Lifting Weights Does Not Hamper Children's Growth

Lifting weights before puberty growth does not prevent children from growing to their full potential height. Bones grow from growth centers that are weakest part of bone, but strength training during growth does not damage these growth centers and children who lift weights in programs with experienced supervision do not suffer more injuries than adults. There used to be concern that growing large muscles would make people musclebound and interfere with coordination, but this does not happen. With increased strength comes increased speed and increased coordination in movements requiring strength.Having large strong muscles makes you a better athlete. Muscle growth is limited by the size of the bones on which they attach, so the larger the bone,...

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Reduce Belly Fat with Intense Exercise

Researchers at the University of Virginia show that intense exercise is far more effective in reducing belly fat than less intense exercise (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, November 2008). Storing fat primarily in your belly usually means that you have very high insulin levels which increase risk for heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and even some cancers. Insulin causes fat to be deposited in your belly.Exercise makes muscles more sensitive to insulin so that you need less to do the same job. The more intensely you exercise, the more sensitive muscles become to insulin. You cannot exercise intensely every day because intense exercise damages muscles and you have to allow time for muscles to recover. However,...

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Why Migraines May Reduce Breast Cancer Risk

Few migraine sufferers can see any bright side to their pain, but now we have one study showing that a history of migraines is associated with a lower risk for breast cancer. The report appears in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention (November 2008). Researchers pooled data from two studies of postmenopausal women to compare odds ratios among 1900 with breast cancer and 1400 controls. Women who had migraines showed reduced risks for ductal and lobular carcinomas, especially hormone-receptor–positive tumors.One of the triggers for migraines is a sudden drop in estrogen that causes a drop in brain levels of serotonin, the neurotransmitter that makes you happy and smart. Premenstrual syndrome occurs when the sudden drop in estrogen...

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Inflammation: More Important than Cholesterol

At the American Heart Association conference in New Orleans, researchers from the Jupiter study reported that statin drugs caused people with normal cholesterol but with high C-reactive protein levels to suffer 54 percent fewer heart attacks, 48 percent fewer strokes, 46 percent fewer angioplasties or bypass operations and 20 percent fewer deaths from any cause than those taking placebos (NEJM, November 9, 2008). The results were so dramatic they made the front page of the New York Times, Washington Post and many other newspapers.A C-reactive protein test (CRP) measures inflammation. Inflammation is caused by anything that keeps your immunity active such as chronic infections or anything that damages tissue such as smoking, having high cholesterol...

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Still Eating Red Meat? You May Want to Reconsider

Several years ago, Professor Ajit Varki of the University of California, San Diego discovered a molecule called Neu5Gc that appears in the tissues of every mammal except humans (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 29, 2003). Now he has put together the pieces of a puzzle that may explain why humans evolved with large brains and why, if we want to live into old age, we should probably avoid eating meat from any other mammals (Science, October 31, 2008).His theory depends on evolution. Living creatures on earth started as one-celled organisms, progressed to 2 cells, and eventually to fish and birds. A mutation occurred in progressing to mammals, who developed the gene to make Neu5Gc. Mammals progressed to apes and Neanderthals,...

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Side Stitches

Side stitches are caused by a stretching of the ligaments that run downward from the diaphragm to hold up the liver. You breathe once for each two strides. You breathe out when one foot, usually the right, strikes the ground. So, your diaphragm goes up when the force of your foot strike causes your liver to go down. This stretches the ligaments to cause pain. You can relieve the discomfort by stopping running and pressing your fingers deep into your liver to raise it up toward your diaphragm. At the same time, purse your lips and blow out as hard as you can against the tightly held lips. Pushing the liver up releases the stretched ligaments. Breathing out hard against resistance lowers your diaphragm. The pain usually goes away immediately...

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Reduce Oxidants to Lower Heart Attack Risk

A study from the University of Dundee in Scotland shows that neither antioxidants nor aspirin pills prevent heart attacks in diabetics (British Medical Journal, October 2008). Heart attacks occur when a plaque breaks off from the walls of a coronary artery and travels down an ever-narrowing artery to form a clot and block the flow of blood to the heart muscle. Aspirin helps to prevent clotting and therefore prevents heart attacks. Ibuprofen and other nonsteroidal pain medications block aspirin so they can increase clotting and heart attack risk in susceptible individuals.One of the strongest risk factors for a heart attack is diabetes; 80 percent of diabetics die of heart disease. Diabetes could be such a strong risk factor for heart attacks...

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Exercise-Induced Asthma

We have known for more than 25 years that exercise-induced asthma is caused by breathing dry, cold air, but for the first time we may know why this happens. Researchers at the Naval Medical Center-San Diego have just shown that exercise-induced asthma is associated with diminished secretion of lung mucous (Chest, September 2008). These same people also produce far less saliva, sweat and tears.So when certain susceptible people breathe hard and fast, in air that is cold and dry, the bronchial tubes are not protected by an adequate supply of mucous in their lungs. This irritates the bronchial tubes to cause wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath. People who are least likely to suffer exercise-induce asthma would therefore be those who produce...

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Eat More Fish and Less Vegetable Oil

The Japanese have the lowest incidence of heart attack in the world, yet they have the same rates of high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes, and they smoke as much as Americans do. It's not because of their genes because Japanese who move to Hawaii and the continental United States have a significant rise in their heart attack rates and the same amount of plaques in their arteries as Americans (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, August 5, 2008).On the average, Japanese in Japan eat fish eight times a week and they add far less vegetable oils to their prepared foods. This study shows that Japanese living in Japan have twice as much long-chain omega-3s in their blood as those who left Japan. They also have lower blood...

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Overweight is not Destiny

Nobody has to be fat, but some people may have to exercise for many hours just to control their weight. For example, a gene associated with fatness has been identified in the Amish who live near Lancaster, PA. A study from the University of Maryland shows that Amish men with that obesity gene who burned more than 980 calories per day through physical activity were not fat. The same applied to women who burned more than 860 calories per day (Archives of Internal Medicine, September 2008).Exercise causes you to eat more food, but when you are very active, you do not increase the amount of calories to equal what you burn. For example, if your exercise program causes you to burn 1000 more calories per day, you will usually increase your food intake...

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