.

“Bones are bones, and that includes the jaw,” says Kellerman. “As the anchor point for the teeth, if your jaw becomes less dense and weakens, losing teeth becomes more and more likely.”

Though more research is needed to establish a link, osteoporosis and gum disease could turn out to pack a one-two punch, leaving you with some holes to fill in what used to be a picture-perfect smile.

“You want to be very conscientious about brushing and flossing if you have osteoporosis, because if you get periodontal disease, and you are already losing bone mass, you’re at a higher risk of losing teeth,” says Cram.

The risk of tooth loss is three times greater for women with osteoporosis than for women who do not have the disease. “Women in particular should take calcium and vitamin D, exercise, eat right, and do all of the things necessary to help prevent osteoporosis, which down the road could help prevent losing teeth,” Kellerman tells WebMD. “Every time you lose a tooth it’s like losing a pearl.”

Oral Health and Women: The Female Factor

About half of all people, no matter how healthy they are, are more likely to develop oral health problems: Women.

“Women need to be aware that they are at higher risk for periodontal disease and gum disease during puberty, pregnancy, their menstrual cycle each month, and then menopause,” says Cram. “We know there is a correlation between high hormone levels in the body and inflammation in the gum surrounding the teeth.”

When hormone levels are very high, explains Cram, women can be more sensitive to a small amount of plaque or bacteria.

“For example, if you weren’t pregnant, and you forgot to floss for a couple of days, it probably wouldn’t be an issue,” says Cram. “But if you are pregnant and forget to floss, and plaque collects, you can get these swollen, painful growths in your gum that you otherwise probably wouldn’t have.”

Being pregnant and having periodontal disease may also put your baby at risk. While a cause and effect relationship is still being studied, maternal periodontal disease has been linked with preterm delivery and low birth weight infants in small studies.

Oral Health and Smoking

If you smoke, your dentist knows it. Along with tinted-yellow teeth, smokers are at greater risk for a long list of unpleasant oral issues, with tooth loss leading the pack. A smile-killing 41% of daily smokers over age 65 are toothless. If that’s not enough to make you snuff out the habit, smoking can also raise your chances of calculus — plaque that hardens on the teeth and can only be removed during a professional cleaning; deep pockets between the teeth and gums; loss of the bone and tissue that support your teeth; mouth sores; and oral cancer. Bottom line? The risk of not caring for your teeth far outweighs the effort required to keep your mouth clean — so get brushing!

Reference:

• www.webmd.com

You don’t have to be  a food scientist or carry a gram counter or calculator when you go to the market. Simply focus on selecting the freshest foods in their most natural state. And use your knowledge of basic nutritional principles. Here are a few tips.

Avoid heavily fatted meats. Free- range poultry and meats have been raised without the excessive use of antibiotics and other chemicals, and they’re recommended for the Blood Type Diet. Free-range means just that – that animals haven’t been penned in. Once you try free-range meat or poultry, you’ll see the difference. The flesh is leaner, the color and texture are richer, and there is very little fat. It’s possible to raise red meats that have fat and cholesterol level that are closer to those of the leaner poultry, but the meat may be less tender and flavorful by modern standards. The giant agribusinesses are still locked into the traditional notion that consumers want rich, high-fat meats. Our ancestors consumed rather lean game or domestic animals that graze on alfalfa and other grasses. Today’s meats are corn-fed, kept healthy with antibiotics, and prized for the tenderness of their meat and the marbling of their fat. Fortunately, some business are beginning to respond to the growing demand for lean, organic meat. If your market hasn’t caught on to the trend, be sure to let the manager know.

Fresh fish is fairly simple to identify. Look at the eyes. If they’re clear and reflective, the fish is probably fresh. Pull the gills out from the back of the head. They should be bright red or dark pink. If the skin is slimy to the touch, and the fish has any kind of off odor or fishy smell, it is not fresh.

Try to avoid the canned-foods aisles. Commercially canned foods are subjected to high heat and pressure, and they lose a great deal of their vitamin content, especially the antioxidants, such as vitamin C. They do retain the vitamins that are not heat sensitive, such as vitamin A. Canned foods are usually lower in fiber and higher in salt. The salt is added to boost the flavor lost during production. Few of the natural enzymes remain; for the most part, they’re destroyed by the canning process.

Other than fresh foods, frozen ones are your best bet, since freezing doesn’t alter the nutritional content of the food very much. The quality and variety of frozen foods have improved greatly in the just the last few years. New processing and freezing methods allow foods to be kept as close to fresh as possible.

