CAMTC Eliminates Exam Options

At its meeting on February 15, 2012, the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) voted to eliminate the National Exam for State Licensing (NESL), offered by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, and  the Massage and Bodywork Licensing Exam (MBLEx) offered by the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) from the list of approved exams for the Portable G pathway to CAMTC certification. Applicants will only be able to apply for CAMTC certification by becoming certified by NCBTMB if applying by Portal G. There are still several other application pathways to CAMTC certification at either the CMP or CMT levels.

The reason for the change was based on the concern that “even the slightest potential of certifying a non-massage therapist was too great for the CAMTC to take”. The majority of the CAMTC board members voted to remove the NESL and MBLEx from the list of approved exams because the application process to sit for either of these exams does not include a minimum education component or verification of education an applicant represents having received on the exam application form. The decision made by the CAMTC board is no reflection on the actual quality of either exam or the security of the testing environment. Both exams are given by the professional testing company Pearson Vue, the leading provider of secure computer-based testing.

The CAMTC board members are well intentioned, however, both ABMP representatives on the CAMTC board (Bob Benson and Jean Robinson) voted against the motion to eliminate the NESL and the MBLEx based on the fact that there has been no evidence, documented or anecdotal, that allowing these exams has compromised the CAMTC certification process. In fact, only a small number of applicants have used the exam only option to actually apply for CAMTC certification.

To be as fair as possible to applicants already having initiated plans to gain CAMTC certification via the “exam-only” route, CAMTC will phase out the NESL and MBLEx “exam only” pathway to certification:

1. Applicants must apply and qualify through the “exam-only” route by May 15, 2012. This means you must have applied for CAMTC certification AND passed the exam by this date.

2. Anyone who was specifically told by CAMTC’s Professional Standards Division that if they pass an exam they will be deemed qualified for certification, will get certified when they present a passing score.

Applicants for CAMTC certification whose schools have closed and therefore cannot provide CAMTC with original transcript documentation, will now have to apply for CAMTC certification using the “compelling evidence” protocol.

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Kansas Bill to License Massage Therapists Fails

House Bill 2564, which would have required massage therapists to become state licensed, failed to progress this year. Thank you to all members who made phone calls to legislators at our request. There will very likely be another attempt in the 2013 legislative session to re-introduce a bill. ABMP will continue to work with others to ensure the best possible outcome should a bill progress.

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The Imperfect Anorexic

Photo Credit: Zachary Zavislak

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It was 2 A.M. and I'd had "dinner" four hours earlier: a Greek salad, two slices of lemon meringue pie, a piece of carrot cake, and a brownie sundae. But an overwhelming sense of anxiety — over my career, my relationship, and even my dirty apartment — prevented me from just going to sleep, and I was hungry. I'd already thrown away all my "danger foods," like Ritz crackers and chocolate chips, and returning to the nearby 24-hour grocery store was out of the question: I couldn't face the clerks as I paid for cookies and fudge sauce for the second time that day. The only way out was a tactic I'd tried before: I reached for the brown sugar, olive oil, flour, and cocoa powder. After pouring them into a bowl and mixing with a fork, I started eating. As the grainy mixture slid down my throat, a familiar numbness set in. I went back for more.

My relationship with food had taken a wrong turn when I was 9, the summer my family moved to a new state. I knew no one. Faced with long, friendless days, I'd sneak into our pantry for a box of Golden Grahams, tiptoe away, and shovel down handful after handful alone in my bedroom. Over the years, to keep my weight under control from the frequent binges, I learned to fast for days at a time. I even experimented with ipecac syrup, a medicine used to induce vomiting, to make myself throw up in high school — a trick I learned after researching eating disorders for junior high book reports. But by the end of college, when I hadn't purged for a few years, I assumed I'd grown out of it.

