High Fat Diets Injurious To Young Brains

A new scientific evidence has emerged to show that an excess of fatty foods could affect the brain development of the young, potentially leading to cognitive defects later in life.
These findings are published in the journal ‘Molecular Psychiatry’. Carried out by a team of researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, Switzerland, the study looked at the difference in brains of young and adult mice who consumed either normal food or an extremely high-fat diet, which contained excessively high levels of saturated fats, commonly found in fast foods, charcuterie products, butter and coconut oil.
A low-carb diet means you eat fewer carbohydrates and a higher proportion of fat. This is often called a lowcarb, high-fat diet (LCHF). Most importantly, you minimise your intake of sugar and starches.
It was reported that after a period of just four weeks, the study team observed the first signs of cognitive impairment in the young mice fed the highfat diet, which could be seen even before the mice had started to gain weight.
The same changes in the behaviour of mature mice that had been fed a highfat diet over an extended period were not seen, although they suffered from other health problems as their metabolic systems were severely disrupted and they became obese.
However, Urs Meyer, one of the study’s authors, pointed out that, “this does not rule out the possibility that a high-fat diet may also be harmful for the brains of adult mice.”
A person’s age when the fatty foods are consumed is particularly important as high-fat foods tend to have an even stronger negative impact on the maturation of the prefrontal cortex during the period of late childhood to early adulthood.
This part of the brain takes longer to mature than others, leaving it more vulnerable to negative environmental experiences such as stress, infections and trauma, and as seen in the study, possibly a poor diet.
As it is responsible for the executive functions of the human brain including memory, planning, attention, impulse control and social behaviour, if it not functioning correctly or damaged in any way, it can lead to cognitive deficits and personality changes such as a loss of inhibitions, aggressiveness, or childish or compulsive behaviour.

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AIDS: Older Men Now At Risk Of Drug Resistance

The United Nations has issued a report revealing that older persons on AIDS treatment are developing resistance and requiring treatment for other illnesses such as tuberculosis, TB, and hepatitis.
This development was contained in a new report issued by UNAIDS yesterday, as part of activities to mark the 2016 World AIDS Day. Although, more than 18 million people now have access to life-saving AIDS treatment, 1.2 million more than at the end of last year, the UNAIDS stated: “As people with HIV grow older, they are at risk of developing longterm side-effects from HIV treatment, developing drug resistance and requiring treatment for other illnesses such as tuberculosis and Hepatitis C."
In the report on the AIDS pandemic, which has infected 78 million people and killed 35 million since it began in the 1980s, UNAIDS said the consistently strong scale-up of treatment has seen annual AIDS-related deaths drop by 45 per cent to 1.1 million in 2015 from a peak of about two million in 2005.
The report also cited data from South Africa showing that young women who become infected with HIV often catch the virus from older men. However, it said prevention was vital to ending the epidemic in young women and the cycle of HIV infection needs to be broken.
Reacting to the development, Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe said: “Young women are facing a triple threat. They  are at high risk of HIV infection, have low rates of HIV testing, and have poor adherence to treatment.” But, as more HIV-positive people live longer, the challenges of caring for them as they get older, of preventing the virus spreading and of reducing new infections are tough, UNAIDS said, even though drugs can reduce virus levels in a patient’s blood to near zero and significantly reduce the risk of passing it on.
“The progress we have made is remarkable, particularly around treatment, but it is also incredibly fragile,” said Sidibe.
With detailed data showing some of the many complexities of the HIV epidemic, the report found that people are particularly vulnerable to HIV at certain points in their lives. It called for “life-cycle” approach to offer help and prevention measures for everyone at every stage of life.
In 2015, there were 5.8 million people aged over 50 living with HIV – more than ever before. UNAIDS said that if treatment targets are reached – the U.N. is aiming to have 30 million HIV positive people on treatment by 2020 – that number will soar.