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If you buy non organic veggies, take care to remove chemicals from the skin. Wash the vegetables in a full sink of water with a solution of two teaspoons (10 ml) of bleach and one tablespoon (15 ml) of dish detergent. There are also ready-made solutions available from health food stores and mail-order catalogs

Whole lines of organic and vegetarian foods are now being offered commercially, making it easier than ever before to bring a wide variety of items to the consumer’s table that might be have been difficult to find before. Still, I’m an old-fashioned guy. My favorite foods are still fresh food.

Stay Smart About Safety

In March 1998, New York Times report that the U.S. federal government was being urged by health officials to undertake new and comprehensive efforts to detect cases of illness caused by contaminated foods and to protect future outbreaks. Such a case also take place in the other countries.

The National Center for Health Statistics in the U.S. reported that food-borne illness are among the leading reasons for emergency room visits each year. As an example, it was estimated that in a one-year period between 1996 and 1997, the state of Minnesota’s 4.4 million residents suffered 6.1 million diarrhoeal illness.

Although there are no firm numbers regarding the consumption of unsafe foods, botulism, staphylococcus and toxoplasmosis are among the more common examples of fish related contamination. Viral hepatitis, caused by faecal contamination, unsafe mercury levels, and high levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are potential hazards of eating foods from polluted water supplies. As with animal product, bacterial and parasitic contamination are always possible. Alarmingly, fish is not subject to the same level of federal inspection as meat and poultry. Rather, a voluntary program of inspection is maintained by wholesale distributors and prosessors. It wasn’t until 1991 that FDA created a unit to monitor the safety of seafood!

Although the U.S. has long been touted as having the world’s safest and least expensive food supply, it is becoming less so. A tremendous amount of the nation’s food supply pours in from countries without even the minimal safeguards the U.S. employs to ensure food safety. An increasing number of food-borne illnesses, in fact, closely resemble what was once considered classic traveller’s diarrhoea. In other words, Montezuma’s Revenge no longer requires luggage, merely a trip to the local supermarket.

Don’t assume that you can relax your guard when you shop in a health food store. Many health food stores, especially the smaller ones, do not have the rapid turnover of a busy greengrocer or supermarket. Check the ’sell by’ dates on every package.

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If  You Don’t Have a Health Food Store and Can’t Find Organic Foods . . .

• Let your local supermarket manager know that you’re interested in buying organic foods. Many chains have started to stock organic produce, meat and poultry as a matter of course.
• Check out the frozen-food section of your supermarket. There are many new variations on vegetarians and gluten-free foods. They’re not just in health food store anymore.

Know Your Organics

Commercial markets are stocking organic produce on a regular basis – a fairly recent innovation. In case of U.S.,  most  organic produce and fruits are from California, a state with specific laws concerning the use of the word organic. In some markets, organic vegetables and fruits are displayed side by side with the nonorganic produce. In many instances, they are priced identically! We suspect that market demand will continue to push more and more vegetable and fruit growers back to the organic methods of cultivation. The cost of commercial fertilizers and pesticides will eventually make the nonorganic produce more expensive to grow. Despite the old pro and con aerguments about the use of pesticides, it simply comes down to this piece of common sense: no amount of pesticides, however small, has ever been discovered to be beneficial to the human body (see another great post: Are You Sure Your Foods are Safe?).  Conversely, it is best to remember that organic fruits and vegetables bruise easily and spoil rapidly. Many areas of the world couldn’t sustain sufficient levels of food production at this point without using pesticides. That is the paradox.

Pragmatically, a good rule of thumb is to purchase organic vegetables in preference to nonorganic vegetables if they’re not exorbitantly priced. They taste better, are muchly delicious and  healthier for you. Commercial fertilisers can increase agribusiness production. Fruits and vegetables can be produced according to the consumer’s desire. But, this trend produces higher water content, as well as muchly less delicious taste of fruit and vegetable. Thus, decrease the nutrition value as well.

Independent laboratories revealed that organic wheat contains 24% higher protein than the commercial one, and organic castor (oil) contains 43% higher vitamin C as well. The other data are:

• Organic tomato contains 23 mg. higher calcium, while the nonorganic one contains only 5 mg.
• Organic vegetable contain antioxidant 10% to 50 % higher than nonorganic one.
• Organic fruits and vegetables contain higher vitamin C and essential minerals, such as Calcium, Phosporus, Magnesium, Ferum (iron) and Chrome. Organic fruits and vegetables also contain Nitrate (carsinogenic contaminant) 25% lesser than nonorganic ones.

