Avoid Neem Active Toothpaste

Health Canada is warning Canadians not to use Neem Active
Toothpaste with Calcium, manufactured by Calcutta Chemical Co.
Ltd. in India and found on the Canadian market, because it
has been found to contain unacceptable levels of diethylene
glycol (DEG).

Counterproductive Diet Pop

Diet soft drinks linked to health risks: study

A huge U.S. study of middle-aged adults has found that drinking more than one soft drink a day — even a sugar-free diet brand — may be associated with an elevated risk for metabolic syndrome, a cluster of factors that significantly boosts the chance of having a heart attack or stroke and developing diabetes.

"We found that one or more sodas per day increases your risk of new-onset metabolic syndrome by about 45 per cent, and it did not seem to matter if it was regular or diet," Dr. Ramachandran Vasan, senior investigator for the Framingham Heart Study, said Monday from Boston.

Because the corn syrup that sweetens most regular soft drinks can cause weight gain and lead to insulin resistance and diabetes, "you would expect to see an association with regular soft drinks — but not diet soft drinks," he said. "Our findings suggest that this is not the case."

Metabolic syndrome is associated with five specific health indicators: excess abdominal fat; high blood sugar; high triglycerides; low levels of the good cholesterol HDL; and elevated blood pressure.

The study included nearly 9,000 observations of middle-aged men and women over four years at three different times. The study looked at how many 355-millilitre cans of cola or other soft drinks a participant consumed each day.

The researchers found that compared to those who drank less than one can per day, subjects who downed one or more soft drinks daily had a:

• 31 per cent greater risk of becoming obese (with a body mass index of 30 or more).
• 30 per cent increased risk of adding on belly fat.
• 25 per cent higher risk of developing high blood triglycerides or high blood sugar.
• 32 per cent higher risk of having low HDL levels.

But Vasan and his colleagues, whose study was published Monday in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, are unsure what it is about soft drinks that ratchets up the risk of metabolic syndrome.

"We really don't know," he said. "This soda consumption may be a marker for a particular dietary pattern or lifestyle. Individuals who drink one or more sodas per day tend to be people who have greater caloric intake. They tend to have more of saturated fats and trans fats in their diet, they tend to be more sedentary, they seem to have lower consumption of fibre."

Soft drink consumption declining in Canada

While soft drink consumption is declining in Canada, statistics from 2006 showed that Canadians overall still gulp down an average of 85 litres each per year.

Dr. David Jenkins, director of the Risk Factor Modification Centre at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, said previous studies have suggested that diet pops did not have the same effects on weight and health as do naturally sweetened soft drinks.

"The unusual thing that needs comment is they [the study's authors] say that the diet colas are the same as the calorically sweetened colas," said Jenkins. "So I think that is the piece that they've put into this puzzle.… I think we need a lot more scrutiny of that."

Jenkins said he believes that high consumption of soft drinks likely goes along with eating a high-calorie diet.

"I think the disappointing thing is if you thought you were doing [yourself] a major service … by taking diet drinks, this is not helping you," he said. "Before we were saying take the diet [drink] and you're OK. Now we're saying: 'Watch it.' "

Caramel, used to colour colas, is an ingredient that goes through a chemical reaction that has been shown in studies to "be quite toxic," said Jenkins. "It's possible that [such products] increase insulin resistance and cause oxidative stress and damage and all the other things we don't want."

Source:CBC.ca

Homemade Cleaners

Source: Men's Health July 2007

Optimum Sleep Pill Potential Addiction

Health Canada on Wednesday warned consumers not to use the sleep supplement Optimum Health Care Sleep Easy because it may be addictive after being taken for as little as a few months.

The product contains the drug clonazepam. It is not listed on the label and should only be taken under the supervision of a health-care professional.

"Consumers who may still have this product in their homes are advised to consult with a health-care professional before they stop taking the pills, because of the risk of serious withdrawal symptoms," Health Canada said in its advisory.

The sleep aid has not been authorized for sale in Canada but was sold at Vancouver's Optimum Health Care.

