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.