Get Some Milk!

Just blink your eyes in a few more times, that's the end of Year 2010, and we are about to embrace and welcome the coming of the brand new Year 2011. Before we really bid farewell to 2010, let us look back at our business in GTF. Speaking of the main stream product in GTF, it will be none other than our very own GT&F Milk Powder!

GT&F Milk Powder contains great great elements that everyone of us would probably already know. Putting all that aside, let us just focus on milk only. Reviewing the whole year in 2010, we can see there were several major researches about milk, and the possible benefits by consuming milk.

There are many studies about milk conducted by different countries from all over the world. Almost all of these studies mentioned that by consuming milk, about three glasses a day, could cut back 18% of risks in developing cardiovascular diseases. Among those studies, there were a few major ones which mentioned the same thing. In America Journal of Nutrition, US researchers stated that taking in dietary saturated fats does not involve in increasing the risk of coronary or cardiovascular diseases.

Apart from that, an Australian study also pointed out that people who ate the most full-fat dairy had a 69% lower risk of cardiovascular death compare to those who consumed the least. Such study was conducted for 16-year long, and it was participated by 1,529 Australian adults. In Denmark, it is said that individuals who consume inadequate amount of calcium daily would impair the compliance to a healthy diet, and hence causing unnecessary hunger at times.

Milk itself already has great benefits in itself, which under this post, refers to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, not forgetting that it is also a vital food to be consumed for the health of our bones. When one drinks GT&F Milk Powder, which contains additional essential element, trivalent chromium, any other metabolic syndromes can be destroyed as well.

Shifts

Years ago, when people were talking about working, it could be a happy topic for today's people. The reason why is because when people were talking about their respective careers and jobs back then, they were talking about the working time frame as in 5-day jobs in a week, as well as a fixed working hours in a day.

But for current circumstance, many companies do hope that their workers could work extra hours, not just extra hours, sometimes exaggerated long hours just to meet the company's expectation. In addition, companies nowadays like to follow the trend of having their workers working shifts. It is important to understand that shifts do not comply with normal sleep/ wake rhythm as it disrupts our internal biological clock drastically.

Dr. Ole Ammerpohl, a Kiel human geneticist, took advantage of the fact that identical twins are practically genetically alike, took chances and conducted a research on the relationship of shift work and metabolic disorders. Dr. Ole involved in this research by investigating pairs of identical Danish twins where in each pair, one of them involved in shift works. Working shifts might have direct impact on our genetic make-up and the genes contained within this material.

Gene activities in our body are controlled by switches which is known as DNA methylation. Besides DNA methylation, there are other factors which could contribute to the development of metabolic disorders, such as nutritional & sleeping patterns, hormone and blood counts, those are just the factors among others. Also from Kiel University, Professor Manuela Dittmar mentioned that the consequences of working shifts could further propel higher incidence of civilized diseases such as burn-out syndromes or disability.

Asthma & Diabetes

Many times, especially under GTF Worldwide Sdn Bhd, one will always link diabetes with many other diseases and complications, which we often known them as metabolic syndromes, such as heart diseases, inflammation, obesity and many many more. But a recent study shows that other complications, like asthma, also somewhat has some linkages with Diabetes Mellitus.

By looking at the above picture, normal asthmatic patients could have recognized this very easily. Yes, indeed, this is the normal inhaler which is used by many asthmatic patients nowadays. Whenever an asthmatic patient experiences an asthmatic attack, this little gadget which comes in handy will be their best savior. Once a puff, it loosens the respiratory tract of the patient. This relieves the critical condition of the person.

But one thing, this recent piece of research shows that inhaled corticosteroid (the substance found in the inhaler), would somehow increase in the rate of diabetes onset for as much as 34%. While if a person took a highest inhaled dosage, the rate could be increased to 64% in diabetes onset and 54% in diabetes progression.

Hence, according to Sammy Suissa, PhD., the lead investigator of the research, patients instituting therapy with high doses of inhaled corticosteroids should be assessed for possible hyperglycemia and treatment with high doses of inhaled corticosteroids limited to situations where the benefit is clear. Which is exactly the rule which should be obeyed by all asthmatic patients, should the research data fits what our biological reaction really applies.

Tame Diabetes with Exercise

Exercises are essential for everybody, and this of course, including diabetic patients. Recently, a new exercise guidelines and recommendations have published in one of the journal this month, which is Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). Such guideline was also jointly issued by American Diabetes Association.

The research shows the importance of physical activity to health for all individuals. According to the new guidelines, it appears that 150 minutes is all it takes. The recommendation also mentioned that these 150 minutes have to be spread out at least three days during a week's time where, in a stipulation that there should not be two consecutive days between bouts of aerobic activities.

Apart from aerobic activities, strength training is also important right now for diabetic sufferers. According to the results of the research, resistance exercise (strength training) has the importance which is on par with aerobic exercise, plus in certain studies, was said to be even more important compare to aerobic exercises as it could reinforce additional benefits of combining aerobic as well as strength training for people with diabetes.

Previously, many physicians believed that exercises might not be suitable for diabetic patients due to excessive body weight they have as well as certain health complications they faced. However, with the proper precautions taken, majority of diabetic patients can undergo normal exercises. According to Colberg, Ph.D., who chaired the writing group, physical activity should not be an excuse for diabetic patients, in contrary, it should be a conscious part of every person's health plan.

CKD Risk in Certain Babies

The famous two "biological beans" that can be found in our bodies, are known as kidney. When speaking about kidney disease, everybody would think of chronic kidney disease. Such disease is "invisible" as the sufferer only experience symptoms such as the loss of appetite, fatigue and other trivial matters. As time goes by, the function of renal (kidney) worsens over a certain period. Such disease can be deadly if it is not treated at the right time.

Recently, a latest study found out that for pregnant women who also have Type II Diabetes, their offsprings are more likely to have higher risk in developing chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study was taken place in Washington, where more than 4,000 patients with childhood CKD were included. These patients were all 21 years old or lower. In order to make the study an accurate one, they were compared to over 20,000 healthy children to evaluate the relationship between a diabetic mother as well as the condition of kidney of their respective child.

The interesting findings about this study is that overall rate of childhood CKD was approximately 0.26 percents (which is also 1 per 400 births). As for the children whose mothers had diabetes before their pregnancy period, CKD risk was increased as many as 69 percents higher. As for mothers who developed diabetes during their pregnancy period, the chances of their children in getting CKD is 28 percents higher. Other than diabetic mothers, obese mothers also show a similar trend, where their children in their tummies could face a 22 percents higher in encountering CKD.

More researches are to be done in order to confirm the accuracy of such study. Nevertheless, consuming GTF products everyday is the right way to do in controlling and improving diabetes and other metabolic syndromes.

Fingers Fortune

When someone demand a palm of yours, they often act up like fortune tellers and the first thing they ever do is tell you what your future holds, the lines which are intersecting each other in the middle part of your palm, what they really mean and all sorts of believable explanations. Today, GTF Infozone brings you a scientific news which is quite similar with fortune telling, except that it is not superstitious, but it is scientific-based.

But this scientific fortune telling, only limits to the guys (sorry ladies, but you could read it up and share this information to your guy friends). As you can see in the picture above, this latest piece of information is about two of the five fingers that you have, which are index finger and ring finger respectively. According to a recent study which was funded by Prostate Cancer Research Foundation and Cancer, the lengths of these two fingers somehow determines the risk a male could have in getting prostrate cancer, particularly for men under the age of 60.

It is said that when a man's index finger is longer than his ring finger in length, this man has one third less likely to develop prostrate cancer compare to those whose ring fingers are in the same length, or longer than their index fingers.