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Why Men Die Earlier Than Women

An insight has been given as to why men die earlier than women. In their efforts to boost the life expectancy of men, scientists have found that working long hours and reducing hours of sleep in midlife may lead to poorer physical health in old age. This is the findings of a new study published in the journal ‘Age and Ageing’.
The quarter-century study of Finnish businessmen found those who worked more than 50 hours a week and slept less than 47 hours weekly when they were middle aged were in worse physical health as old men than peers who had healthier work and sleep habits when they were in their prime.
Reacting to the study, Lead Author, Mikaela Birgitta von Bonsdorff of the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland, said: “The results are in line with what we hypothesised but we were not sure if we would be able to detect these longterm associations."
The ‘NewsmaxHealth’ reported that the researchers used data from the Helsinki Businessmen Study to follow the health outcomes for more than 3,000 white men born between 1919 and 1934.
About 1,500 of the men had provided clinical characteristics of health, self-rated health, working hours and sleep duration in 1974 when they were in their mid to late 40s, on average, and completed health related quality of life surveys in the year 2000, when most were in their 60s and 70s.
During their working years, nearly half of the original group of men had what researchers considered normal working hours of less than 50 hours per week and 352 men worked more than 50 hours a week.
Similar proportions of men had normal sleep of at least 47 hours per week, versus shorter sleep totals. Researchers found that men with long work and short sleep or long work and normal sleep in midlife had poorer scores for physical functioning, vitality and general health than those with normal work and normal sleep.
Midlife smoking and self-rated poor health at that time explained some of the association with the results at older age, but not all.

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How To Manage Blood Pressure Naturally

Worried at the high burden of High blood pressure, which affected more than one billion people worldwide in 2015, scientists have alerted the public on natural methods of tackling the condition.
Managing this condition naturally has become necessary considering the fact that high blood pressure is a silent killer. Many people don’t realize they have it until it’s too late. High blood pressure (HBP or hypertension) is when your blood pressure, the force of the blood flowing through your blood vessels, is consistently too high. A heart attack brought on by high blood pressure can occur without any warning signs or symptoms.
That’s why it’s important to learn about natural ways to lower blood pressure. According to a new study published in ‘The Lancet’, in a healthy person, blood pressure can rise and fall throughout the day. When blood pressure stays high for a long period of time, this leads to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke and heart attacks.
Majit Ezzati, a professor of global environmental health at Imperial College London, who led the analysis, said globally, blood pressure is a condition of poverty, not affluence.
Besides, in the high-income world blood pressure rates were coming down despite the ageing and increasing population, Ezzati said, adding, in the population in Asia, as the age goes up, the blood pressure tends to be higher.”
Among natural methods recommended to lower high blood pressure are: get moving; reducing salt intake; and adopting a diet that include more fruits and vegetables. Many of those who suffer from high blood pressure turn to medication, but this is simply an approach that doesn’t address the root of the problem.
“A much healthier alternative is to use diet and exercise to maintain normal blood pressure levels,” the study shows. Consistent exercise strengthens the heart and enables it to pump more blood with less effort.
When the heart works less, the pressure on the arteries decreases and blood pressure is lowered. It could take up to a few months of consistent exercise to bring blood pressure down to healthy levels.
However, you have got to keep exercising several days a week or blood pressure levels can shoot right back up. Exercise brings with it another perk that helps maintain a healthy heart and lower blood pressure — getting rid of excess weight. But just because you’re exercising doesn’t mean you can eat anything you want and not suffer the consequences.
A hearthealthy diet is just as important as exercise to avoid the dangers of high blood pressure.

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GMO Foods: Nigeria Academy Of Science Gives Endorsement Amidst Uncertainty

The Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) has declared that genetically-modified foods are safe for consumption for now.This was against the warning by the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) to the public to be wary of the products that are on sale in some stores. It said none of the products had been approved for local consumption. NAS, during a media roundtable on GMOs in Nigeria at its office in Lagos, said the country was ready for the products and that they were safe for both production and beneficial to the nation based on carefully-documented evidence from developed countries.
The academy noted that the technology, though new with expected fears and concerns, would be useful to the country because of its potential to boost the nation’s agriculture, which would resolve food insecurity.
The outgoing president of NAS, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, said though the technology seems fresh, but nothing is new with it, as the academy, in accordance with its mandate, has examined available evidence from researches in advanced countries.
According to him, the academy’s stance was informed by existing evidence from the industrialised countries, which have carefully followed laid-down principles for such activities, “but in Nigeria, the system has just been put in place, and we need to prepare for the future.”
Tomori, who noted that there were no forecasts of long-term effect, stressed: “We cannot predict the future and what is going to happen with these GMOs, but so far so good, there are no problem from where they have been used; but that does not mean that it is going to be good forever. We must be on the alert to know when changes are coming up.”
Besides, a professor of plant breeding and crop biotechnology with the Department of Genetic and Biotechnology, University of Calabar, Effiom Ene-Obong, who said there were no scientific evidence that agree with the raised health concerns of GMOs worldwide, “as they are safe for both production and consumption.”
He noted that though genetically-modified foods are not commercially produced in Nigeria yet, three quarters of countries in the world are keyed into them and as a new technology, fears being entertained are expected, “but rather the benefits outweigh the worries”
Ene-Obong added: “Before these products are sent into the market, lots of trials and investigations are done by so many agencies, such as the Academy of Sciences Worldwide, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), World Health Organisation (WHO), to monitor and make sure they are safe for human consumption and they have recommended.”