However, if you don’t have a lot of money to spend and can’t find reasonably priced organic produce, improvise. Fresh, high quality nonorganic produce will be fine. The important thing is to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Organic or commercial (nonorganic), the valuable nutrients are there for the eating.
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Reference:

• “‘Cook Right 4 Your Type”, Peter J. D’adamo, Century, Random House, London, 2001

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The health benefits of exercise impact your body from head to toe. By exercising at least 30 minutes a day on most days of the week, you can dramatically lower your risk of disease and injury. Exercise also helps improve your emotional health.

5 Health Benefits of Exercise

It is impossible to fully calculate the health payoff of a few weekly hours at the gym, in the pool or on the field. However, if you need a little extra motivation to get active, consider the following five health benefits of regular exercise:

1. Strengthens and protects your heart and lungs. Exercise provides numerous benefits to the heart. It lowers levels of LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol, reducing the risk of blockages (plaques) in your arteries that can lead to heart ailments. Exercise also reduces high blood pressure.Regular workouts help build your lung capacity, which improves your body’s ability to use oxygen. As heart and lung function becomes more efficient, blood travels more easily through the body. This helps you feel a higher level of energy.
2. Increases muscular strength and joint flexibility. Strength-training exercises build muscle tissue, boosting your overall strength and making it easier to do everything from controlling your dog as he strains at the leash to lifting baggage into the overhead bin of an airplane. In addition, exercise increases the flexibility of your joints, making them less likely to become injured.
3. Promotes weight loss. Exercise burns calories. Most people who are overweight will shed pounds if the amount of calories they expend exceeds the amount of calories they take in while eating. People who are not overweight will better maintain their healthy weight level even as they age and their metabolism begins to slow.Maintaining a healthy body weight is crucial to reducing the risk of many illnesses and conditions, including heart disease and diabetes. In addition, a slimmer body frame reduces the pressure on bones and joints and reduces the risk of osteoarthritis.
4. Improves mood and reduces stress. When you exercise, the body releases neurotransmitters known as endorphins. The release of these chemicals helps reduce pain, relieves stress and gives you a sense of overall well-being. Exercise also activates the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine, which help relieve depression.
5. Builds and maintains strong bones.  Weight-bearing exercise builds and strengthens bones. This can help ward off osteoporosis, a thinning of the bones that occurs in many women after menopause and in some men as they age.Strength training exercises and weight-bearing activities can best build bone mass. Examples of weight-bearing activities include walking, running or jogging; skiing; weight-lifting; basketball and aerobic activities such as dancing.Older adults without a previous history of regular exercise can still increase bone density through exercise.

Exercise also boosts your emotional health in other ways. For example, a person who becomes fit is likely to have a stronger self-image.

Use It or Lose It

According to a 1990 CDC study, lack of exercise and poor diet accounts for about 14 percent of all deaths every year, making this combination the biggest lifestyle-related killer of Americans aside from smoking.

Failure to exercise can be directly linked to higher risk of coronary artery disease,  colon cancer, and type 2 diabetes, according to the CDC. People who are regularly active sharply reduce these risks.

However, you must continue to exercise throughout your lifetime to maintain these benefits. Within months of stopping exercise, nearly all of the health benefits of exercise disappear.Even professional athletes fail to maintain any of the long-term benefits of exercise unless they continue to remain active. Therefore, it is important to view exercise as an ongoing, long-term investment in better health.

The amount of sleep needed varies mostly according to age, but everyone should have enough awaken rested and refreshed.

• the normal adult requires 6.5  to  8 hours of sleep
• the aged, 6 hours;
• children of 2-3 yers old, 12-13 hours;
• infants, almost all of the time.

For person who tire easily, an afternoon nap of about an hour is helpful. Coffee or tea drunk late at night often causes sleeplessness. The habit of taking sleeping pills is bad, as they depress vital functions and produce dependence upon them.

10 Health Benefits of  Sleep

Sleep, we all love it, especially when you wake up from a great night’s sleep. In the past, sleep was often ignored by doctors and surrounded by myths, but now we are beginning to understand the importance of sleep to overall health and well-being. In fact, when people get less than 6 or 7 hours of sleep each night, their risk for developing diseases begins to increase.

1. Sleep Keeps Your Heart Healthy

Heart attacks and strokes are more common during the early morning hours. This fact may be explained by the way sleep interacts with the blood vessels. Lack of sleep has been associated with worsening of blood pressure and cholesterol, all risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Your heart will be healthier if you get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night.