The lengths of both fingers were said to have been set forth when the person is in the womb of a mother. In connection to that, the lengths of fingers are said to be affected by the amount of sex hormones (testosterone, in this case) exposed to the baby in mother's womb. Researchers believed that less testosterone equates to a longer index finger; and they also now believe that being exposed to less testosterone before birth helps protect against prostate cancer later in life. However, more researches are being conducted currently as to find out more connections and the factors of prostrate cancer occurrence.

The Catalyst of Cancer

Other than the existence of the magnificent trivalent chromium, GT&F Products are also known to have sufficient amount of essential vitamin B as well as antioxidants. Speaking of antioxidants, they play a pivotal role in preventing many harmful consequence on human health, among the examples are cancer, heart diseases, or even altitude sickness. This statement was very well recognized publicly (that antioxidant plays an important part in preventing cancer).

But today, one of the latest findings which can be found in British Journal of Cancer (2010), pointed out that in preventing cancer from occurring, consuming a high amount of vegetables as well as fruits do not contribute much in the prevention. Although it contributes, but it is not effective enough as it still could not provide a marked result. In the contrary, a close link was found between the prevention of cancer as well as the reduction of alcohol intake.

An Oxford University professor, Professor Tim Key mentioned that vegetables and fruits should mainly being treated as the source of many different kinds of essential nutrients, but it should not being treated as a bench mark as to what amount of consumption it shows certain protection against cancer. On the other hand, consuming high amount of alcohol, which would lead to obesity in the long run, has appear in scientific statistics that it remains closely linked with the occurrence of cancer.

Being overweight, there are a number of possible cancers which could occur. Among the many possible cancer types are breast cancer, or the more complicated cancers such as pancreatic, oesophagael or even kidney cancer. When the alcohol consumed is further broken down, it could even lead to other types of cancers such as mouth, throat or liver cancer. And of course, smoking is still believed to be one of the top reasons of high risk in getting cancer.

Binge Drinking Doubles!

When we were small, we always see those who were older than us, enjoy drinking, yes, drinking alcohol (liquor) is what we meant here. In those childhood memories, all we could recall about alcohol, were probably bitter taste, disgusting wastage which came out from the mouths of those who suffered hangovers. As a result, as a kid ourselves when we were younger, the word alcohol actually disgusted us.

But as we grew older ourselves, alcohol seems to be the "in-thing" gradually. A man who does not drink alcohol does not seemed to be "cool", as majority of men were foreseen as individuals who will involve themselves in business in the near future, and engaged in functions relating to alcohol drinking. As time passes by, it is now turned out to be a generation where even females like to drink a cup or two.

Conventionally, we know that excessive alcohol would bring bad bad consequences, nobody likes hangovers, nobody likes bad breath which is caused by excessive drinking. And worst of all, previously binge drinking is known to cause damages to liver, kidney and even cause heart disease, guess what, binge drinking is now known to have the potential to double your chances of having heart diseases!

A study which was conducted in France and Belfast (in Northern Ireland), found that binge drinking can nearly increases two times the risk of getting heart disease. The reason why these two places were chosen for this study, was because in France, middlemen usually consume alcohol very evenly throughout the week, while middlemen drinkers in Belfast consume relatively higher amount of alcohol in one day, and those days were only during the weekends. As a matter of fact, the drinkers in these two areas have about the same amount of alcohol consumed averagely, in a week.

A binge drinker was defined by researchers as drinkers who consume more than 50g of alcohol in a short period of time, and hence participants who reported regularly drinking four or five 125 ml glasses or more of wine or half pints of beer on a single day would be classed as binge drinkers. As a results of this study, the mean alcohol consumption among Belfast drinkers was 22.1g per day, while the French consumed 32.8g per day. But since drinkers in Belfast consumed relatively higher amount of alcohol in a short period of time (that is, averagely relatively more than French drinkers in a day), the prevalence of middlemen drinkers in that particular area who experienced heart complications was also increased 20 times higher than the drinkers in France.

Benefits of Pomegranate

Many fruits are said to bring great benefits to human. For example, in the past, oranges (citrus fruits) are recommended strongly by doctors, and as the time goes by, everybody is advising everybody else to take oranges too, because it does proved to be a good source of antioxidant as well as a kind of fruit where it is able to prevent certain diseases. But for now, the medical field discovers another fruit which could bring additional benefits.

Pomegranate is the name of the fruit. Recent analyzes showed that individuals who drank pomegranate juice appear to be experiencing lesser cardiovascular events, as pomegranate juices are said to reduce cholesterol, lower excessive blood pressure, which in turns reducing the chances of premature death.

Other than that, the authors of the article (published article about the health benefits of pomegranate juices, source from American Society of Nephrology, ASN) also mentioned that by drinking the controlled amount of pomegranate juice, this may reduce the complications which often occur to dialysis patients.

Side effects of Inflammation

When one experiences an internal pain, that person is very possibly experiencing inflammation. Inflammation can generally being considered as damaged or "burnt" inside us, in layman terms, that is. But to be true, inflammation normally occurs because of a response towards certain stimuli in our body. Examples of such stimuli could be damaged tissue, pathogen, or any irritants that can be found within our body system.

As we all know, inflammation is included as one of the major metabolic syndromes. In other words, when a person suffers from Type II Diabetes, that person could possibly suffer from other metabolic syndromes such as heart diseases, stroke, and of course, inflammation being one of them.

Chronic inflammation might cause sufferers to experience further complications such as hay fever, arteriosclerosis, or even rheumatoid arthritis. While acute inflammation could disturb the balance of the level of leukocytes in our body and so forth. Nonetheless, inflammation would cause a cascade of harmful biological events which bring harmful consequences to human.

Lately, inflammation is said to have strong link with lower intelligence as well as premature death. A recent research which was published in External Link Brain, Behavior and Immunity discussed such issue.In that study, inflammation and intelligence were measured at 18-20 years of age in nearly 50,000 young men, and deaths over the following 35 years were recorded.

The results were all based on young people with low level of inflammation. Through the results obtained, it seems that low level of inflammation could cause detrimental effects in human. Through the study also, it appears that youngsters of manual workers (eg: a farmer) are exposed to greater risk in suffering inflammation compare to those whose fathers are non-manual workers.

To Short Sleepers

To all the short sleepers, better be cautious! One previous post revealing that individuals who sleep for less than 6 hours a day, might develop hazardous complications such as high blood pressure, various kind of heart diseases and many many more. This time, we have another piece of information which we might think it would raise the curiosity of many people.

An amazing research, found that short sleepers (who sleep less than 6 hours a night) not only have higher risks in getting heart diseases and other complications like stroke, they also expose themselves to Type II Diabetes. A correlation between Type II Diabetes and lack of sleep is now proved to exist in the medical field.

According to Dr. Stranges, a lead author at Warwick Medical School, the onset of such phenomenon concerns with a pre-diabetic state, which is known as incident-impaired fasting glycaemia (IFG). IFG is a phenomenon where an individual is unable to regulate his or her blood glucose effectively, as a result, this will slowly lead to Type II Diabetes. Consequently, other infamous aftermaths, such as various metabolic syndromes.

An experiment which was conducted in Warwick Medical School showed that participants (all participants were in the range of 35 to 79 years old) who slept less than six hours a night appeared to have three-fold of risks in getting Type II Diabetes as they also increased the likelihood of developing IFG, compare to those who sleep six to eight hours a night. With a three-fold increase in encountering such phenomenon, it is considered a very significant dangerous situation to those who sleep less than six hours a night.