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75,000 Children In Northern Nigeria To Die In A Few Weeks Unless...United Nations

The lives of children in the northern part of Nigeria are currently hanging in the balance as the United Nations, yesterday, warned that  75,000 children risk dying in "a few months" as hunger grips the country's ravaged north-east in the wake of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Boko Haram jihadists have laid waste to the impoverished region since taking up arms against the government in 2009, displacing millions and disrupting farming and trade.
Nigeria's president, Muhammadu Buhari, has reclaimed territory from the Islamists but the insurgency has taken a brutal toll, with more than 20,000 people dead, 2.6 million displaced, and famine taking root.
UN humanitarian coordinator Peter Lundberg said the crisis was unfolding at "high speed".
"Our assessment is that 14 million people are identified as in need of humanitarian assistance" by 2017, Lundberg said in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
Of these, 400,000 children are in critical need of assistance, while 75,000 could die "in the few months ahead of us", Lundberg said.
The UN hopes to target half of the 14 million people - a population bigger than that of Belgium - with the Nigerian government working to reach the rest.
But Lundberg said the UN did not have enough money to avert the crisis and called on international partners, the private sector and Nigerian philanthropists to "join hands" to tackle the problem.
"We need to reach out to the private sector, to the philanthropists in Nigeria," Lundberg said.
"We will ask international partners to step in because we can only solve this situation if we actually join hands."

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Malnutrition Looms In Nigeria - Buhari

Malnutrition due to scarcity of food, may soon be the lot of Nigerians if news reaching Nigeria natural Health Online is anything to go by.

The Presidency has raised the alarm that Nigeria, currently Africa's largest producer of cereals and grains, risks famine from early next year following a huge demand in the global market targeting the nation's surplus production.

The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said this while featuring on radio program in Kano yesterday.

The presidential aide told Pyramid Radio that the huge demand for Nigeria's grains in the global market was creating "an excellent environment for the mindless export of Nigerian grains across our borders and unless this curtailed, Nigerian markets will be bereft of food by January next year."

He noted that the Ministry of Agriculture had advised Buhari on the need to draw the attention of all Nigerians to this issue "which, if not addressed promptly, could lead to a shortage of grains in our country by January."

Shehu stated: "Over the past year, Providence has blessed Nigeria with a bountiful harvest of grains, more than enough to feed the country and to export to other countries. At present, there is a high demand for grains from Nigeria, from African countries as distant as Libya and Algeria, and from places as far away as Brazil.

"However, the Ministry of Agriculture has raised concerns about a massive rate of exportation, which could lead to a shortage of grains in Nigeria by January."

Shehu, who said Nigeria currently enjoys what he called a free market situation, stressed that "President Muhammadu Buhari is not in any way opposed to or intent on tampering with that."

He said exporters, on the other hand, also have a moral obligation to make their produce available to Nigerians who live within the country’s borders "to ensure that our citizens have access to food."

According to him, the Ministry of agriculture estimates that no fewer than 500 trucks laden with grain leave Nigerian markets every week headed for countries outside the borders.

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Exercise Can Help Control Diabetes

As Nigeria joins the rest of the international community to mark the World Diabetes Day, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has said that healthy lifestyle which involves balanced diet and regular exercise can control diabetes.
The Minister made this revelation yesterday in his message to Nigerians on World Diabetes Day. The United Nations sets aside November 14 of every year as Word Diabetes Day.
Diabetes, often referred to by doctors as diabetes mellitus, describes a group of metabolic diseases in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate, or because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin, or both.
The International Diabetes Federation, IDF, estimates that about 415 million people have diabetes in the world and more than 14 million people in the African region; by 2040 this figure will more than double. In Nigeria alone, the IDF data shows that there were more than 1.56 million cases of diabetes in Nigeria in 2015.
Adewole said that Federal Government was committed to increasing awareness on Diabetes and how to control it. He said:“Federal Government is committed to stepping up advocacy to create awareness that diabetes is preventable if people change their life style.
When you watch what you eat, when you exercise regularly, you can definitely stay away from diabetes, but in case you discovered that you have it, you can manage it.”
The Minister urged the general public to enrol with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as such would reduce the cost any medication. Adewole also encouraged members of the public to go for diabetics screening to know their status.
He further stressed that diabetes is preventable and can only be prevented through healthy lifestyle. According to the United States, U.S. Centre for Disease Control, CDC, the prevalent of diabetes among blacks is particularly high.
For instance, blacks are 1.7 times as likely to develop diabetes as whites. Besides, the prevalence of diabetes among blacks has quadrupled during the past 30 years.
Among blacks age 20 and older, about 2.3 million have diabetes – 10.8 per cent of that age group. Furthermore, blacks with diabetes are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to develop diabetes and to experience greater disability from diabetesrelated complications such as amputations, adult blindness, kidney failure, and increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
Similarly, death rates for blacks with diabetes are 27 per cent higher than for whites.

