NYC proposes ban on sale of oversized sodas

Shop keeper carrying large sodas

NEW YORK (AP) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing a ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks in the city's restaurants, delis and movie theaters in the hopes of combating obesity - an expansion of his administration's efforts to encourage healthy behavior by limiting residents' choices.

The proposal - expected to be announced formally on Thursday in a City Hall briefing - would take 20-ounce soda bottles off the shelves of the city's delis and eliminate super-sized sugary soft drinks from fast-food menus. It is the latest health effort by the administration to spark accusations that the city's officials are overstepping into matters that should be left in the hands of individual consumers.

"There they go again," said Stefan Friedman, spokesman for the New York City Beverage Association, who called the proposal "zealous" in a statement. "The New York City Health Department's unhealthy obsession with attacking soft drinks is again pushing them over the top. The city is not going to address the obesity issue by attacking soda because soda is not driving the obesity rates."

But City Hall officials, citing a 2006 study, argue that sugary drinks are the largest driver of rising calorie consumption and obesity. They note that sweet drinks are linked to long-term weight gain and increased rates of diabetes and heart disease.

The administration's proposal would impose a 16-ounce limit on the size of sugary drinks sold at food service establishments, including restaurants, movie theaters, sports venues and street carts. It would apply to bottled drinks as well as fountain sodas.

The ban would apply only to drinks that contain more than 25 calories per 8 ounces. It would not apply to diet soda or any other calorie-free drink. Any drink that is at least half milk or milk substitute would be exempted.

The ban, which could take effect as soon as March, would not apply to drinks sold in grocery or convenience stores that don't serve prepared food. Establishments that don't downsize would face fines of $200 after a three-month grace period.

The proposal requires the approval of the city's Board of Health - considered likely because its members are all appointed by Bloomberg.

Under the three-term mayor, the city has campaigned aggressively against obesity, outlawing trans-fats in restaurant food and forcing chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus. The mayor has also led efforts to ban smoking in the city's bars, restaurants, parks and beaches.

Bloomberg often cites the city's rising life expectancy numbers as proof the approach is working, but his efforts have drawn criticism from others who accuse him of instituting a "nanny state."

His administration has tried other ways to make soda consumption less appealing. The mayor supported a state tax on sodas, but the measure died in Albany, and he tried to restrict the use of food stamps to buy sodas, an idea federal regulators rejected.

City Hall's latest proposal does not require approval beyond the Board of Health, although public hearings will be held.

News by AP

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10 Foods That Can Lower Your Cholesterol

Low cholesterol foods

Had your annual physical lately? Here's a reason why you should: Even if you eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly, your cholesterol might be higher than you'd like.

Janis Jilbrin, R.D., co-author of The Life You Want! Get Motivated, Lose Weight and Be Happy (Simon & Schuster 2011, co-authored with Bob Greene and psychologist Anne Kearney-Cooke), explains the deal with cholesterol and what foods you can eat to help keep yours down.

What would cause your cholesterol to be high in the first place? "Sometimes having high LDL -- the "bad" cholesterol -- is genetic," says Jilbrin. LDL stands for low-density lipoprotein, and it's considered the "bad" cholesterol, Jilbrin explains, because it takes fat and deposits it into your arteries. That's the cholesterol you want to keep "down."

Then there's the "good" cholesterol, called HDL (high-density lipoprotein), which travels in your bloodstream and removes the bad cholesterol. You can also be genetically predisposed to having low levels of HDL; other causes, according to Jilbrin, include being overweight or obese, being sedentary, smoking, a high carb intake, having type 2 diabetes and certain drugs, including beta blockers and steroids.

And why should you be worried about any of this? Heart disease -- which, no, you're not too young to worry about. According to Jilbrin, "Arterial plaque can start forming in young adulthood, even in childhood."

Uh oh. She continues: "And trying to fix it once you've had a heart attack or show signs of heart disease never reduces your risk like you would have if you'd taken care of the problem earlier."