Therefore, take a good rest every single day; and consume GT&F Products in order to keep yourself rejuvenated all day long!

Mental Rest

Mental illness, or also known as mental disorder, according to wikipedia, is a psychological or behavioral pattern associated with distress or disability that occurs in an individual and certainly is not a part of normal development.

Such phenomenon is believed to be caused by two types of factors. Firstly, in many cases, individuals who suffer from mental disorders are resulted from genetic vulnerabilities. In other cases, environmental stressors, such as working pressure, family tensions, negative social influences and etc, appear to be another common factor.

Now, there is another new branch of exploration as far as mental illnesses are concerned. Young healthy adults aged between 17 and 24 years old, and who got less than an average of 5 hours' sleep appear to have threefolds of risk in developing mental illness, comparing to those who sleep for about 8 or 9 hours each night averagely.

Such study involved participants from countries such as New South Wales and Australia. Professor Glozier, who took charge in the mentioned study, stressed that sleep disturbance appears to be an important symptom in mental disorders, for example depression.

The Other Benefit of Breastfeeding

Breast milk is a very essential source of nutrient. For many GTF members, the benefits of breastfeeding are already very much well-known among all of you. But for the sake of those who are not aware of it, this post will reveal what breastfeeding does, especially to the babies.

Derived from babycenter, breast milk is best for babies, and it actually extend well beyond basic nutrition. Many studies which revolve around breastfeeding, shown that stomach viruses, lower respiratory illnesses, ear infections, and meningitis occur less often in breastfed babies. Other than that, as many GTF members known for a long time, people who were breastfed during their infancy period, are likely to be a lot smarter than those who were not breastfed. What is more, breastfeeding causes the relationship between mother and the baby to become even more intimate.

Besides all those mentioned above, there is another reason why mothers should breastfeed their babies, not for the sake of the children, but for the sake of yourself (mothers). According to one fo the latest studies, an article published in the American Journal of Medicine, women who breastfed her children has a considerably lower risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes when she is older, compare to those who did not breastfeed.

There were 2,233 women aged between 40 and 78 years old who participated in the study. From the statistics, about 56% of them mentioned that they has breastfed for a month or more. From the study, about 27% of the mothers who did not breastfed developed Type 2 Diabetes, which is twice more likely than those who breastfed.

Soda Consumption

Due to copyright reasons, some of the famous names cannot be mentioned right over here in this very blog. But soda, as all of us know, is all about sugar. These days, in western countries, especially in the United States, soda is no longer a mere occasional treat, but it has gained steady increment of popularity throughout the years (over the last three decades). For Americans, consuming soda everyday is a norm, and gradually it turns to a "must". Such trend is also seen in Asian countries, such as Malaysia.

Soda centers in sugar. One 12-ounce soda has around nine teaspoons of sugar and 140 calories, for those who drink soda regularly tend to have higher calorie intake and this causes them to experience drastic weight gain. When the weight increases, so does the risk of getting Type 2 Diabetes.

When things revolve around soda, many tend to ask, "how about diet soda?". In the mindset of many people, diet soda seems to be a "healthier" option compare to regular soda. Frankly speaking, diet soda does have lower calories relatively, but it does not effectively lowers the weight of the drinkers. Studies shown that artificial sweeteners used in producing diet soda may increase sugar cravings and it also may encourage poor food choice, consequently causing poor diet.

Other than that, regular soda consumption brings even worse news to women as it is also linked strongly with osteoporosis. As we all know, consumption of milk, such as GTF Milk Powder, is rich in calcium (a mineral which is vital in strengthen the bones). When soda is consumed, it is possible that phosphoric acid and caffeine found in the soda may promote the loss of calcium in bone.

Brain Health

Brain is the center of nervous system in all vertebrates, and it is so important that most of the people reckon that brain is the one and only tool which takes part in the process of every single outcome and consequence. Although brain is extremely important, but it is extremely complicated too, either in the sense of its very own structure, or its specific functionality.

Research done by John H. Byrne, Ph.D. professor and chairman of the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, revealed some interesting results about studies of neuronal and molecular mechanisms underlying learning and memory.

According to the study, there are three main things which you can do to promote and improve the health of your brain. The very first thing to do is: exercise. A handful of recent evidence shows that while exercising, a process called neurogenesis happens, a term which refers to the generation of new nerve cells in the brain. Therefore, exercising does not only do good things to the heart, but it also brings benefits to our brain.

The second factor appears to be our diet. According to the study too, certain foods, which are also known as "brain foods" appear to have great benefits on our brain. So where can we consume these brain foods? Studies shown that foods which are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, can build the gray matter in our brain. Other than that, foods which contain antioxidant also appears to keep our brain sharp.

The last but not least factor that we should really take note of, is our brain activity. As always, there is a saying of others, especially Malaysians, sounded like "my brain becomes rusty (berkarat)". It is true enough! According to Byrne, we must exercise our brain cells just as we exercise our muscles. Therefore, activities such as reading or doing a crossword puzzle can protect our brain.

B & B (Brain & B Vitamins)

GTF Products are famous for trivalent chromium, other than that, B vitamins can also be found in the products. This type of vitamin is very essential micronutrients for cell metabolism. Other than boosting up body metabolism, it also functions in maintaining healthy skin and muscle tone, immune system enhancement, nervous system functionalities, promoting cell growth and cell division (including red blood cells formation). Such vitamins are co-exist in some foods such as whole grain foods, potatoes, bananas, lentils, chili peppers, tempeh, beans, nutritional yeast, brewer's yeast and molasses (derived from wikipedia).

Knowing all these health benefits which B vitamins can provide us, there is one additional benefit that we can take heart from this micronutrient. U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutritionist Lindsay H. Allen has conducted a research, where she took a closer look at what else B vitamins can offer to human health. According to the study, B vitamins appear to have another amazing effect in preventing decline in brain function, a result which has great positive aftermath as far as medicinal science field is concerned.

The analysis done from the study showed that human with lower levels of one of the B vitamins, which is folate (vitamin B9), is associated with dementia symptoms (which directly leads to poor brain function). Another collaborated result from the study showed that in women (but not men), lower level of folate also associated with the occurrence of depression.

Waist of Death

The body circumference that we always see in front of the mirror, sometimes bug us very much and occupy our minds every single time, especially for females. For women, how large the waist plays a very important aspect as far as the image of a female is concerned. As for the males, how large the waist rings alarm about whether they are at risk in getting cardiovascular diseases as well as obesity.

All this while, large waist circumference has always been associated with inflammation, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, abnormal cholesterol levels and heart disease, but a recent study pointed out that, a large waist circumference is now linked to higher risk of death from any cause over a nine-year period.

The study which was conducted by Eric J. Jacobs, Ph.D and his colleagues at the American Cancer Society, found out that after adjusting for body mass index (BMI) and other risk factors, large waist circumference (47 inches or more in men / 42 inches or more in women) increase the risk of dying by two-folds. Especially in women, such large waist circumference causes the most influence and bring major bad aftermaths to them. But the reason why strong association between waist circumference and mortality among women with low BMI is still unclear. More studies and experiments are needed in the future to further prove this point.

Wrong Perception

A study which was published in general media recently has caused some turmoil in medical and nutrition field. The mentioned study was postulating that calcium supplements may increase risk of heart attacks. Such statement does not seems to be coming in congruent with what we are practicing for now. Although GTF Products do not really exist as calcium supplement products, it is more like a product which concerns more on metabolic syndromes, but on the other hand, since it comes in the form of milk (GTF Milk Powder), many users consider that it is one of the many types of calcium supplements.

