Stroke, Cancer, Diabetes, Blood Pressure And Others Can Be Lowered With A Daily Intake Of Oranges - Research

We all know the proverb "an apple a day," but equally an orange could be recommended. There are thousands of reasons why eating an orange a day is a good idea; they are low in calories but full of nutrients, they promote clear, healthy skin and can help to lower our risk for many diseases and conditions as part of an overall healthy and varied diet.

Possible health benefits of consuming oranges

Stroke: According to the American Heart Association, eating higher amounts of a compound found in citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit may lower ischemic stroke risk for women. Those who ate the highest amounts of citrus had a 19 percent lower risk of ischemic stroke than women who consumed the least.
Blood pressure: Maintaining a low sodium intake is essential to lowering blood pressure, however increasing potassium intake may be just as important because of its vasodilation effects. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, fewer than 2 percent of US adults meet the daily 4700 mg recommendation.
Also of note, a high potassium intake is associated with a 20 percent decreased risk of dying from all causes.
Cancer: According to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, consuming bananas, oranges and orange juice in the first two years of life may reduce the risk of developing childhood leukemia.
As an excellent source of the strong antioxidant vitamin C, oranges can also help combat the formation of free radicals known to cause cancer. While an adequate vitamin C intake is necessary and very beneficial as an antioxidant, the amount necessary to consume for therapeutic purposes for cancer is beyond oral intake. High fiber intakes from fruits and vegetables are associated with a lowered risk of colorectal cancer.
Heart health: The fiber, potassium, vitamin C and choline content in oranges all support heart health. An increase in potassium intake along with a decrease in sodium intake is the most important dietary change that a person can make to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease, according to Mark Houston, M.D, M.S, an associate clinical professor of medicine at Vanderbilt Medical School and director of the Hypertension Institute at St. Thomas Hospital in Tennessee.
In one study, those who consumed 4069 mg of potassium per day had a 49 percent lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease compared with those who consumed less potassium (about 1000 mg per day).
High potassium intakes are also associated with a reduced risk of stroke, protection against loss of muscle mass, preservation of bone mineral density and reduction in the formation of kidney stones.
Diabetes: Studies have shown that type 1 diabetics who consume high-fiber diets have lower blood glucose levels and type 2 diabetics may have improved blood sugar, lipids and insulin levels. One medium banana provides about 3 grams of fiber.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends 21-25 g/day for women and 30-38 g/day for men.
Skin: The antioxidant vitamin C, when eaten in its natural form (as in an orange) or applied topically, can help to fight skin damage caused by the sun and pollution, reduce wrinkles and improve overall skin texture. Vitamin C plays a vital role in the formation of collagen, the support system of your skin.

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Is It Healthy To Include Raw Tomatoes In Your Diet?

Raw tomatoes can be a contentious food item when used raw. While some people adore their natural sweetness and use them on everything from sandwiches, suya to casseroles to pizzas, others dislike their relatively slimy texture and acidic nature. Whether you love or hate them, however, raw tomatoes provide essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients that can deliver a number of profound health benefits.

Raw tomatoes naturally contain an assortment of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that have the potential to guard against serious diseases. Eating more tomatoes and vegetables in general can help prevent conditions including bone loss, cancer, diabetes, kidney stones, stroke, heart attack and obesity. In an article for the “American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine,” Dr. Britt Burton-Freeman observes that raw tomatoes have anti-inflammatory properties and that they might even help prevent cognitive dysfunction. Tomatoes might have particular benefits for men. The American Dietetic Association encourages men to eat tomatoes at least once a week because the lycopene present in them promotes prostate health.

The tomato’s positive health properties are a result of the antioxidants and beneficial compounds found in the food. it is noted that the main antioxidant in tomatoes is lycopene, which neutralizes harmful free radicals that can damage cells in the body. Tomatoes also contain beta-carotene, folic acid, and vitamins A, C and E. Additionally, tomatoes have exceptionally low energy density, which means a large serving size delivers only a small amount of calories and fat. According to the USDA, a cup of sliced tomatoes has just 30 calories and less than 0.5 g fat.

 

However, there are also potential ill effects of eating raw tomatoes. They have an acidic quality that might aggravate frequent heartburn or acid reflux. Dr. Frank Jackson, of Jackson Siegelbaum Gastroenterology Clinic, recommends steering clear of tomatoes altogether if you suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease because they might act as a “trigger food.” Eating too many tomatoes at the expense of other fruits and vegetables might also lead to eventual nutrient deficiencies.

 

Eating cooked tomatoes and processed tomato products can deliver many of the same health benefits as raw tomatoes, although some enzymes and beneficial compounds are destroyed in the cooking and production processes. If you have specific questions related to tomatoes in your diet, talk them over with your physician or a registered dietitian before making any significant changes to your current eating plan.

