The test is coming

The test for which I have studied for the last 6 months is near so I decided to put blogging to side for the last days. Don't worry, I'll be back after 25.5. WISH ME LUCK!

Osteoporosis

Is a disease of bones that includes an increased risk of fracture. The disease is stated when the mineral density of the bone (BMD) is significally reduced. To be spesific when a bone mineral density is 2.5 standard deviations or more below the mean peak bone mass (average of young, healthy adults) as measured by DXA.

Osteoporosis is an increasing health concern and to prevent it you'll have a few main things you can do. First: Quit smoking. Smoking greatly builds up the risk of osteoporosis. Second: Exercise. This increases the bone density. Third: Get enough the mighty vitamin D. It stimulates the absorption of calcium and therefore strenghtens your bones.

Being sick sucks

I have been sick for the last few days so I don't really have the energy to come up with new posts at the moment. I'm having fever and hopefully it will go away soon.


Just to keep up your interest I'd like to point out the difference between a disease and sickness. A person can have a disease without feeling sick. And a person can feel sick without having a disease. So it's sometimes up to you whether you really are sick or not.


Feeling sick already?

Folic acid

Also known as vitamin B₉ is essential to us. The human body needs folic acid to synthesize DNA, repair DNA and as well as to act as a cofactor in biological reactions involving folic acid. It is especially important in aiding rapid cell division and growth, such as in infancy and pregnancy. Children and adults both require folic acid to produce healthy red blood cells and prevent anemia.

Folic acid is much recommended if you're pregnant because it can prevent the baby of having neural tube defects (NTDs). Which are serious birth defects of the spine and brain; two of the most common NTDs are spina bifida and anencephaly. Taking 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid daily can help prevent these major birth defects.

White fat to brown fat

Scientists say they have found a way to turn body fat into a better type of fat that burns off calories and weight.

Modifying a protein linked to appetite not only reduced the animals' calorie intake and weight, but also transformed their fat composition. "Bad" white fat became "good" brown fat, Cell Metabolism journal reports. Brown fat is abundant in babies, which use it to generate body heat, expending calories at the same time.

The brown fat has this protein called thermogenin, which decreases the proton gradient generated in oxidative phosphorylation by increasing the permeability of the inner mitochondrial membrane, allowing protons that have been pumped into the intermembrane space to return to the mitochondrial matrix producing heat, not ATP.

But as we age our brown fat largely disappears and gets replaced by white fat, which typically sits as a spare tyre around the waist. Experts have reasoned that stimulating the body to make more brown fat rather than white fat could be a helpful way to control weight and prevent obesity and its related health problems like type 2 diabetes.

You can view this piece of news here.

Waist fat is risky

People with coronary artery disease have significally increased risk of death if they have fat around the waist, according to researchers in the US.

The researchers at the Mayo Clinic looked at the distance around the hips and waist to measure the fat around the belly, and BMI which is a measure comparing height and weight. There was a 75% increased risk of death for patients with high levels of fat around the waist compared with those with thin waists.


This highlights the importance of weight lossing in certain disorders. Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This study shows that abdominal obesity is the major risk factor for patients with coronary heart disease even if they have a normal BMI and are a healthy weight.

Check the whole article here.

New EU regulations on herbal medicines

New EU rules came into force yesterday banning hundreds of traditional herbal remedies. This aims to protect byers from possible damaging side-effects of over-the-counter herbal medicines. This is good since we can't always be sure whether the supplement is 100% safe because of possible side effects and interactions with other drugs, but on the contrast this limits the freedom of choice.

From now on only products that have been assessed by the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will be allowed to go on sale. These new regulations will allow only long-established and quality-controlled medicines to be sold. Both herbal remedy practitioners and manufacturers fear they could be forced out of business though.

Check the original piece of news here.