Exercise: Poor air quality apparently affects the running times of women marathoners, according to a study. Higher levels of particles in the air were associated with slower running times for women, while men were not significantly affected. The differences, according to researcher Linsey Marr of Virginia Tech, may be due to the smaller size of women’s tracheas, which makes it easier for certain particles to deposit there and possibly cause irritation. “Although pollution levels in these marathons rarely exceeded national standards for air quality, performance was still affected,” Marr said. Her studies were conducted where major USA marathons are located, such as New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, where pollution tends to be highest. Although the regular person might not be significantly impacted by low-yet-still-acceptable air quality, marathoners typically inhale and exhale about the same amount of air as a sedentary person would over the course of two full days. This means they are exposed to much greater amounts of pollutants than under typical breathing conditions. Interestingly, the performances of female marathoners appeared to only be affected by particulate matter, and not other pollutants like carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide or sulfur dioxide. The research was published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise. more …
Parenting: Time to make some changes, minority mommies. Efforts to prevent childhood obesity should begin far earlier than currently thought – perhaps even before birth for some populations, according to a study. Research that tracked 1,826 women from pregnancy through their children’s first five years of life found that this was a key period for childhood obesity prevention, especially for minority children. “Almost every single risk factor in that period before age 2, including the prenatal period, was disproportionately higher among children,” said Elsie Taveras, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School. Looking at risk factors, researchers found that African-American and Hispanic infants were more likely than their Caucasian counterparts to be born small, gain excess weight after birth, begin eating solid foods before 4 months of age and sleep less. The good news: most of these can be modified by getting updated information, not just “wisdom” handed down through generations. The study was published in the online edition of the journal Pediatrics. more …
Cancer: The plant kingdom heroes continue to surface. According to research done in St. Louis University, the extract from bitter melon – a vegetable commonly used in Indian and Chinese cuisine and medicine – attacks breast cancer cells. The study, published in the March 1 edition of the journal Cancer Research, found that bitter melon extract significantly induced death in breast cancer cells and decreased their growth and spread in vitro by triggering a chain of events that kills the cells and prevents them from multiplying. Bitter melon (shown above) is also often used in India and China as medicine for diabetics due to its ability to lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels. more …
“Laughing Zebra” by August Jennewein
Emotions: Laughter is a universal language, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study, conducted with people from Britain and Namibia, suggests that basic emotions like fear, anger, sadness and amusement are shared by all human beings. Conventional wisdom dictates that, while we all communicate, people from different cultures may not understand the same words, phrases or body language. In spite of this, the researchers discovered that emotions like laughter and anger are easily recognizable despite cultural differences, suggesting that these emotions and their vocalizations are similar across all cultures. Laughter was probably the best recognized among the positive emotions, which should not come as a surprise, as researchers have seen this with other primates such as chimpanzees, and other mammals, too. While previous studies have indicated that smiling is also universal, laughter is special because it symbolizes playfulness, probably one of the first steps in communication between children and their mothers. more …
Blueberries by HLife Photography
Memory: Scientists are reporting the first evidence from human research that blueberries – one of the richest sources of healthful antioxidants and other phytochemicals – improve memory. previous studies in laboratory animals suggest that eating blueberries may help boost memory in the aged, but until now there had been little scientific work aimed at testing the effect of blueberries on memory in people. The research, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found that participants who drank blueberry juice showed significant improvement on learning and memory tests. “These findings are encouraging and suggest that consistent supplementation with blueberries may offer an approach to forestall or mitigate neurodegeneration,” said the authors of the report. more …
Exercise: Santa should get off his sleigh and walk a few, says a study. According to research conducted by Dr. Nathan Grills and published in the Christmas issue of the journal bmj.com, the current image of Santa promotes obesity, drink-driving, speeding and a generally unhealthy lifestyle. His study found that among American children, Santa Claus was the only fictional character more highly recognized than Ronald McDonald, and with ads like the ones that have him drinking Coca-Cola, the beloved St. Nick may have a negative impact on public health. “Santa sells, and sometimes he sells harmful products,” said Grills. While Santa is now banned from smoking, images of him enjoying a pipe or cigar can still be found on Christmas cards, and there is still the tradition of leaving him a brandy to wish him well on his travels (Grills argues that, with a few billion houses to visit, Santa would quickly be over the limit.) The author proposes a new image of the iconic Christmas figure: a slimmed down version on a treadmill. more …
Image via summitbotanicalsupply.com
Breast Cancer: Turmeric and pepper could help prevent breast cancer, a study revealed. Compounds in these spices may limit the growth of stem cells, the small number of cells that fuel a tumor’s growth, according to researcher published online in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. Another study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that although there is a concern regarding the safety of soy food consumption among breast cancer survivors because of a chemical in soy that mimics estrogen, women in China who had breast cancer and a higher intake of soy food had a lower risk of death and breast cancer recurrence. “Patients with breast cancer can be assured that enjoying a soy latte or indulging in pad thai with tofu causes no harm and, when consumed in plentiful amounts, may reduce risk of disease recurrence,” said the researchers. Finally, research from a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences established, for the first time, that isolation and stress could be a factor in human breast cancer risk. Fortunately, all of these are factors we can influence through diet and lifestyle choices. more …
