Milk Away Fibroids

Uterine fibroids are solid muscle tissue growths that are in the uterus. The cause of them are unknown but estrogen promotes their growth. They are not cancerous and are malignant, so they do not spread to other parts of the body. A recent study has shown that women who have four or more daily servings of dairy are 30 percent less likely to develop fibroids than women who have less than one per day. Nutrients, such as calcium, vitamin D, and phosphorus help to maintain normal cell division, which might protect the body against fibroids.

Broken Heart Syndrome

Broken heart syndrome is a temporary condition that is often confused with having a heart attack. The symptoms are similar, such as shortness of breath and chest pain. It mostly affects middle-aged and elderly women and is often caused by emotional or physical stress. The condition is almost never fatal, causes no long term heart damage, and usually doesn't reoccur.

Symptoms of the condition occur when stress causes your body to be flooded with catecholamine hormones. Blood pressure and heart rate increase. There is also a sudden and temporary weakening of the mycardium. A bulging out of the left ventricular apex with a hypercontractile base of the left ventricle of the heart often happens.

The condition is commonly referred to as stress cardiomyopathy, stress-induced cardiomyopathy, or apical ballooning syndrome. Symptoms can be prevented by reducing anxiety before it increases. It is different from a heart attack because a heart attack is caused by blocked arteries and broken heart syndrome is caused by a surge of adrenaline and other hormones. One to two percent of patients who are diagnoses with a heart attack are actually experiencing the condition.

Treat Urinary Incontinence with Weight Loss

Urinary incontinence is the unintentional release of urine and it affects more than 13 million women in the United States. Obesity is a common risk factor for urinary incontinence. A research study done by the University of Alabama-Birmingham found that overweight women who lost just 3 pounds cut the amount of leaks due to urinary incontinence by 28 percent. Women who lost 17 pounds cut the amount of leakage by 47 percent.

Same-Sex Heart Transplants Found to be Better

A new research has found that heart transplant patients have better chances of survival and lower risk of the body rejecting the organ if they get organs from donors of the same sex as them. This may be due to the fact that men's hearts are usually bigger than a woman's heart and have a greater pumping capacity. Differences in hormones and immune systems between men and women could also play a part.

The Affects of Menopause on Heart Disease

There are Dutch scientists that have found that women who have severe menopausal symptoms have more heart disease risks, such as high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and a higher body mass index (BMI), than women who have more mild symptoms. It is assumed that the decline in estrogen could affect the walls of blood vessels to cause these risks.

It is recommended for a woman experiencing menopause to get her blood pressure and cholesterol checked. It is also a good idea to try natural remedies, such as daily exercise, yoga, and a diet that is rich in flaxseed or isoflavones from soy.

Allergies Causing Depression

It is found that tree pollen can cause symptoms of depression. A psychologist at the Mood and Anxiety Program of the University of Maryland and School of Medicine analyzed surveys of 845 men and women and found that two thirds of the people surveyed reported mood difficulties during the spring season, which is when pollen levels are very high. It is believed that airborne allergens produce inflammation in the respiratory airways and the inflammation causes symptoms of depression in some people.

Another study was done on patients with mood disorders that found that increased allergy symptoms during times of high levels of pollen were connected with depression symptoms that were more severe. This study fits with earlier evidence that suicide rates increase during late spring and a family history of allergies affects depression in women.

Better Health for Diabetics

A person could significantly lower their risk of heart disease and strokes by taking a statin each day. Researchers analyzed patients over a period of five years and found that for every 1,000 people with diabetes that were given statin, there were 42 less heart attacks and strokes than there would have been if the patients wouldn’t have taken the statins. The statins even helped the people already diagnosed with vascular disease. It is recommended that women that are pregnant shouldn’t take them.

What a Mother Eats Can Determine Sex of Baby

A new British research suggests that what a woman eats before getting pregnant can affect the gender of what the baby will be. Eating potassium-rich foods, including bananas, and eating breakfast each day can raise the chances of having a boy.