First thing first, such postulation, although was published in general media, it seems to be flawed. Before we further discuss how such study is not proven right scientifically, let us take a quick view on what the first study has to say about how calcium supplements increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

A recent trial found out that calcium supplements may trigger cardiovascular events in healthy older women, such phenomenon caused a group of researchers to conduct a meta-analysis, which is an analysis where it involves re-analysis of certain results from lots of other studies and as if they belonged to one giant study. From the meta-analysis they have conducted, it appeared that people who took calcium supplements have 31 per cents higher in suffering heart diseases compare to those who do not take in any calcium supplements.

Such results might exist, but it does not appear to be accurate and convinced. According to Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., the vice president of Global Government and Scientific Affairs for the Natural Products Association, he pointed out that such study was not precisely referring that calcium supplements could increase the risk of heart diseases, because there are thousands of studies on calcium, but the authors who conducted the meta-analysis selected only eight to do the meta-analysis, in addition, none of the selected studies had cardiovascular outcomes as the primary end-points. He further encouraged that especially for those populations that are at high risk for fractures to continue their regimens by taking their calcium supplements without distracted by such less than satisfactory study.

Biological Clock & Triglycerides

Previously, an article about circadian rhythm is published in this blog site, and as all of you have been informed if you have read it, circadian cycle is so important for all of us, as it basically determines how our biological system works daily. Hence, following how it goes routinely should be done everyday.

Recently, another published study even strengthens the importance of the rhythm. US researchers have recently discovered that, if the body clock (biological clock) or circadian rhythm is disrupted, it could consequently interfere with a normal 24 hour cycle of high and low triglycerides in a way that leaves them at a high level all the time. If such phenomenon occurs, it generally means that the risk of atherosclerosis and heart diseases would increase.

Dr. Hussain and colleagues conducted the study with two batches of mice, where one of the groups consist of normal mice, where they were active at night, coming out to hunt for food, and sleep during the day time. While the other group, was specially bred so that they were adapted to a broken sleep-wake cycle, where the researchers refer them as the "clock mutants". For the clock mutant group, they had no regular pattern in sleep or wake, they were bred in a way that they eat both during the day as well as during night time.

The result of such study showed that, for the normal mice, the level of triglycerides peaked or even doubled when they were asleep, but comes to a lowest point at night when the mice were most active. In the contrary, researchers observed that the clock mutants had their triglyceride levels varied hardly throughout 24 hours, and what is more, the triglyceride levels stayed relatively high all the time.

A high level of triglycerides could cause major bad aftermaths such as metabolic disorders and obesity. Therefore, folks, you might need to start thinking of when to sleep, when to stay active from now onwards.

Importance of Socialites

Being lonely, or in other words, keeping yourself remote, away from other individuals in this social circle, is now claimed to be causing bad consequences in human health. To be precise, such phenomenon is said to be on par with other ill effects of human health such as obesity, smoking, alcoholism and inactivity (lack of exercise). Such inclination could harm the lifespan of mankind greatly.

A new study from the United States shown just that. The new study suggests that social interaction should be considered as one of the many important factors in order to extend lifespan. The researchers at Brigham Young University located in Utah, who conducted this study, found that individuals who are having social ties with friends, families, neighbors as well as co-workers can possibly improve odds of survival by as many as 50 percents.

Such analysis was being calculated by pooling the data from 148 published longitudinal studies (which is refers to studies where researchers tracking groups of people from time to time and taking constant observations as the time goes by), and results shown that individuals who had low social interaction had a very much similar impact on lifespan as smoking for about 15 cigarettes a day, or being an alcoholic.

Sleep Disorders & Dementia

According to Google Health, dementia is a loss of brain function that occurs with certain diseases, and it affects memory, thinking, language, judgment and behavior of oneself. Dementia often happens to old people, and as you may have guess correctly, Alzheimer's Disease is one of the many diseases categorized under dementia.

Recently, a new study published under the online issue of Neurology claimed that 63% of people who experienced Rapid Eye Movement Behavior Disorder (RBD) developed dementia or Parkinson's disease in later life. Speaking of RBD, it's actually a sleep disorder that involves abnormal behavior during the sleep phase, where under such phenomenon, vivid dreams occur, and causing sufferers to be unconsciously acting out their dreams where they might injure themselves or their bed partner.

According to the acting chief executive of this new research, Ruth Sunderland, he pointed out that however, the link between sleep disorder and dementia is not yet conclusive, but it is important for us to know that lifestyle factors play a vital part in reducing our risk of dementia, such as eating a healthy diet and doing regular exercises. In relation to that, GTF products (GTF Milk Powder) could play a very pivotal role in ensuring you a deep and comfortable sleep other than regulating your metabolism.

Reduce Sitting Time

There is a Chinese saying which sounds like "Sit, and wait for death (坐以待毙)". Such saying, is generally indicating that a person is waiting for his or her soul reaper to come. It is often being used under circumstances where a person is experiencing terminal illness or encountering excruciating situation where this person could not do anything but wait for his last breath to come.

In a recent study conducted in the United States, such phenomenon ("Sit and wait for death to come) seemingly becomes a reality as the result of study tells us so. In the United States, the level of obesity seems to be increasing byleaps and bounds nowadays, and the main reason why such inclination is occurring in the States, is because people are leading a sedentary lifestyle, without caring much about physical activities such as exercise.

Although obesity has long been regarded as the one of the infamous consequence caused by sedentary lifestyle, the American Journal of Epidemiology recently even linked sitting too long with mortality.

In the study, researchers examined the amount of time spent sitting and physical activities in participants. The results showed that particularly for women, who reported to be sitting for 6 hours a day, could have a higher risk of mortality. They were reported to have 37 percents more likely to experience death compare to those who sits for less than 3 hours a day. While for men, those who sit 6 hours or more daily could experience 18 percents more in the risk of dying. Such postulation was made without taking any physical activities into the picture.

When the study combines physical activities together with sedentary lifestyle (sitting for long period in a day), individuals who sat more and had less physical activities were reported to have 94% (women) and 48% (men) higher chances in experiencing early death than their counterparts who led a slightly more active lifestyle.

Therefore, let's get some movements in a day, and most importantly, add some exercises into your daily schedule in order to lead a better life!

Bone Resorption

One of the main organs we have in our human body system, is some structural components which you known as bones. According to wikipedia, bones are rigid organs that form part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. In other words, this indicates that bones are extremely important especially when you are relating to different but vital functionality such as supportive functions, other internal organs protection of the body, red and white blood cells production, and also minerals storage.

As we all know, ignorance of the importance of bones could lead to hazardous aftermaths. For example, when we do not take in sufficient amount of calcium, bad effects would land upon us, such as osteoporosis, a disease where the human bones begin to fracture at a certain state. This often happen especially in women after menopause, but of course it may also develop in men. When such disease occurs, given its influence in the risk of fragility fracture, osteoporosis may significantly affect life expectancy and the quality of life.

But what we are focusing in this very article, is about bone resorption. One way you could understand what a bone resorption is, is by understanding the theory behind it. Bone resorption is a process where the bone remodeling itself by breaking down the bones, and thereby release the minerals (such as calcium) from the bone fluid to the blood. Such phenomenon could actually release insulin into the bloodstream and improve the uptake of glucose by cells in the entire body.

Researchers led by Columbia University Medical Center discovered that under such circumstance, it actually affects blood sugar regulation. In other words, bone resorption is closely linked to the occurrence of Type 2 Diabetes in a way. According to Dr. Karsenty, bone resorption seems to be favor in insulin secretion in human body, and as he pointed out, for people with osteoporosis, the concern is that a common treatment which is called biphosphonates, where it works by inhibiting bone resorption, could stimulate glucose intolerance. this could further promote full-fledged disease (diabetes) onset.