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Daily Soda Consumption Increases Type 2 Diabetes Risk

Scientists have raised the alarm over the negative impact of sugary soda on health, saying drinking a can of sugary soda can dramatically heighten a person’s risk of developing prediabetes.
The new findings is published in the ‘Journal of Nutrition’. Prediabetes is a ‘warning sign’ condition that precedes full-blown type 2 diabetes, a long term metabolic disorder that is characterised by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin.
Senior Researcher, Nicola McKeown, who is a scientist with the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Centre on Agieng at Tufts University in Boston, said: “A person who drinks a daily can of sugar-sweetened beverage has a 46 per cent increased risk of developing pre-diabetes. However, a can of diet soda every day does not boost pre-diabetes risk, the researchers found. The results show how regular sugar intake can batter a person’s body on a cellular level,” McKeown said.
The ‘NewsmaxHealth’ reported that cells require the hormone insulin to break down sugar into energy. But too much sugar in the diet can overexpose the cells to insulin. McKeown said:
“This constant spike in blood glucose over time leads to the cells not becoming able to properly respond, and that’s the beginning of insulin resistance.”
Once insulin resistance starts, blood sugar levels rise to levels that are damaging to every major system in the body. Pre-diabetes is an important landmark on the way to type 2 diabetes, McKeown said. It means a person has elevated blood sugar — a sign of increasing insulin resistance — but has not entered fullblown type 2 diabetes.
However, she asserted that prediabetes is reversible if a person cuts back on sugar. Sugar-sweetened beverages are the leading source of added sugar in the American diet as well as diets of most countries around the world including Nigeria.
These results show cutting back on sugary drinks is “a modifiable dietary factor that could have an impact on that progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes,” McKeown said.
For this study, McKeown and her colleagues analysed 14 years of data on nearly 1,700 middleaged adults. The information was obtained from the Framingham Heart Study, a federally funded program that has monitored multiple generations for lifestyle and clinical characteristics that contribute to heart disease.
Participants did not have diabetes or prediabetes when they entered the study. They self-reported their consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and diet sodas.
The research team found those who drank the highest amounts of sugarsweetened beverages — six 12-ounce servings a week, on average — had a 46 per cent higher risk of prediabetes, if researchers didn’t weigh other factors.
However, the American Beverage Association counters that sugar in beverages isn’t the sole risk factor for prediabetes.

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5000 Daily HIV Screening For Calabar Carnival

The United Nations Population Fund, UNPF, has put plans in place to screen 5,000 persons daily for HIV/AIDS, during the Calabar Carnival. The Programme Officer of UNPF in Nigeria, Mr. Araoyinbo Idowu, disclosed this to newsmen at the  weekend. Idowu said that UNPF will conduct the tests in collaboration with an NGO, Excellence Community Education Welfare Scheme, ECEWS. He said the fund will organise an awareness campaign tagged Wise Up Cross River, on a daily basis throughout the one month carnival. 
According to Idowu, “there are going to be some demonstrations by youths and various stakeholders during the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. In the course of the campaign, there will be various activities including one-on-one counselling, music, graphic designs, tattoo inscription and games. Also, many young volunteers and other stakeholders will be on stage to entertain people each day at the condom zone.” 
The Programme Officer said that the campaign was aimed at sensitizing youths on the dangers of HIV/AIDS and the need for safe sex. He said the programme will also bring together commercial sex workers, student organisations and those already living with the virus, to exchange knowledge on the disease. According to him, the organisation would mobilise youths from the 18 local government areas in the state to participate in the programme. 
Idowu also said that condoms would be distributed free during the month-long campaign. He added that UNPF decided to bring the campaign to the carnival because of its popularity and mass participation.

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