Daily Health News Blog

Adding soluble fiber to the diet may improve symptoms associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but insoluble fiber may worsen the effects, according to a new study. Sufferers of IBS assigned to receive a soluble fiber supplement (psyllium) experienced a 90-point reduction in the severity of their symptoms, almost double the levels observed in the placebo group. Reductions of 58 points in the severity of symptoms in the group assigned bran were noted, but this group experienced a high level of early drop-out following a worsening of IBS. “In this randomized trial in primary care patients with irritable bowel syndrome, psyllium resulted in a significantly greater proportion of patients reporting adequate relief of symptoms compared with placebo supplementation,” researchers wrote in the British Medical Journal . The precise numbers of people living with IBS in the United States are not known, as many people with mild symptoms do not consult a physician, but it...

"A Better You" Your 7 days program to self-improvement I seem to lost count on how many times I've read and heard of celebrity marriages failing almost left and right. Not that I care (and personally I don't), it seems strange that we often see movie and TV stars as flawless people, living the fairytale life of riches and glamour. I suppose we all have to stop sticking our heads in the clouds and face reality. There are many ways to lose your sense of self-esteem despite of how trivial it could get. But whatever happens, we should all try not to lose our own sense of self. So what does it take to be a cut above the rest? Here are some of the things you can think and improve on that should be enough for a week. 1. Know your purpose Are you wandering through life with little direction - hoping that you'll find happiness, health and prosperity? Identify your life purpose or mission statement and you will have your own unique compass that will lead you to you...

BBQ Peanut Butter Chicken Recipe courtesy of Santa Cruz Organic, a proud sponsor of Go Organic! for Earth Day Preparation facts Yield: 6 servings Ingredients 1 cup Santa Cruz Organic® Peanut Butter® 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup white wine vinegar 1/4 cup Santa Cruz Organic® 100% Lemon Juice garlic cloves, chopped 1 tsp red pepper flakes 2 tsp ginger, finely chopped 2 1/2 lbs chicken breast, boneless and skinless, cut into 1 1/2 inch strips Directions Prepare marinade 2 hours before ready to grill by mixing the ingredients, except the chicken, in a blender until combined. Marinate the chicken for approximately 2 hours. Lightly oil medium-hot BBQ grill. Grill marinated chicken for 6-8 minutes per side. Nutrition facts Serving Size  1 serving Calories  305 Calories from Fat  154 (50%) % Daily Value* 26% Total Fat  17g 22% Saturated Fat  4.4g Polyunsaturated Fat  3g Monounsaturated Fat  5.7g 32% Cholesterol  96mg 19% Sodium  459mg 11...

Health Secrets of Red Wine are Uncovered “Although excessive consumption of ethanol in alcoholic beverages causes multi-organ damage, moderate consumption, particularly of red wine, is protective against all-cause mortality,” according to a study published online in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research . New research is uncovering the disease-prevention secrets of a polyphenol called resveratrol, one of the compounds in red wine that seems to improve health. Although the benefits have been touted for years, researchers weren’t sure how polyphenols, and resveratrol in particular, worked in the body. “The breadth of benefits is remarkable—cancer prevention, protection of the heart and brain from damage, reducing age-related diseases such as inflammation, reversing diabetes and obesity and many more,” said Lindsay Brown, an associate professor of the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Queensland in Australia and co-author of the study in Alcoho...

Following a Mediterranean-style diet, rich in olive oil and fruit and vegetables, may improve vascular health and reduce the risk of hypertension (high blood pressure), according to a new study. Findings published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition report that a diet rich in olive oil and fruit and vegetables was associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of hypertension. The Mediterranean Diet is rich in cereals, fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, fish and olive oil. Although it is the traditional diet of the Mediterranean region, it has garnered interest all over the world in recent times as a scientific spotlight has been trained on the health benefits it can confer. For instance, recent research has indicated that the diet may have benefits for arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, heart health and blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, lung disease and allergies. Led by Dr. Jorge Nunez-Cordoba from the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, the scien...

Green Tea May Add Years to Your Lifetime Everyone wants to lead a long and healthy life. Now it appears that green tea can help you achieve your goals. A study completed by a research team from Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that green tea “reduced mortality due to all causes.” At the beginning of the study, researchers noted “Green tea polyphenols have been extensively studied as cardiovascular disease and cancer chemopreventive agents in vitro and in animal studies. However, the effects of green tea consumption in humans remains unclear.” So they decided to “investigate the associations between green tea consumption and all-cause and cause-specific mortality.” Researchers began the Ohsaki National Health Insurance Cohort Study in 1994 among 40,530 Japanese adults aged 40 to 79 years without a history of stroke, coronary heart disease, or cancer. Participants were followed for up to 11 years for all-ca...

Vitamin D Levels Could Play Role in Heart Disease, Diabetes Risk "High levels of vitamin D among middle-age and elderly populations are associated with a substantial decrease in cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome," said Dr. Oscar Franco of the Health Sciences Research Institute in the United Kingdom. Dr. Franco is a lead author of a systematic review and meta-analysis that looked at the association between blood levels of vitamin D and cardiometabolic disorders, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Twenty-eight studies giving data on 99,745 participants across a variety of ethnic groups including men and women were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis published in the journal Maturitas. After analyzing the 28 studies researchers found that the highest blood levels of vitamin D were associated with a 33% reduction in the risk of developing CVD, a 55% reduction in the risk of developing...