Through GTF products consumption (especially GTF Milk Powder), they contain the sufficient amount of daily calcium intake for human, as well as the vital amount of trivalent chromium for human, too. With these two special and exclusive functions GTF provides to human, bone resorption (the existence of calcium) and blood glucose regulation (the existence of trivalent chromium) are easy to deal with. Therefore, do not hesitate to consume such great products for yourself!

Memory Deterioration

Obesity is a major problem in many western countries, especially countries such as the United States. But as the days go by, more and more Malaysians are adapted to the sedentary lifestyles which are not encouraged by many nutrition practitioners. As a results, the number of obese Malaysians are on the rise too.

GTF consumers would very much understand that obesity is one of the metabolic syndromes which could bring human excruciating bad consequences. Simply put, obesity is a friend of diabetes, inflammation and also other related cardiovascular diseases. Such fact has placed obesity as one of the most dangerous aspect as far as human health is concerned.

Recently, there was a new research from Northwestern Medicine pointed out that the more an older woman weighs, the worse her memory. Such phenomenon is even more pronounced in women who carry excess weight around their hips (pear shaped) rather than those who carry excess weight around their waists (apple shaped).

According to the lead author Diana Kerwin, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine in Northwestern Medicine, the added weight in women definitely has detrimental effects in cognition and memory. The trend of such happens with every point increase in a woman's BMI, her memory score drops by one point, by using a 100-point memory test called the Modified Mini-Mental Status Examination.

Circadian Rhythm

Circadian rhythm is a very important aspect in our lives. Having to mention circadian rhythm, we need to understand what a circadian clock is. Circadian clock affects the daily rhythms of many physiological processes in our body daily.

Assuming a healthy person who always follow his or her daily routine, the correct or well-arranged circadian clock should be as follows:

2:00AM - Deepest sleep
4:30AM - Lowest body temperature
6:45AM - Sharpest blood pressure rise
7:30AM - Melatonin secretion stops
8:30AM - Bowel movement likely
10:00AM - High alertness
2:30PM - Best coordination
3:30PM - Fastest reaction time
5:00PM - Greatest cardiovascular efficiency and muscle strength
6:30PM - Highest blood pressure
7:00PM - Highest body temperature
9:00PM - Melatonin secretion starts
10:30PM - Bowel movements suppressed

The circadian clock above shows what we should normally do in our daily routine. This is really important as any disruption of our circadian rhythm could affect us greatly sometimes. At times, individuals could feel restless and unnatural if the usual circadian rhythm is not followed.

What is more, there is a newest study which concerns about circadian rhythm, where certain disruption could lead to diabetes occurrence. According to Dr. Takahashi, he pointed out that the disruption of daily clock may contribute to diabetes by impairing the pancreas' ability to deliver insulin. As you may know, when the secretion of insulin by pancreas is disrupted, the blood sugar level could increase, and thus causing diabetes.

Neck Circumference

Ever since decades ago, many parents are using a typical method when choosing shorts and pants for their children. What they normally do, is to measure the neck circumference of their children before making their final decision and choose the shorts and pants of their choices. Such method appears to be quite accurate when fitting room is not available.

Chinese, typically, are doing that for years now. But it seems like, currently, an August print issue, researchers had tested just the usefulness of such method in measuring the neck circumference of children in order to identify whether or not they are related to any high BMI symptoms.

What the researchers did was taking measurements of more than 1,000 children whom were aged from 6 to 8 years in age. Through such measuring method, the researchers found that neck circumference can correctly identify the children whether or not they are being overweight or obese. For instance, a 6 year old boy with a neck circumference which is greater than 11.2 inches is said to have 3.6 times more likely to be overweight or obese than a peer below such measured level.

Antioxidant Supplementation

Nowadays, supplementation plays a pivotal role in maintaining long-term health in human. Almost every people making purchases on supplements, be it capsules or syrups. These items are selling like hot cakes in the market.

Among these supplements, dietary antioxidants are one of the best choices within. What is more, a current research and study further proving that long term supplementation with dietary antioxidants has beneficial effects on sugar and fat metabolism, blood pressure and arterial flexibility in patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors. Such study was being written in BioMed Central's open access journal Nutrition and Metabolism.

For this particular study, a team of researchers from Israel had about 70 patients from a hypertension clinic in participation. The outcome of the study was, antioxidant supplementation seemingly increased the elasticity of large and small arteries in patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors. Such outcome also closely linked to glucose and lipid metabolism improvement, and also significant improvement in blood pressure.

GTF Products are well-known for the existence of trivalent chromium, which helps regulating the amount of blood glucose in our body. But let's not forgetting that GTF Products are also fully enriched with antioxidants which are helpful in keeping our health in good shape.

Testosterone in Elderly Men

When men grow older, they tend to experience some difficulties where they would encounter even more numerous times in their elderly period compare to their younger heydays. The hardships which would probably occur during such period including low in sex drive and mood disorders. In order to curb these problems, many elderly tend to take supplements, we are talking about testosterone supplements here today.

Recently, a large U.S. multi-center study revealed a result which is quite alarming for this group of elderly men. As the number of elderly men is on the rise, more and more people join the majority in taking in testosterone supplements. Though taking in these supplements is not life-threatening, but it could result in having greater risks for other complications, such as cardiovascular diseases.

The study included participants who were older than 65 years in age, and about 697 country-dwelling men. These participants were divided into four different groups according to the range of testosterone they consumed. These four groups were further followed up for the next 4 years.

After the mentioned period of record-tracking (nearly 4 years), about 100 men among them, which is about 14 percents of them, had coronary disease event occurred. According to this study, study participants who were categorized under the group which has highest testosterone amount have twofold the risk of coronary diseases than those who were in the group of lowest testosterone range. Thus, a somewhat convincing postulation has been made Kristen Sueoka, the author of the study, who is also, a resident physician at University of California, that the testosterone level in elderly men is closely linked with cardiovascular diseases.

Tea & Arthritis

Quoted from wikipedia, tea is a product of agricultural leaves. And because of such amazing product, many producers use it to manufacture and modify even greater teas. Today, various kind of teas can be seen anywhere in the world, we have green tea, Chinese tea and many many more.

But there was a study in United States recently, claiming that women who consume tea will have greater risks in getting Rheumatoid Arthritis. Although that was the outcome of study, but there is no correlation between coffee consumption and Rheumatoid Arthritis occurrence.

The purpose of the study was originally to determine whether tea or coffee consumption or the method of preparation of the drinks was associated with an increased risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis, in order to see whether there are any differences in results between tea and coffee drinkers.

According to the study, any amount of tea consumption will carry a significant risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis development. At least 4 cups or more of tea consumed by women nowadays in one day would increase risk of developing Rheumatoid Arthritis compared to those who drank none at all.

So instead of consuming tea in order to have a break, consume milk, especially GTF Milk instead, so that you could get the most benefits from the product, and guarantee great health in your lives.

Diabetes in Elderly

Age and diabetes have strong connections, and recently there's even more evidences to prove this point. According to a study appears in the June 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, obesity and weight gain increase the risk for diabetes in the elderly, particularly those who exceed the age of 50. But such association is not as strong after the age of 75, and it goes the same for younger adults.

Mary L. Biggs and colleagues from the University of California, have included about 4193 adults aged 65 or older into their study. There were several aspects which they took measure on. Among the many aspects, were those normal measurement which we could think of, such as the body mass index (BMI) at study entry, BMI when participants are in their 50's, waist circumference, as well as waist-hip-ratio. These aspects were taken into serious consideration in order to conduct the study.

