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Eat THIS to Prevent Cavities
Want a great smile? Brushing and flossing will help, sure, but—here’s the shocker—so could nibbling on some cheddar. Eating cheese may help prevent cavities, according to a new study published in the journal General Dentistry.
Researchers in India asked a group of 68 healthy participants not to brush their teeth for 48 hours so that enough plaque could build up for their testing purposes. After that period, they measured the acidity of participants’ mouths (the lower the pH, the easier it is for tooth enamel to dissolve and for cavities to form), and then divided each of them into one of four groups: One that ate about two teaspoons’ worth of cheddar cheese, one that had about a tablespoon of milk, one that ate about two teaspoons’ worth of yogurt, or one that chewed on paraffin wax—which worked as a control—so that researchers could see how each item affected pH levels.
Of the three dairy products and the control, cheese had the best outcome: Not only did it quickly boost pH levels, but it also helped participants maintain a higher pH even 30 minutes after they ate. A pH of around 7 is the neutral environment your teeth need to stay healthy, and eating cheese boosted it to an average of 6.8 in the experiment, whereas milk resulted in a pH of 6.3 and yogurt resulted in a pH of 5.6. This is in line with previous research that has also suggested cheese can help fight cavities.
Why? Nibbling on cheese stimulates more saliva production than the other items tested, says Gigi Meinecke, Doctor of Dental Medicine, spokesperson for the Academy of General Dentistry, essentially rinsing your teeth in a solution that’s neutral. Plus, cheese is high in calcium and phosphorus—both of which can help raise pH to a healthy level.
But before you celebrate with a giant serving of mac and cheese, know this: what kind of cheese you eat—and how it’s served—matters when it comes to your oral health. Softer cheeses (sorry, Brie lovers!) probably won’t have the same benefits as hard cheeses like cheddar or Parmesan, says Meinecke. And since carbs have been shown to lower your pH, mixing the two probably won’t result in the same neutralizing benefits as eating cheese on its own. So if you’re looking to protect your chompers, consider this your green light to order the cheese plate after dinner—so long as you’re choosy about which cheeses you nosh on.
Photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
More from WH:
The Cure for Sensitive Teeth
How Your Menstrual Cycle Affects Your Mouth
How Clean Teeth Keep You Healthy
Eating Peppers Might Help Prevent Parkinson’s
What if keeping your nervous system healthy—and functioning properly—was as easy as tweaking your lunch? A new study suggests that this might be the case: Eating more peppers may lower your risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, according to a new study published in the journal Annals of Neurology.
Parkinson’s disease, which affects as many as one million people in the U.S., is a movement disorder that is often hard to diagnose and gets worse over time. The actual cause is unknown, but Parkinson’s develops when neurons in your brain that are responsible for producing dopamine, a hormone that helps regulate movement in your body, malfunction and die. Symptoms include tremors, slowed movement, stiffness, and instability. Pretty scary stuff—especially since there’s no known cure.
Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle asked 490 newly-diagnosed participants and 644 participants without the disease (who were used as controls) to share their dietary habits and tobacco use. The more participants filled up on foods from the Solanaceae plant family—which includes peppers, tomatoes, tomato juice, and potatoes—the lower their risk for Parkinson’s. Peppers in particular seemed to be the most effective: Eating them two to four times or more per week was associated with about a 30 percent reduced risk of developing the disease.
So why the focus on this particular plant? Past research suggests that the nicotine in cigarettes—which is derived from the same plant family that produces peppers—can help reduce your risk of Parkinson’s. The obvious problem with that is the host of other health issues that cigarette smoking can cause. Luckily, edible nicotine seems to thwart the disease—without compromising your health in other ways. It’s also worth noting that, in this study, the reduced risk associated with eating these foods occurred mostly in men and women who reported never having smoked tobacco or only did so for a short period of time.
For a delicious way to pump up your pepper intake, whip up these recipes.
Red Pepper and Feta Turkey Burger
Photo: Levi Brown
Roasted Pepper-Corn Pasta Salad
Photo: Con Poulos
Lemon Shrimp with Roasted Peppers
Photo: Con Poulos
Rip-Roarin’ Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Photo: Kenji Toa
Photo: Mitch Mandel
Balsamic Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Salad
Photo: Kurt Wilson
Photo (top): iStockphoto/Thinkstock
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How to Prevent a UTI
Bad news for chronic UTI sufferers: Urinary tract infections are becoming harder to treat with antibiotics, according to new research from Extending The Cure (ETC), a project of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy.
The study authors collected lab samples and prescription data from around the country in order to pinpoint where in the United States the antibiotic-resistant strains of UTIs were most common. The data showed that from 1999 to 2010, antibiotic resistance in the bacteria that causes UTIs increased by about 30 percent throughout the country. The states of West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana had the highest levels of antibiotic overuse, which leads to the development of resistant strains.
Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics through evolution, says Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman, MD, Associate Director of the Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. When bacteria evolve and become resistant, doctors prescribe stronger drugs—and the cycle continues, eventually leading to a point where the bacteria become completely resistant to any medication. “The study suggests that because of resistance, we are going to have to start using stronger antibiotics to treat UTIs,” Gyamfi-Bannerman says. “We only have so many stronger antibiotics, which is why resistance is a problem.”
Want to slow the rate of antibiotic resistant bacteria? Only take the meds when absolutely necessary, says Gyamfi-Bannerman. With UTIs, antibiotics are always required—if left untreated, the infection can spread to the kidneys and become potentially deadly. However, with viruses (like a common cold), it’s imperative not to take antibiotics—they won’t be effective, anyway.
That being said, the single most important thing you can do to slow the resistance cycle is to prevent urinary tract infections in the first place. Here’s how.
Wipe from front to back
According to Gyamfi-Bannerman, this simple bathroom tip it is the single most important preventative measure you can take to protect yourself from UTIs. “If you wipe from back to front, the bacteria in the rectum and vagina can potentially go towards the opening of the bladder,” she says. E. coli, which is found in the rectum, is the most common cause of UTIs, so front-to-back wiping is an easy way to keep e. coli out.
Pee after sex
Because the urethral opening is so close to the vagina and rectum, bacteria from those areas can easily transfer during sex, Gyamfi-Bannerman says. Some physicians recommend urinating after sex to help flush out this bacteria. Don’t pee before, though, if you can avoid it—the more urine you have in your bladder after sex, the more force you can use to flush the bacteria out.
Shower before sex
Shower before sex, if you get a chance—this helps clean the area, so that you’ll be exposed to less bacteria overall when you get naked with your partner.
Avoid feminine “hygiene” products
Beware of aggressive cleaning of the vagina or hygiene products meant for internal use. “Anything that can enter into the vagina can change the flora,” Gyamfi-Bannerman says. That’s a problem, because the standard vaginal flora can provide a level of protection against harmful bugs, even if UTIs don’t actually occur in the vagina itself, she says.
Guzzle water
You already know that drinking water every day helps keep your body healthy, but many doctors suggest that staying hydrated can also help you avoid UTIs. Gyamfi-Bannerman says this is because water keeps you peeing, which means you consistently clean the area and flush out bacteria. Additionally, urinate as soon as you have an urge to go—“holding it” gives the bacteria an opportunity to flourish.
photo: Stockbyte/Thinkstock
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The Common UTI Remedy That Doesn’t Work
Is Chicken Giving You UTIs?
3 Ways to Have a Better Doctor’s Visit
5 Ways to Treat and Prevent Migraines
The symptoms of a migraine are bad enough on their own—but scientists say having serious headaches may leave a lasting mark on your gray matter, too.
According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, women who have migraines are twice as likely as non-sufferers to show structural brain changes, or lesions, due to insufficient blood flow to particular parts of the brain.
For starters, women are three times as likely as men to experience migraines, which in part is due to females’ fluctuating estrogen levels, says David W. Dodick, M.D., a professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic and president-elect of the American Headache Society. “Estrogen can have a profound effect on the brain, especially brain areas that process the symptoms of a migraine attack,” he says. And although men and young women can experience migraine attacks, too, the prevalence is much higher for women between the ages of 18 and 55 due to menstruation, pregnancy, lactation, and menopause—all estrogen-altering cycles, he explains.
The migraine-induced lesions, which look like small white dots on an MRI scan, result in part due to the way the brain receives blood from the body, Dodick explains. “As you go deeper and deeper into the brain, the blood vessels branch off smaller and smaller,” he says. “And if you have a lowering of blood flow—which is the case during a migraine attack—the deepest parts of the brain may not be able to get the blood it needs, which can damage that tissue.” Luckily, while freaky, these lesions don’t seem to effect long-term cognitive function or memory.
Want to alleviate your own migraine-related maladies? The first step is to recognize that the problem is more than just head pain. “Migraines are a brain disorder, not a headache disorder,” Dodick says. “A headache is just one symptom, just as sensitivity to light, difficultly concentrating, dizziness, and nausea are also migraine symptoms” Try these tricks for preventing and alleviating some of your side effects:
Track your Triggers
If you keep a journal, you may be able to pinpoint what causes an attack, and then learn how to avoid those behaviors. Anything that upsets the equilibrium in your body—whether it’s lack of sleep, ingesting certain foods or beverages, or taking specific medications—can trigger a migraine, says Dodick.
Pop a Painkiller
Treat the pain as early as possible and don’t wait for the ache to worsen before you take medicine, Dodick advises. The less frequently you are using painkillers, the higher the dosage you can take, he says. You can safely consume 400mg to 800mg of ibuprofen or Excedrin (acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine), which is two to four tablets, according to Dodick. If the pain doesn’t lessen after four tablets, talk to your doctor.