The study was based on 700 first-time pregnant women in the United Kingdom who didn’t know the sex of their fetuses and they were asked about their eating habits in the year before they had gotten pregnant. 56 percent of the women with the highest calorie intake before pregnancy had boys and only 45 percent of the women with the lowest calorie intake had boys.

The women who ate at least one bowl of breakfast cereal each day were 87 percent more likely to have a baby boy than the women who ate less than one bowl of cereal each week. The women who gave birth to boys also ate an additional 300 milligrams of potassium each day on average before getting pregnant. The women who had boys also ate about 400 calories more each day on average than the women who had girls.

Coffee Can Cause Miscarriages

A recent study found that pregnant women that drink more than one cup of coffee a day are at risk of having a miscarriage. Even a small amount can be very dangerous. Two hundred milligrams of caffeine, the equivalent of two cups of regular coffee, can double the risk of having a miscarriage, especially in the first trimester. Caffeine decreases blood flow to the placenta and stresses the metabolism of the fetus. It is recommended that a pregnant woman doesn’t have any caffeine in her diet.

Tuna Sushi Found High in Mercury

The New York Times recently did a study of the mercury content of sushi that was sold at 20 random New York City restaurants and found that most of the bluefin tuna that was being sold had mercury levels so high that a regular diet of six pieces a week would be beyond the levels acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency. Similar results are found other places as well.

Sushi is often eaten because it is low in fat and high in protein but the mercury in it accumulates in the human body. Even small amounts can cause brain development problems, especially in children and pregnant women.

Grapefruit Increases Cancer Risk

A recent study found that women who ate half of a grapefruit every other day had a 30 percent increase of breast cancer risk when compared to women who didn’t eat the fruit. Grapefruit contains the chemical compound furanocoumarins that inhibits the way that estrogen is metabolized. This leads to a higher concentration of estrogen, which increases the risk of breast cancer.

It is recommended that post menopausal women that consume grapefruit regularly and women that have had estrogen-receptor-positive cancer should not eat this fruit. The American Cancer Society recommends eating five servings of a variety of fruits and vegetables each day to limit the exposure to possibly harmful substances from a single food.

Health Risks of Premature Babies

It is found that premature babies have higher death rates in their childhood years and are more likely not to have children in their adult years. This is based on a study that followed 1.2 million Norwegian births over many years.

Most premature babies grow up to have good health and be able to reproduce normally but the risk of health and reproduction problems are significantly higher than babies born at full term. Premature babies also have the risks of lung problems, disabilities, mental retardation, and being mentally behind other children their age in school. The study found that the preemies were more likely to die in their first year of life than full term babies and the higher risk continues throughout their life.

Things that could help prevent premature births include hormone treatments for women with a history of giving premature birth, not inducing labor unless it is needed and medically necessary, and reducing the number of embryos implanted at one time during fertility treatments. Women that are born premature have a higher risk of having premature babies when they give birth.

Cell Phones Could Cause Infertility

It is found in a recent study that men who keep their mobile phones in their front pants pockets could be negatively affecting their fertility. The heat or electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell phones could possibly be the cause. The men that are most likely to experience infertility are the ones who use Bluetooth or headsets to talk with their phones in their pocket.

Caffeinated Creams Cause Slimmer Thighs

A study was done that showed that putting caffeine-infused cream on your thighs could make them slimmer. The study was done on 99 women who used a cream with more than 7 percent of caffeine twice a day for 30 days. After 30 days, over 80 percent of the women had decreased the circumference of their upper and lower thighs. About 68 percent of the women had a reduction in their hip measurements.

Read More: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315803,00.html

Knowing Your BMI Could Decrease Cancer Risk

A study says that knowing and keeping track of your BMI could help fight off colon cancer. The National Cancer Institute studied the health history of more than 200,000 women and found that 50 to 71 year old women who were a little overweight increased their chances of getting cancer by 29% as compared to lean women. Being moderately overweight increased risks by 31% and being obese increased risks by 49%. Fat cells produce and release hormones that could cause cancer cell growth.