Jilbrin says that the most important type of foods to eat to keep your cholesterol levels healthy are "viscous fibers." Sounds ... gross? Don't worry, they're actually tasty. Here's a list of some yummy viscous fibers:

    * Barley
    * Oatmeal
    * Oat bran
    * Ground psyllium seeds
    * Apples
    * Oranges
    * Prunes
    * Legumes (beans, peas, lentils)
    * Brussels sprouts

Viscous fibers work, Jilbrin explains, for two reasons: First, they trap some of the fat and cholesterol from your diet, sending it out of the body before it can be absorbed.

Second: "Your body uses bile acids, made from cholesterol, to break down the fat you eat, so it can be absorbed in the intestines," Jilbrin explains. "Once the bile acid is secreted in the intestine and does its work breaking down fat, most of the bile acids are reabsorbed." Are you with us so far? "But viscous fibers block some of that reabsorption, so, in order to create more bile acid, the body draws from cholesterol in the blood, thus lowering LDL (the "bad" cholesterol)."

Almonds, while not viscous fibers, are also good to eat, notes Jilbrin, because they contain a monounsaturated fat and a plant sterol, both of which lower LDL.

Of course -- it's not just what you eat. Maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding saturated fats and staying active, says Jilbrin, are also super important to keeping your cholesterol levels -- and your heart -- healthy.

Article by Youbeauty

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Sex now deemed safe for most heart patients

Sex to relief heart

A new report from doctors in Houston is bringing good news to the majority of heart patients – if walking up two flights of stairs doesn’t make you breathless or cause chest pain, then it’s safe to have sex.

The American Heart Association agrees that sexual intercourse causes only a slight risk of bringing on a heart attack with the same odds for people both with and without heart problems. Plus, there isn’t any proof that just because someone has already had one heart attack that sex is more likely to cause a second one to occur.

Dr. Glenn Levine, the author of the report, says that the majority of people with a heart condition walk up and down stairs all the time without thinking about it, but they may worry that having sex will lead to having a heart attack or even dying. But, as his report has brought out, this is not the case at all for most heart patients.

The report does add that patients and their doctors should bring up the subject of having sex, but that some are embarrassed to talk about it or don’t have data to share. This report gives them the guidance needed to provide that data. Levine added that a person’s overall risk of getting a heart attack while having sex is low and only represents about one percent of the cause of all heart attacks.

The report goes on to say that for people who have had one heart attack, the average risk for another is about 10 in a million every hour under all circumstances, and that participating in sexual activities raises that to about 20 in a million per hour. This amount is actually the same risks that people who have never had a heart attack face during sex, making it no more risky for heart patients to have sex than anyone else.

Patients under a doctor’s care for heart conditions may be asked to participate in a cardiac rehab program, which will monitor them for any symptoms of heart problems. This program will help the patients to gain strength in their hearts and improve their physical condition. This will help to ensure that they are good to go if they want to participate in sexual activities.

News by Amazingnews

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The Burmese python, perhaps the key to healthy human heart

Burmese Python

AFP - The Burmese python, one of the largest snakes in the world, could hold the key to new treatments to prevent or combat human heart disease, U.S. researchers hope that the study was published Thursday. This reptile, which can measure up to nine meters long with a weight of 90 pounds, able to swallow a deer or an alligator, secretes fatty acids whose properties seem to work wonders on the heart, the work on show These pythons and mice by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder (west). They found that the amounts of triglycerides - the main element forming natural fats and oils - fivefold increase in blood pythons one day after swallowed prey.

Despite the strong increase of fat in the body of snakes, the authors of the study, published in the journal Science dated October 28, found no fatty deposits in their heart. In addition, they measured the increase of an enzyme called superoxide dismutase, well known for its powerful protective effects on cardiac muscle, including humans. After determining the chemical composition of blood plasma (the liquid component of blood) of pythons in full digestion, the researchers injected the liquid or a similar substance reconstituted in pythons that had an empty stomach. After these injections, these snakes have shown a marked increase in the heart and signs of a healthy heart. The researchers repeated the experiment with mice and found the same beneficial effects on the heart of rodents which increased in size.