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Sewage Breakdown: Disaster Waiting To Happen At FESTAC Town, Lagos

What appears to be a disaster in waiting is currently playing out at the FESTAC area of Lagos. A resident of the area, Mr. Oghene Emma-Egoh, has lamented the poor state of the place, calling it “a disaster waiting to happen.” Emma-Egoh, a member of the House of Representatives, on Sunday urged the Federal Government to move in and save “FESTAC and its satellite towns” in Lagos State.

The lawmaker warned of possible epidemics in FESTAC owing to the near total collapse of infrastructure, particularly the sewage system.

FESTAC Town is a federal housing estate on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway in Lagos,

FESTAC means Festival of Arts and Culture, and the estate was constructed to house the participants of the festival in 1977. It was subsequently allocated and sold to Nigerians after the festival.

But Emma-Egoh, who represents Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency, complained that in spite of collecting all manner of rates and levies from residents in the area, both the federal and the Lagos governments cared less about the decay in the town and its surroundings.

He recalled that he had earlier moved a motion on the problem on the floor of the House last week, as part of the efforts to get the Federal Government to rescue FESTAC Town.

The House, in a resolution, had called on the Federal Government and its agency, the Federal Housing Authority of Nigeria, to begin the “immediate rehabilitation of FESTAC Town.”

Emma-Egoh said, “This estate has been built for over 40 years and as we speak, there are no functional infrastructure. Today, the Federal Government collects tenement rates from residents in FESTAC, while the Lagos State Government also collects land charges.

“There is no single firefighting vehicle in the place. If there is any fire incident in FESTAC, it will be a total disaster. So, given its importance as one of the oldest housing estates and satellite towns in Lagos, it is important to rehabilitate the area,” he said.

He noted that the condition of roads in the estate had become deplorable, while residents no longer had access to potable water.

The lawmaker said, “The central sewage systems in the estate are no longer functional. They now gush out dangerous wastes into the open at uncontrollable rate and the drainages are no longer flowing and have become the habitat for giant mosquitoes.

“This situation can lead to the outbreak of an epidemic,” he submitted.

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Dirty Environment: State Government Closes Markets In Ogun

The government of Ogun state, Nigeria, yesterday ordered the immediate closure of shops and market stalls in Ifo, Obada-Oko and Owode-Ijako areas of the state for operating in a dirty environment.

The state Deputy Governor, Mrs Yetunde Onanuga, gave the order while monitoring the level of compliance with environmental sanitation regulations by shop owners and market women in parts of the state.

Onanuga, who visited Ewekoro, Ifo and Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Areas, said the government would ensure strict compliance to environmental sanitation laws in homes and business places.

She therefore urged traders in the affected markets to participate regularly in cleaning their environment, to avoid clampdown in the future.

The deputy governor also enjoined people in the state to desist from disposing their wastes in drains and road medians.

She said that a clean environment would help to enhance the productivity of the people.

Onanuga reiterated the state’s commitment to environmental sanitation and its resolve to punish non-compliance.

She stressed that the government would continue to enlighten the general public on the importance of clean environment to healthy living and socio-economic development.

The deputy governor, who noted that “a healthy person is a wealthy person,” declared that the environmental sanitation law was made in good faith.

Mr Monday Cletus and Mrs Adegbesan Adebola, stall owners at Sango–Ota market, commended the efforts of the government, saying that it would improve people’s well being.

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NAFDAC On The Hot Seat As EU Bans Nigerian Foods

These are certainly not the best of times for National Agency For Food And Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the agency in charge of the regulation of food and drugs in Nigeria. The Senate last Thursday, called on NAFDAC to tighten its oversight on locally produced food and agricultural items to ensure global acceptance. This followed a four-point motion by Sen. Francis Alimikhena on European Union’s ban on Nigeria’s agricultural export products.

The products banned by the EU till June, 2016, according to Alimikhena, are beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish, dried meat, peanut chips and palm oil.

He said that the rejected beans, for instance, were found to contain between 0.03 kilograms to 4.6 kilograms of dichlorvos substance, contrary to acceptable limit.

The senate also called on ministries of Agriculture and Health, respectively, Standards Organisation of Nigeria and National Food Safety Management Committee to sanitise food and agricultural products imported into or exported out of Nigeria. It mandated its Standing Committee on Health and Agriculture, when constituted, to look into the matter with a view to overturning the EU ban on Nigerian agricultural products.

The lawmakers equally urged federal and state governments to invest more in the production of agricultural products. They further urged agriculture extension workers to enlighten illiterate farmers on the dangers of chemicals in food.

President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, said the ban by the EU was embarrassing given the strength of Nigeria in the international community. He called on relevant stakeholders to wake up to their responsibilities, adding that “the regulatory agencies should work to reverse this ban. As we talk about diversification we should take a good look at this particularly, because the EU market is closer to us than Asian markets.”