People with the neuromuscular disorder myasthenia gravis, sleep apnea, or allergies to drugs known as benzodiazepines such as Valium should not use sleep aids containing clonazepam. Pregnant women should not rely on sleep aids containing clonazepam unless absolutely necessary while the elderly and those with a history of substance abuse should use them with caution.

Side effects linked to products containing clonazepam include dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, depression, memory loss and hallucinations. No associated adverse reactions have been reported in Canada.

Consumers should return the product to the retailer. For more information, consumers can call Health Canada at 1-866-225-0709
Source: CBC.ca

Free EatRight Ontario Service

Ontario launches phone line offering nutrition and diet advice

Ontario residents with questions about healthy eating and nutrition can now seek out answers online or by telephone.

Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson has launched the free EatRight Ontario telephone service to provide what he calls credible information. Watson says the service will connect people directly with registered dieticians to discuss healthy food choices and explain diet-related health risk factors.

The toll-free number is 1-877-510-5102, and information is available online at www.ontario.ca/eatright.

Dietitians are available by phone Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The service is provided in more than 120 languages.

Muscular Disappearing Act

Source: Men's Health July 2007

Iron Age

Weight training helpful to elderly and patients with heart failure, experts say

Pumping a little iron can help elderly nursing home residents and heart failure patients gain strength for everyday life, the American Heart Association says, expanding on earlier advice.

"Those folks are capable of exercise training benefits and certainly resistance training is part of that," said Mark Williams, who led the group that wrote the new guidance published Monday online in the journal Circulation.

Williams said resistance training, whether it's lifting weights or doing sit-ups, should be used as a complement to aerobic exercise.

"A lot of people after having a heart attack or heart failure think they need to 'take it easy,"' said Dr. Amit Khera, director of cardiac rehabilitation at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He said broader guidance should help reassure doctors and patients that it's probably OK for most people to start exercising after heart trouble.

Khera said cardiac patients using weights are often restricted to lighter weights of about one or two kilograms for the first couple of weeks.

The heart association statement cited one study of a 10-week period of resistance training among nursing home residents with an average age of 87 that resulted in improvements in strength and stair-climbing power. In a study of older women who were heart failure patients, 10 weeks of resistance training resulted in a 43 per cent increase in muscle strength and a 49 per cent increase in the distance covered in a six-minute walk.

The statement also notes that elderly people and women who suffer from coronary heart disease (a narrowing of the small blood vessels to the heart), or are frail can benefit from workouts including resistance training because they build muscle strength.

Resistance weight training includes using one's body for weight resistance by doing things like abdominal crunches to using resistance-cord exercises, dumbbells, wrist weights or weight machines.

It's been known for some time that resistance training is good for everyone, from those with chronic diseases to healthy people. Resistance training for heart patients has been gaining momentum for the last two decades or so, said Williams, professor of medicine in the cardiology division at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Neb.

Tom Simerly, 57, of suburban DeSoto, who had a procedure to open a clogged artery seven weeks ago, started rehabilitation a week after he got out of the hospital. Though lackadaisical about exercise before, Simerly said that he's noticed improved strength as he goes to rehab three days a week. He works out on a treadmill, stationary bicycle and has graduated from free weights to weight machines.

"The whole regimen has been really good," said Simerly, who works for a Dallas engineering firm. "My stamina's better. I sleep better. I feel better about myself. I've lost some weight."

Dr. Art Labovitz, cardiology director at St. Louis University School of Medicine, said that despite increasing knowledge about the benefits of resistance training, the public perception is likely that it's largely off-limits for heart patients.

"I think probably the conventional wisdom is that if you have a heart condition, you can't lift weights," Labovitz said.

He added that there may be some circumstances where a heart patient shouldn't do such training.

The statement recommends that those who do resistance training start out slow, setting the resistance or weight load at a moderate level to achieve the prescribed repetition range without straining. Elderly people should start with a low level of resistance. As progress is made, they should first increase the number of repetitions before adding weight or resistance.

Resistance weight training can help heart patients resume activities from their daily life by building muscle strength, said Jenny Adams of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital.

"The truth of the matter is when you ask these patients what their goals are, they want to lift their grandkids, work in the yard," Adams said.

source: CBC.ca