"We discovered that a certain combination of fatty acids can have beneficial effects on cardiac growth of living organisms," said Cecilia Riquelme, lead author of the study. "Now we try to understand the molecular mechanism behind this process and hope that the results lead to new therapies to better treat human heart disease," she adds. Previous studies have shown that the mass of the heart of Burmese pythons increased by 40% within 24 to 72 hours after a large meal and the activity of their metabolism quadrupled immediately after swallowing their prey. The pythons, which can fast for a year with few adverse effects on their health, their hearts are almost double in size after a meal.

Since this increase in mass of the heart muscle is similar in athletes like cycling champion Lance Armstrong or the swimmer Michael Phelps, explore the heart of pythons could help researchers to improve the heart health of humans, the scientists believe. They note that there are also bad enlarged hearts due to hypertrophy, the leading cause of sudden death in young athletes. If disease can cause thickening of the heart muscle and lower chambers of the heart caused by his work more to pump blood, an expansion resulting from strenuous exercise, however, is a good thing, said Leslie Leinwand, Professor of biology at the University of Colorado who led the work.

"There are many people who are not able to exercise since suffering from heart disease," said the biologist, adding that "it would be" well to develop a treatment capable of inducing growth of cardiac cells "in these patients.

Heart Disease - Your Blood Cells Can Save You

 

 The real way to cure heart disease is through your BLOOD.

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in the world today and the most common way that we go about fighting it is through the use of cholesterol-lowering medications. Cholesterol has always been the first thing in mind whenever we speak of heart ailments. Western medicine continues to focus on acting against cholesterol as cure for heart disease. However, research indicates that up to 85 percent of heart attacks are caused by blood clots and not by cholesterol in the arteries. This leads us to a realization that problems of the blood and inflammation cause and aggravate cardiovascular diseases. Cholesterol has been wrongly accused.

Dr. Garry Gordon, a doctor in Arizona, discovered a three-step process to purify your blood, thus healing your heart. His unique therapy has a 100 percent success rate using only three all-natural enzymes and minerals to cleanse the blood and strengthen heart health.

At present, aspirin is the most-widely used anti-inflammatory medication for heart disease. It is proven to reduce the risks for cardiovascular problems. However, it can also cause severe kidney, gastrointestinal problems, bleeding, and ulcers. This brings us to the first step of Dr Gordon's process which is a daily dietary supplement called Wobenzym, made from a combination of various enzymes found naturally in plants and animals. It is an all-natural anti-inflammatory and has all the benefits of aspirin but without the side-effects that come with it.

The second step in Dr Gordon's process is the intake of another enzyme called Rutozym, which was first discovered in a fermented tofu from Japan. It is thought to be more potent than other clot-buster drugs in the market and it may even break down dangerous clots that are missed by medical tests. Rutozym was developed by isolating the enzyme nattokinase from fermented soy cheese and adding it to other anti-inflammatory enzymes. This resulted in an end product that fights inflammation, improves overall circulation, and strengthens blood vessels. Japan's low incidence of heart disease can be attributed to the presence of nattokinase in the staple diet of Japanese. Rutozym gets rid of plaque that can cause heart attacks.

We are exposed to heavy metals every day. Research indicates that we're born with 1000 times more lead in our bones than anyone had just 400 years ago. Because of this, the body's tendency is to store more calcium deposits in the arterial walls to protect it from heavy metal poisoning. The downside of these excessive calcium deposits is that they cause hardening of the arteries. This can impair elasticity of the arteries and disrupt normal circulation. This situation is addressed by the third step in Dr Gordon's process. He uses a negatively-charged mineral called zeolite taken from a million-year-old volcanic rock. Zeolite acts like a magnet that pulls the heavy metals from the calcium deposits in your arteries, traps them in its chambers, and transports them out of your body.

These three steps will help you purify your blood, leading to a better cardiovascular health in a safer way.

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