Earlier in his contribution, Sen. Ali Wakili said agencies of government must be strengthened in terms of equipment and welfare. He added that agriculturists should be trained so that products from the country would not be rejected, saying “we have to look inward.”

Sen. Aliyu Sabi  lamented that the EU ban had the potential to affect the country’s revenue.
“One thing is certain, the EU takes standard importantly; the world has gone far and we must wake up else we will remain where we are. How much funding are we giving our research institutes? They have not been funded well in the last five years.

On his part, Sen. Joshua Lidani said that the ban was a wake-up call for the regulatory agencies to closely monitor agricultural products consumed by Nigerians.

It must however be noted that NAFDAC has always been known for its reputation in standards of foods and drugs produced in the country. This has won it many international recognitions. 

An insider who spoke with Nigeria Natural Health Online www.kimekwu.blogspot.com, said an investigation has commence to find out factors behind the ban.

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Urbanisation And The Risk Of Mental Disorders

Do we need to prepare ourselves for a more urbanised and, therefore, more depressed world? With the following article this article aims to stimulate a conversation between urban planning, architecture and neuroscience, in the hope of facilitating a more nuanced understanding of how urban and rural living conditions differentially impact upon our mental health. At a first glance, there are enormous methodological differences between the disciplines of urban planning and neuroscience. Nonetheless, considering the neuroscientific approach to the topic of cities is essential, as from it we can start to understand how city living affects inhabitants’ brain biology and could therefore influence the risk for developing mental disorders. On the bright side, there are also indicators that show a protective aspect of large cities with regards to mental health. Cities, therefore, may lend themselves to facilitating new and appropriate health intervention strategies.

Urban living is on the rise whereas rural living is becoming the exception – in all parts of the world and at an ever-increasing rate. The rapid pace of urbanisation is an important marker of the societal transition at large that has occurred over the past 30 years. Our world is shifting towards an urban, small-family or single household, and at the same time, an ageing society. In the next 30 years we will be faced with the growing challenges specific to our cities’ aged single urban populations.

But urban living is not only about getting older, it is also about getting stressed. Stress is the unspecific physiological and psychological reaction to perceived threats to our physical, psychological or social integrity. And urban living can be threatening if you haven’t enough space of your own, if you experience insufficient security or live under unstable economic conditions. Stress increases with the anticipation of adverse situations and the fear of not having the adequate resources to respond to them. From an evolutionary point of view, stress is the mechanism that prepares us for any ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction, and also causes us to evolve in order to better adapt to our environment. Although not harmful per se, stress may jeopardise our health when stress exposure is chronic or when complete recovery is not possible.

Living in an urban environment is long known to be a risk factor for psychiatric diseases such as major depression or schizophrenia. This is true even though infrastructure, socioeconomic conditions, nutrition and health care services are clearly better in cities than in rural areas. Higher stress exposure and higher stress vulnerability seem to play a crucial role. Social stress may be the most important factor for the increased risk of mental disorders in urban areas. It may be experienced as social evaluative threat, or as chronic social stress, both of which are likely to occur as a direct consequence of high population densities in cities. As for the impact on mental health, social stress seems to outweigh other urban stressors such as pollution or noise. Living in crowded areas is associated with increased social stress, since the environment becomes less controllable for the individual. Social disparities also become much more prominent in cities and can impose stress on the individual. Further, disturbance of chronobiological rhythmsis is more frequent in cities than in rural areas and has a negative influence on mental health and beyond. A recent meta-analysis showed that urban dwellers have a 20 per cent higher risk of developing anxiety disorders, and a 40 per cent higher risk of developing mood disorders. For schizophrenia, double the risk has been shown, with a ‘dose-response’ relationship for urban exposure and disease risk. Longitudinal studies on patients with schizophrenia indicate that it is urban living and upbringing per se, rather than other epidemiological variables, that increase the risk for mental disorders.

As urbanisation of our world is inevitable, we urgently need to improve our understanding of the threatening – as well as the health protective – factors of urban living. Evidence is beginning to surface that indicates that the urban population shows a stronger brain response to stress, and stronger cognitive impairment under stress. A recent fMRI study in the journal Nature, conducted by a German research group, showed that these effects seem to occur irrespective of age, gender, general health status, marital or income status. In this study, the amygdala (a brain region that regulates emotions such as anxiety and fear) showed higher activation under stress in healthy individuals from large cities compared to their counterparts from rural regions. Interestingly, activation grew with the size of the current home city. Further, activity in another brain region associated with depression, the perigenual anteriour cingular cortex, was positively correlated with the time that an individual had spent in a large city as a child. The more years someone had spent growing up under urban conditions, the more active this brain region tended to be.

The author of this piece, Mazda Adli is a Senior Physician in the field of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Director of the Mood Disorders Research Group and Executive Director of the World Health Summit.

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