From this recent study of theirs, there were several specific outcomes which could be derived from. The very first thing they found was compared to people whose weight remained stable all along the years of their lives thus far, people who with normal weight before the age of 50 and who gain 20 pounds more (about 9 kg) after the age of 50. The risk of them haveing diabetes increases for as many as threefold before entering the study.

In the meantime, among all the participants, those who have the most waist circumferences as well as BMI have diabetes risk for four times greater than normal individuals. At the same time, for those people whose waist grew by more than 4 inches over the follow-up period throughout the study, would probably have a 70% risk increment of diabetes development.

Heat Wave

Heat weather is inevitable, especially in countries such as Malaysia. Although many foreigners are coming forward to this country for vacation purposes, but for local dwellers like us who stay in Malaysia for a good number of years, such weather is a worrying phenomenon. As the time goes by, the weather is increasing by leaps and bounds, due to the effect of global warming and other climate changes.

Heat causes people to sweat a lot, and for some, particularly diabetic patients, heat could cause great damage to their health too. According to a lead researcher named Adrienne Nassar, a third year medical resident at Mayo Clinic, he pointed out that people with diabetes have an impaired ability to sweat, which in turns causing them to have heat-related illnesses, and under no proper control, situations such as high blood sugar can occur. When no control is properly implemented, this could even increase their chances of suffering dehydration.

For diabetes, it is said that when the environmental temperature rises to around 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (which is about 26-32 degree Celcius), heat illness can potentially take place. But the current problem is, diabetic patients only aware of the possible illnesses when the temperature rises more than 90 degree Fahrenheit, up to 100 degree Fahrenheit. In Malaysia, a country with high humidity at times, that can make heat more dangerous because it slows the evaporation of perspiration, which is the way the body cools itself.

Relieves

Mood influences everybody. Whenever or wherever you are, different moods and vibes surround you. Generally speaking, your entire life revolves around moods, moods with ups and downs. The problem now is, how do we manage our moods? Especially during times where we have the types of moods which are bad?

In recent studies, there are two things which we can do to refrain us from experiencing awful moods. The first one, will be exercising. Exercising has been deemed to be a way to make people feel good about themselves. And more often than not, after exercising for quite some time, a person would feel relieved and feels good anytime, anywhere. In other words, this lifts them up as far as moods are concerned.

What is more, a ground-breaking study regarding exercising in recent times, revealed that exercising can also potentially manage one's anger. According to lead investigator Nathaniel Thom, Ph.D, a stress physiologist, the major novel finding from such study shows that the way exercise manages angry mood induction, is just like taking aspirin to prevent a heart attack.

Other than that, music therapy is also a good way to improve our moods. Besides moods, other aspects such as improving coordination skills, well-being enhancement of people who suffer from Alzheimer's and dementia. Moreover, some people can also improve their hearing and speech problems through musics. Musics can even being treated as one of the ways in treating cancers and neurological disorders.

Coffee A Good Reducer?

Many times, many people just could not figure out why people love coffee (specially referring to those who are not coffee-lovers). And from what we could observe in our everyday lives, whenever a person drinks coffee regularly on a day-to-day basis, the person will start craving for more and more in the upcoming days. Coffee just seemingly has gained huge popularity since decades ago, and it has become a staple of life.

These days, there is one more scientific evidence which probably would make more people crave for coffee. Such evidence is telling that drinking coffee may reduce the risk of diabetes. Scientists believe that caffeine may be the ingredient largely responsible for this effect based on their findings among animal studies.

The whole idea, according to the scientists, is that coffee consumption prevented the development of high blood sugar and also improved insulin sensitivity in the mice, which in turn reduces the risk of diabetes. Due to these researches implemented by the researchers, caffeine is now somewhat hailed as one of the most effective anti-diabetic compounds found in coffee.

If the caffeine which exists in coffee really helps in reducing the risk of diabetes, will it really be a good substance to be consumed by us human? If it really helps, there are certainly many other downsides about coffee. Let's take a look at all these downsides:

First thing first, coffee will definitely stains your teeth as we all know the color of coffee is. Secondly, it will certainly cause certain extent of bad breath in the consumer. Upon drinking it, the consumer will also become stressed out and full with anxiety sometimes. Other than that, there are also studies which prove that coffee can elevate heart and blood pressure, thereby increases another type of risk, which is the risk of heart attack. Apart from that, sterility of oneself can be affected as well as it could potentially obstruct the tract of the sperms, which results in lowering your sperm count.

But what if you replace the coffee with GTF Products instead? No doubt, the products can achieve your main objective, which is lower the risk of diabetes. Besides that, it also has all the benefits that coffee does not have. We were talking about teeth-staining and bad breath, GTF Milk, for instance, will not leave you with awful smell coming from your mouth, and it will not stain your teeth, instead it could whiten your teeth! Anxiety? Not a problem anymore if you consume GTF Milk, as how scientific evidence showed, our products can effectively curb depression symptoms. As for heart and blood pressure, our products will definitely have certain effects in eliminating various metabolic syndromes. There are many people who, upon consuming our product, are improving on their sterility problems as well!

Therefore, a wise person like you, which will be the better choice for you to make? You decide.

Miscarriage Risk

When a female who happens to be close to you, has discovered a joyful news, such as she learned that she is pregnant, it could be the most euphoric and happy news ever. When this news is learned and spread throughout the entire family, it is time now for her to take really good care of her baby who lives within the tummy.

But there is some kind of saying which goes like, “women are unpredictable”. Yes indeed, such statement is very true enough as biologically, females experience ups and downs most of the time, and hence renders them becoming somewhat emotional at times. Such phenomenon is totally different from what we could see in a man. When a female gets pregnant, such highs and lows are even more visible.

Thus, at many points under such circumstances, pregnant ladies tend to try various ways in order to curb their depression while they are bearing a child. Many times, these ladies will go for antidepressants so that they would feel better and ease their mind a little. But be cautious that antidepressants might weight risks in miscarriage. There is an evidence to this as according a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), it is found that there is a 68% increase in the overall risk of miscarriage in pregnant women using antidepressants. But many mothers-to-be are still taking it because as far as medication is concerned, the risk of birth defects and other problems for babies of mothers who take antidepressants during pregnancy is low.

Still, the existing risks cannot be neglected. Taking antidepressants during pregnancy may pose health risks for your baby, but in the contrary if you stop taking it, it may pose risks to you instead! So, what way should it be? If you ask a loyal consumer of GTF Products, they will definitely tell you the good things about how such magnificent products involving in managing depression of uncountable individuals. Due to the existence of trivalent chromium, such substances can effectively improve the mood of individuals through a series of chemical processes.

Connect with the Nature

In this sophisticated society which is fulfilled by many sophisticated people, for example professionals, business persons and other individuals, people tend to get more and more occupation-oriented. Without apparent realization, human who works full time in hoping to get a good income become more and more sluggish over time. This resulting in a very common phenomenon which everyone knows, which is lack of exercise. But there is one more equally important aspect all of us might have neglected previously.

That is, the importance of nature. Surprisingly, according to what Journal of Environmental Psychology, the nature plays a very effective role in preventing people becoming sluggish in their life. A professor of psychology from University of Rochester, Richard Ryan mentioned that nature resembles fuel which exists in a human body. According to him, connecting to the nature energize us, and it gives effects even better than a cup of boosting coffee as it improves us mentally and also physically.