2. Sleep May Prevent Cancer

People working the late shift have a higher risk for breast and colon cancer. Researchers believe this link is caused by differing levels of melatonin in people who are exposed to light at night. Light exposure reduces the level of melatonin, a hormone that both makes us sleepy and is thought to protect against cancer. Melatonin appears to suppress the growth of tumors. Be sure that your bedroom is dark to help your body produce the melatonin it needs.

3. Sleep Reduces Stress

When your body is sleep deficient, it goes into a state of stress. The body’s functions are put on high alert which causes an increase in blood pressure and a production of stress hormones. Higher blood pressure increases your risk for heart attacks and strokes. The stress hormones also, unfortunately, make it harder for you to sleep.  Learn relaxation techniques to counter the effects of stress. There are also stress reduction techniques for sleep.

4. Sleep Reduces Inflammation

The increase in stress hormones raises the level of inflammation in your body, also creating more risk for heart-related conditions, as well as cancer and diabetes. Inflammation is thought to one of the causes of the deterioration of your body as you age.

Inflammation is an immune reaction on a cellular level to an irritant. Inflammation can show up on our skin in the form of puffiness, wrinkles, enlarged pores, sagging, blotchiness, and reddening of the skin.

Inflammation can be caused by an infection or allergy. However, much inflammation is caused by lifestyle factors that we can control or mediate.

Here are some simple anti-inflammatory measures to help your skin stay young:

1. Eat an Anti-Inflammatory Diet.  Eliminate simple sugars and processed foods, while concentrating on healthy fats. These include those found in olive oil, cold water fish and nuts. Make sure you get plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables.
2. Reduce Stress and Practice Breathing. Practice the relaxation response several times a day in order to reduce levels of cortisol, a stress hormone which accelerates aging.
3. Take Supplements.  Taking vitamin and mineral supplements that contain  antioxidants like vitamins C and E and alpha lipoic acid can help combat the inflammatory damage wrought by free radicals in the body.
4. Exercise.  Getting 30-45 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise five or more times per week may help reduce inflammation.
5. Use Beauty Products with Anti-Inflammatory Properties. These include topical preparations with coenzyme Q-10, or vitamins E or C; these ingredients help block free-radical damage. In addition, skin products that contain mushroom extract, ginger, ginseng and/or alpha lipoic acid may reduce inflammation and protect cell structures.
6. Get Enough Sleep.  The National Sleep Foundation maintains that 8 hours of sleep is optimal for healthy adults. Make sleep a priority and you will feel and look better.

5. Sleep Makes You More Alert

Of course, a good night’s sleep makes you feel energized and alert the next  day. Being engaged and active not  only feels great, it increases your chances for another good night’s sleep. When you wake up feeling refreshed, use that energy to get out into the daylight, do active things, and be engaged in your world. You’ll sleep better the next night and increase you daily energy level.

6. Sleep Bolsters Your Memory

Researchers do not fully understand why we sleep and dream, but a process called memory consolidation occurs during sleep. While your body may be resting, your brain is busy processing your day, making connections between events, sensory input, feelings and memories. Your dreams and deep sleep are an important time for your brain to make memories and links. Getting more quality sleep will help you remember and process things better.

7. Sleep May Help You Lose Weight

Researchers have also found that people who sleep less than seven hours per night are more likely to be overweight or obese. It is thought that the lack of sleep impacts the balance of hormones in the body that affect appetite. The hormones ghrelin and leptin, important for the regulation of appetite, have been found to be disrupted by lack of sleep. So if you are interested in controlling or  losing weight, don’t forget to pay attention to getting a good night’s sleep.

8. Naps Make You Smarter

Napping during the day is not only an effective and refreshing alternative to caffeine, it can also protect your health and make you more productive. A study of 24,000 Greek adults showed that people who napped several times a week had a lower risk for dying from heart disease. People who nap at work have much lower levels of stress. Napping also improves memory, cognitive function and mood.

9. Sleep May Reduce Your Risk for Depression

Sleep impacts many of the chemicals in your body, including serotonin. People with a deficiency in serotonin are more likely to suffer from depression. You can help to prevent depression by making sure you are getting the right amount of sleep, between 7 and 9 hours each night.

10. Sleep Helps the Body Make Repairs

Sleep is a time for your body to repair damage caused by stress, ultraviolet rays and other harmful exposures. Your cells produce more protein while you are sleeping. These protein molecules form the building blocks for cells, allowing them to repair damage.

Reference:

1. “Fishbein’s Medical and Health Encyclopedia“, HS Suttman CO., INC, CT., 1982
2. www.wikipedia.org