Try Biofeedback
As a non-drug alternative, practicing relaxation therapy techniques works as a good preventative measure for managing migraines, Dodick says. “Biofeedback is a way for an individual to control the level of excitation and body temperate through meditation and other practices,” he says. By better managing the physiological processes of the body, you can lessen the migraine side effects and reduce the rate of attack.
Add Supplements
Many supplements such as magnesium, riboflavin, coenzyme Q10 and butterbur (a plant extract) have been proven to reduce the frequency of attack, says Dodick. Natural remedies aren’t regulated like prescription medication, though, so check with your doctor before stocking your cabinets with any new over-the-counter options.
Move Your Body
For some patients, excess training can trigger a migraine, says Dodick, but for many, a good workout can keep the ache away. “Regular exercise has been shown as an effective way to prevent migraine,” Dodick says. “And if you can manage other risk factors like anxiety as well as keeping your weight down, you can reduce the duration of your systems and the frequency of your attacks.”
Image: Fuse/Thinkstock
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Sneaky Headache Triggers to Avoid
How to Treat Head Pain
18 Best Supplements for Women
How to Spot (and Prevent) Thyroid Cancer
Last week, Dancing with the Stars co-host Brooke Burke-Charvet, 41, revealed that she has thyroid cancer. While 41 seems particularly young for a cancer diagnosis, it turns out that thyroid disorders, and especially thyroid cancers, are on the rise in younger women.
The rapid rise in thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer has been well documented over the past several years. Surprisingly, especially with thyroid cancer, sufferers are most commonly women of childbearing age, much younger than the average cancer patient. According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 45,000 new cases of thyroid cancer were diagnosed in 2010, with women comprising 75 percent of the group. Burke-Charvet’s admission underlines the disease’s propensity to strike an atypical demographic.
“We’re not yet sure why thyroid cancer affects more young women than men, but thyroid disorders themselves are more common among women,” says endocrinologist Scott Isaacs, MD, clinical instructor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. “Thyroid cancer just moved up the list of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in women, and now sits at fifth.”
Family history, genetic factors and other thyroid disorders all increase your risk of cancer. Hypothyroidism, for instance, results in high levels of Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone (TSH). When TSH levels are high, the body prompts an underactive thyroid to create more thyroid hormone, which can also stimulate the growth of cancer cells. Knowing these risk factors, and keeping disorders in check, can be helpful—but a larger culprit still looms.
“The big reason for the increase in cases has to do with the accumulation of radiation in the environment,” Dr. Isaacs says. If you live near a nuclear power plant, have been treated for past cancers or have had numerous imaging tests with high levels of radiation, like CT scans, your risk goes up.
The good news is that you can take steps to reduce your risk of thyroid cancer, and take steps to ensure that you catch it early.
Avoid Radiation
Radiation is cumulative, so every bit counts. Ask your dentist for a lead shield to cover your neck when you get dental x-rays. If your GP orders a CT scan for any reason, you should always see if another imaging method, like MRI, can be used for evaluation instead, because CT scans pack about 500 times the radiation of x-rays.
React in Emergencies
If a rare nuclear emergency happens near you, like last year’s reactor leak in Japan, listen to instructions from local officials about avoiding the damaging effects of radiation on the thyroid in particular, which will quickly seep up the iodine you breathe in or consume in the food and water supply. “The government often keeps iodine tablets (potassium iodide) on hand for these events,” Dr. Isaacs says. “Flooding the body with non-radioactive iodine will prevent the gland from taking in the harmful radioactive iodine.” One dose protects for about 24 hours, and is usually enough to halt the uptake of radiation. Never take more than instructed.
Know the Symptoms
Beware the common symptoms of thyroid disorders—like fatigue, muscle weakness, weight gain, and cold sensitivity—and tell your doctor if you notice any.
Get Tested
Have your GP check for nodules and test TSH levels every few years if you have risk factors for cancer.
Check Yourself
Feel for any lumps in the front of the neck, just like you might with a breast self-exam. If you locate a lump, find that you have difficulty swallowing or experience unusual hoarseness in your voice, mention it to your doctor. He can check your neck and order an ultrasound.