A test was conducted to witness their postulations. Specific experiments were carried out to test on this. Over four days or two week-time, students who participated were asked to write a diary on their own. This very diary must include whether they exercise, their social interaction, outdoor activities, exposure to the outer environment, such as plants. Such diary was meant to measure their energy level as well as their mood.

Result showed that the students felt more energetic when they were exposed to the nature. According to Ryan, with just a mere 20-minute of nature exposure, human feels extremely vitalized. Breathe in some fresh air outside your office some time, it might give you a big hand to achieve greater success in the near future!

Managing Diabetes with Exercise

As you may know, the major problem which is suffered by diabetics is their high blood sugar level. Other than consuming GTF Products and regulate the metabolism rate of the body, what else can we do to curb the problem?

While allowing GTF do wonders in your body, exercise is an important activity which is a MUST, especially for diabetics. For a normal person who does not have any serious illnesses, leading a sedentary lifestyle can cause a lot of problems, such as obesity. But for a diabetic who does not exercise (or in other words, also leading a sedentary lifestyle), it is like wasting a golden opportunity in lifting up suffering sensations as far as diabetes is concerned.

This is because by exercising, a person's blood glucose level can be controlled, it can keep your weight down, it helps keeping your blood pressure down, other than that, it also raise your HDL (High density lipoprotein) level, which is good cholesterol, and helps lower LDL (Low density lipoprotein) level, which is also known as bad cholesterol.

But still, many diabetics are afraid of getting started in exercising. The reason why is because they are afraid of getting hypoglycemia, a condition where blood glucose produced is lower than the normal level. But theoretically, Type 2 diabetic patients will have no problem by doing exercises such as brisk walking, jogging, cycling, tai chi and others. Each session should not last less than thirty minutes. However for beginners, if you have not done exercise for a long time, you should start with some light exercises, and catching up slowly over time.

Gum & Diabetes

By referring to the illustration above, a blue colored mouth can be observed. But it is not the mouth we are discussing about today, but more importantly, the issue we are focusing on for this post is about one of its inner part, which is the gum, or more scientifically also known as periodontium (the tissues that support the teeth). One of the latest research found that periodontitis (diseases relating to periodontium or gum) could possibly makes a close linkage with the occurrence of diabetes.

But how does that possible? All this while, people are just treating diabetes as one of the possible factors which contribute to the break-out of periodontitis. But now, the other way round seems to be the correct instead?

Although there was not enough evidence to prove it, but a research team led by researchers at the University of Edinburgh and supported by colleagues at the Peninsula Dental School, the University of Ottawa and UCL Eastman Dental Institute suggested that the treatment of gum disease could lower blood glucose level in oneself.

The theory behind this is when oral hygiene is not properly carried out, bacteria can infect the mouth and cause inflammation very easily, and thus, certain chemical changes can reduce the effectiveness of insulin produced in the body. As a result, diabetics experience higher difficulties to control their blood sugar level. Therefore, while consuming GTF Products, please be sure to take care of your oral hygiene as well.

Yoga Practices for Cancer Survivors

By looking at the picture above, it is none other than one of the very familiar posts in yoga practices. Deriving from wikipedia, yoga is originally a practice where it aims to vary and improve health to achieving Moksha, which is liberation from all worldly suffering and the cycle of birth and death. But nowadays, it has been applied by many people, for many people believe that they could get many health benefits out of it.

That is especially true for cancer survivors. A group of US researchers claimed that, a four-week yoga program which covers breathing, meditation, postures and many other techniques can effectively help in fatigue reduction as well as sleep quality improvement in cancer survivors. Cancer survivors often experience fatigue and poor sleeping pattern. These two symptoms are often the results or more precise to say, the two most common side effects which could affect their quality of lives.

Although cancer survivors often are treated with some specific treatments pharmacologically in order to improve their sleeping problems and fatigue suffered, but in the long run, according to lead investigator, Dr. Karen Mustian, such treatment does not really work out. These treatments do show some effect, but they just would not work well for very long. And hence, researches are looking toward non-pharmacological therapy.

Consequently, The University of Rochester have designed a yoga program specially made for cancer survivors, which is called YOCAS, which involves visualization, meditation, breathing as well as other 18 different poses. A number of participants (where 75 percents of them were breast cancer patients) joined the study and were divided into two groups, where one of them was served with normal post-treatment care, and the other one attended the designed yoga program twice a week, for four weeks.

These are the results experienced by the group which joined the program: Improvement on sleep quality (22%), reduced incidence of clinically impaired sleep (31%), less daytime sleepiness (29%). As for the one who were treated with normal treatment, the results for the mentioned three aspects were only 12%, 16% and 5% respectively. Not only the yoga program works so effectively in these aspects, it also works its way to an extent that it reduces fatigue, and also reducing their use of sleep medication by 12%.

Extra Benefits of Ginger

It has been a long time since this blog is updated! And now, latest health information and posts are coming back and will continuously brought to you by GTF Worldwide Sdn Bhd! Today's article will be very much concerning the goods of ginger.

For many centuries, gingers have been used to treat many ailments and discomforts, such as stomach upsets, cold and others. Other than serving as a miraculous remedy for the problems stated, based on a very recent study, ginger is also said to be have the ability to curb muscle pain.

Patrick O'Connor, a professor of the department of kinesiology, pointed out that ginger can exert anti-inflammatory effects in rodents, but as far as human is concerned, no specific experiments have been done on them, and this renders the effect of ginger to human unexplored.

Hence, O'Connor conducted a study just to investigate the effects of ginger on human's muscle problems. In conjunction to this piece of experiment, O'Connor had gathered 34 and 40 participants and were divided into two different groups, which consume raw or heated treated ginger which existed in the forms of capsule (2 grams for each person), and placebo for 11 consecutive days, respectively.

On the 8th day, these people were asked to conduct 18 extensions of exercises which contribute to moderate muscle injury to the arms. To make things sounded more accurate, the conditions of participants were examined three days prior the exercises as well as three days after the exercises were performed.

As a result, participants who consumed daily ginger supplement reduced the pain of inflammation by 25 percents. Although consuming heat-treated ginger does not enhance the reduction of pain (still stays at 25 percents), it clearly shows that those who did not consume ginger supplement did not experience such beneficial effects.

Toddlers on The Couch

Before a baby is born, this little embryo stays put within the placenta inside his or her mother's womb. During this period, parents often try their very best, to spread positive influence towards the baby by doing a lot of things, such as listening to soft and orchestral music like Mozart's, reading storybook as if the baby within can listen, and of course, many other more.

No doubt, these are great and very positive exposures, and scientifically spoken, these acts can definitely cultivate certain positive attitudes and exerts preferable properties in the babies when they are born later.

So, 9 months is passed, the baby is born, what do parents do to continuing cultivate them into a better person? There are many things they do, by nurturing them, continue telling bedtime stories to them, trying their best to create strong bonds between parents and their kids. But things got a little bit out of hand if you continue reading this article.

Many parents took one of the medias for granted, which is television. The tv set is placed as usual at home, with just one press on the remote control, the screen is switched on, and adults can now start to enjoy the show screening on the tube. While children are often exposed to the television. So, what is wrong exposing a toddlers to the program which is shown in the tv set?

A recent study reveals that, for toddler whom ranged from the age of 2 to 4 years old, if they're frequently exposed to the television, this could forecast how badly the television could affect them, among the consequences are poor school adjustment, and unhealthy habits. What is more, with every additional hour of tv exposure at these ages, it simply means that they'll experience even inferior circumstance in learning in school, deterioration of their health, as well as facing the possibility of being bullied in school in later years.

Psychosocial professor at the University of Montreal, Dr. Linda S. Pagani, who was also a lead author in this study, had mentioned that the more hours these toddlers are exposed to the television, it actually corresponds to a future decrease in classroom engagement and success at math, increased victimization by classmates, have a more sedentary lifestyle, higher consumption of junk food and ultimately, these habits lead to higher body mass index.

Too Little Or Too Much?

Sleeping is always a hotly picked topic in this blog site, the reason why this happens is simply because sleeping is so important, it is so essential that, without proper sleeping period in a day, the rest of the time will turn you into a living zombie. Hence, your sleeping pattern, how long you sleep, is equally important.

Did I just mention about how long one should sleep? The problem with how long a person should sleep, exists stereotypically. Many people and even professionals believe that the length of sleeping period is very much depends on that very individually him or herself. They reckon that, certain people feel very energetic after a 6-hour sleep in one day, and others might feel very rejuvenated after an 8-hour sleep. Some might even think that they need only 4 hours of sleeping time in a day to keep them alert.

Very surprisingly (and shockingly), a recent study reveals that, if an individual sleep for less or more than 6 to 8 hours on average, they are linked to premature death. Professor Francesco Cappuccio, who authored an article in the Sleep, Health and Society Program at the University of Warwick, together with his fellow colleagues, found out that sleeping less than 6 hours could increase the risk of premature death by 12 percent higher. And the same it goes for those who sleep for 9 or more hours a night, but arguably, longer sleep increases 30 percent higher in premature death. Researchers believe that short sleep in a night is probably due to the cause of ill-health condition, while long sleep in a night is perhaps represents an indication of ill-health.

Active Lifestyle

Puffer always is the sole solution which curbs asthmatic attacks to frequent asthma sufferers. By using puffer, patients of asthma would virtually be freed from the asthmatic problems they usually face. But when does a puffer is being used by these sufferers? Very obviously, of course during times when they are experiencing asthmatic attacks. But that will generally lead to another question, which is, how do these individuals encounter such deadly attacks?

One of the very common situations which could possibly be, is exercise-induced asthma. Such situation seems to be happening every now and then when asthmatic patients go all out and do some intense exercises. As a result, many parents, or sometimes, even doctors advise the patients not to exercise, but just sit aside watching their peers or even worse, just stay at home, be "grounded" kids.

But is it really true that patients with asthma cannot exercise? Such question has gradually becoming a myth among parents, where they seriously think that their children with asthma are not encouraged to exercise, but in the contrary, they should encourage their children to go all out. But, with some precautions, of course.

Before your children or any individuals with asthma exercise, be sure that they use their puffer about 15 to 20 minutes before the adrenaline pumps in. This will prevent an asthma flare-up occurring in the middle of exercising. If you are unsure about your own circumstance, and want to lead a healthy lifestyle by exercising, this asthma action plan might come in handy. If you do not know how to fill it up, you might need your doctor's advice and you can of course ask him or her to fill it up for you.

Asthma patients who exercise generally will gain benefits such as fewer asthma symptoms, less anxious, less depressed and of course, able to enjoy a better quality of life. As the time goes by, when these asthma patients keep on exercising, the patients will become fitter, and consequently, their asthma symptoms will also be improved.

Baby Swimmers

Babies are adorable and cute. Newly born babies are often regarded as the future leaders of a certain country, the hopes of a particular nation. Most importantly, babies are parents' very own flesh and blood, and these parents, of course, hope for the best in their beloved new born children. And thus, many parents hope that their babies can be able to learn many things in their young ages, stereotypically, hoping that their children can make up what they have lost or things that they were unable to get a hold onto in their younger years.

A recent research shows that by teaching early babies what swimming is, and the way to do it, can distinctly differentiate a great baby with many benefits from a normal baby. While teaching babies swimming might be a source of fun and joy, but the more important aspect on this is the benefits which would be acquired by the babies, especially in their growth development process. Such distinctive result can be observed very clearly even when the babies reach the five year-old mark.

A group of researchers from Norwegian University of Science and Technology were the members who conducted this study. In the mentioned study, two groups which consisted of 19 babies each, were formed. One group was babies who were taught the swimming way, while the other group was treated as a control group. The only factor which differentiates these two groups was the existence of swimming lesson, or not. While the other factors which were put into consideration in this study, such as the parents' education, household income, among others, were all the same for these two groups of babies. Babies who were given swimming lessons received two hours of teachings per week, and they were taught from the age of 2-3 months until they were around 7-month old or so.

The results of the study seemed to be crystal clear, and showed great differences between the two groups. All the babies from both groups were given some exercises to do when the babies were about the age of 5. Obvious results were observed, the babies who received swimming lessons earlier were the best in exercises that related to balance and the ability to reach for things.

Breast Cancer with Alcohol

Previously, there was an article mentioning the downside for youngsters to get themselves involved in binge drinking, if not binge drinking, they are not encouraged to touch any of these alcohol at all. Today's article is just another strong reason why youngsters, particularly girls, should get their fingers off the alcohol.

In many western countries, the rate of benign breast disease sufferers is always increasing by leaps and bounds, and one of the strong reasons why this is happening, is because more and more female youngsters are indulged in alcohol consumption. This appears to be a solid evidence which was obtained from a study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Harvard University.

Speaking of benign breast diseases, it usually occurs with the existence of breast lumps. Though the appearance of breast lumps does not mean that it will be really hazardous to that very individual, but about 80 percent of breast lumps are said to be benign. When this happens, there is a great possibility that normal breast tissues could transform into invasive breast cancer.

The researchers of this study have studied girls who fell in the range of 9 to 15 years old by starting to tracking their health records from the year 1996 to 2007. Although specific statistics were not revealed, but the result did show that the more alcohol is consumed, the more likely the participants were diagnosed with benign breast diseases. According to the researchers, girls and young women who drank up to 6 or 7 drinks of alcohol per week tend to have about 5.5 times more likely to encounter with such disease compare to those only took a few sips once a week or none at all in a week. While those who drink three to five times a week appear to increase their risk for up to three times.

Watch Out, Women!

"Glycemic Index (GI)" is a common term which you can always come across in GTF Worldwide Sdn Bhd. So what does this GI actually tells a person when its value goes up or ends low? GI actually measures how carbohydrates in your body affect your blood sugar levels. Simply put, when carbohydrate breaks down very quickly and rapidly, and release broken down sugars into your bloodstream, that will trigger a high GI value. For low GI, it's just in the contrary, when carbohydrates break down slowly to release simple sugars into bloodstream, low GI will be obtained instead.

Through consuming large amount of calorie as part of your diet, that could cause a series of harmful consequences, with the likes of increasing unnecessary fats, as well as contributing the reduction of good cholesterol, that is, HDL cholesterol. Although many of you may have understand this theory, but what today's scientific research found is a little bit different than what we've known previously.

Yes, indeed such kind of diet will do us no good. In addition, all of us think that through such diet implementation, further illness such as insulin resistance could unveil their wicked tails. And while everyone thinks that males would be the gender who is exposed to this at greater risks, but a recent study showed us otherwise. It reveals that for it is relatively riskier for women who consume diet with high GI. That is, women will have greater risks in encountering heart complication compare to men should both genders consume the same amount of high calorie foods.

The study was conducted among men and women. From these participants, one-fourth of the women were selected to consume the most carbohydrates overall. And the result of this study showed that these one-fourth of women actually had approximately twice the risks of having heart disease compare to the other one-fourth of women who consumed the least calorie. While for men, under the overall carbohydrate intake program, glycemic index and glycemic load, surprisingly were not associated with heart disease risk in men.