Early detection of nodules is the best form of cancer prevention. But even if you do feel a lump, don’t panic. “Only about five percent of nodules end up being cancer,” Dr. Isaacs says. “The biggest thing for people to understand is that it’s not a death sentence. The vast majority of thyroid cancers are very treatable.”
photo: Medioimages/Photodisc/Thinkstock
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7 Pains You Should Never Ignore
12 Ways to Slash Your Cancer Risk
The 76 Best Things You Can Do for Your Body
PREVENT HEART DISEASE AND MORE WITH HEALTHY NUTS
Hello Everyone, Today I stumbled upon this wonderful article on how healthy nuts are for you. I always keep a handful of almonds in my purse (thanks to trader joe’s handful of almonds). This article is from Women’s Health, but men can read this too 
For Healthy Fat In Your Diet, Remember to Include Nuts
Six nutritional all-stars of the nut world
Photograph By iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Nuts, as Jack on Will & Grace once said, are nothing more than little pellets of fat and breath. Funny, but false. Over the last decade, studies have shown that eating nuts protects against heart disease, high blood pressure, and adult-onset diabetes. Even better, researchers now speculate that, rather than expanding your waistline, eating nuts may help you keep off the pounds. Enjoy these top six picks in your nut mix.
1st Place: Almonds
Per 1-ounce serving:
160 calories 14 g fat
Almonds have nearly nine times more monounsaturated healthy fat than dangerous saturated fat, says Joan Sabaté Ph.D., chair of nutrition at Loma Linda University. With plenty of protein, fiber, calcium, and iron and no cholesterol, almonds are also one of the best sources of vitamin E, which protects against stroke and cancer.
2nd Place: Walnuts
190 calories 18 g fat
Walnuts are unique among nuts because they’re loaded with the same heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids in salmon (but these taste better with chocolate). In more good fat news, walnuts also have an abundance of polyunsaturated fat, which may protect against type 2 diabetes.
3rd Place: Pistachios
160 calories 13 g fat
Recently reported to have the highest level of LDL-lowering plant sterols by researchers at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pistachios are a great source of potassium. They?re also high in monounsaturated fat, with nearly as much as almonds.
4th Place: Peanuts
170 calories 14 g fat
Research finds that these legumes (they’re not actually nuts) are a good choice for keeping cholesterol levels at bay. These impostors also provide more protein (7 grams per serving) than true nuts do.
5th Place: Hazelnuts
180 calories 17 g fat
Along with one of the highest ratios of good fat to bad, hazelnuts are packed with folate, a vitamin that protects against birth defects and possibly cancer and heart disease.
6th Place: Pecans
200 calories 20 g fat
Dr. Sabaté points to these as a good choice for fighting high cholesterol — they’re high in unsaturated fat and lower in bad saturated fat than other nuts.
Mixes We Like
If you’re feeling ambitious, mix up this Tailgate Party Nut Mix, a recipe featuring dried cranberries for a touch of sweet with the salty.
Easier still: Grab a can of one of our favorites, the Planter’s NUT-ritionMen’s Health Recommended mix. It rocks three of the healthy superstars in the list above—almonds, pistachios, and peanuts.
A Nut Nugget
With their high fat content, nuts turn rancid quickly unless stored tightly sealed in a cool, dark place. So buy ‘em like you eat ‘em (in small amounts), says Jennifer Nelson, director of clinical nutrition at the Mayo Clinic. Proper storage will let you enjoy them for at least 3 weeks.
Read more at Women’s Health:http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/healthy-nuts#ixzz1tGSaeYlw
Drink Alcohol, Prevent Strokes
The occasional drink can help prevent strokes, according to a new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
The study tracked 83,578 women over 26 years and found that those who consumed a moderate amount of alcohol had a lower risk of stroke. Say what?!?
It turns out, moderate alcohol consumption can prevent blood clots and cholesterol from building up in the arteries. Strokes can be caused by a number of blood pressure illnesses. If you fall and scrape your knee, your body will form blood clots so you won’t continue to bleed long after the fall. However, dangerous blood clots occur around your heart which will block arteries. Arteries supply blood to your brain, and when they become clogged with fatty deposits and cholesterol, blood clots will form in the vessel walls, causing a stroke. High blood pressure (hypertension) is a main concern in stroke incidents because of hemorrhaging, or when bleeding occurs within the brain vessel itself.
But make sure your alcohol consumption is actually moderate. Overdo it and you could actually increase your risk of stroke. Researchers suggest having one drink per day. And no, one fish bowl doesn’t count as one drink. One drink equals a four-ounce glass of wine, a 12-ounce can of beer, or 1 to 1 ½ ounces of 100- or 80-proof spirits, respectively.
Also, make sure your drink of choice isn’t a fat-bomb like a sugary margarita.
Here are our favorite healthy alcoholic drinks:
Look Better Naked Cocktails | Four low-cal cocktails that can actually help you burn fat!
The Best Light Beers | These 10 beers won’t give you a beer belly.
Fruity Cocktails | These cocktails are packed with fruits and good-for-you ingredients.
Chocolate Cocktails | These drinks are good for your body and your taste buds.
More on Alcohol from WH:
Alcohol and Weight Loss
Exercise and Alcohol
Nutrition Labels on Alcohol
photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Women’s Health News Blog: Latest Health Headlines and Tips to Stay Healthy