So when my aberrant eating habits returned — I was 29, living and working in New York City — I just thought I was being healthy. I'd ended a bad relationship and started a macrobiotic diet to jump-start my new life. I became a gym rat, and within a few months I'd lost 30 pounds — but at 5'7" and 132 pounds, I was still in the "normal" BMI range. And I was happy, meeting men who treated me better than my ex ever did. Slowly, as I shopped for ever-smaller clothes and friends complimented my new look, I adopted other odd eating habits, doing endless calorie calculations, superstitiously refusing carbs three days before a date, and inhaling coffee and cigarettes to quell my chronic low-level hunger. To manage my cravings for baked goods, I resorted to an old high school strategy: chewing food and spitting it out instead of swallowing. It wasn't an eating disorder, I thought, just a reward — a way to get the sugar I craved for "free." I knew this wasn't normal, but in a city where people talk nonchalantly about getting colon cleanses, my behavior didn't feel that strange. Everyone around me commented on how "good" I was, with my salads and carrots. Only once did anyone question my habits — a friend who'd been hospitalized for bulimia and recognized my eating as troublesome. "What's up with your weird eating?" she asked bluntly. I blew off the question. And my main physical symptoms — dizzy spells, anemia — I blamed on stress.

When the company I was working for went belly-up, this precarious balance crumbled. During the day, I limited myself to small meals: a half-cup of nonfat yogurt with five almonds and four prunes for breakfast, a plain green salad with fat-free tuna salad for lunch. But after dark, about four times a week, I'd change into elastic-waist pajama pants and indulge in hours-long bouts of eating, inhaling candy bars and cookies dipped in Nutella, washing them down with maple syrup straight from the bottle. I fell into a trancelike state as I ate, and the sluggishness brought on from ingesting thousands of calories in one sitting kept my nerves off their usual high-wire. I tried purging a few times, but it destroyed the tranquility I felt after a binge, and eventually I stopped trying.

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FDA Approves LINX Reflux Management System to Treat GERD

The Food and Drug Administration today approved the LINX Reflux Management System for people diagnosed with GERD who continue to have chronic symptoms, despite the use of maximum medical therapy for the treatment of reflux.

"The LINX Reflux Management System is a sterile, single-use, surgically placed device used to treat the symptoms associated with GERD," said Christy Foreman, director of the Office of Device Evaluation in FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. "LINX offers an option to patients and their health care providers and is an alternative to current surgical procedures."

The LINX system is composed of a series of titanium beads, each with a magnetic core, connected together with independent titanium wires to form a ring shape. It is implanted at the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), a circular band of muscle that closes the last few centimeters of the esophagus and prevents the backward flow of stomach contents.

The force of the magnetic beads is designed to provide additional strength to keep a weak LES closed. Upon swallowing, the magnetic force between the beads is overcome by the higher pressures of swallowing forces, and the device expands to accommodate a normal swallow of food or liquid. Once the food passes though the LES, the device returns to its resting state.

The company conducted a feasibility study of 44 patients at four centers with a five-year follow-up plan. In addition, the company conducted a pivotal study of 100 patients at 14 centers with a five-year follow-up plan. Patients enrolled had GERD and chronic GERD symptoms, despite medical therapy. It is reported that the results from both the feasibility and pivotal trials indicate that the benefits obtained with the LINX Reflux Management System outweigh its risks.

There are reported side effects, with the most common adverse effects included difficulty swallowing, pain when swallowing food, chest pain, vomiting, and nausea.

Patients with LINX will no longer be able to undergo Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) procedures. The magnetic beads interfere with the machine and can cause the device to be damaged and the patient to be injured.

Related Resources:

GERD Symptoms of GERD Fundoplications Surgery Radiofrequency TreatmentComments (0)See All PostsSharePrevCommentsNo comments yet. Leave a CommentLeave a CommentName

Alternative Medicine May Help Ease Chronic Sinusitis

WEDNESDAY, March 21 (HealthDay News) -- When used in tandem with standard Western treatments, alternative therapies such as acupuncture, acupressure and dietary changes may spell significant relief for patients battling chronic sinusitis, a new pilot study suggests.

The authors say that their study is the first to explore the potential of combining Western medicine with Eastern therapies among these patients, who experience swollen and inflamed sinuses, facial pain, headaches and impaired breathing.

"Our study was small, looking at a handful of patients who were not benefiting that well from standard treatment," acknowledged study author Dr. Jeffrey Suh, an assistant professor of rhinology and skull base surgery in the department of head and neck surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"And my take on alternative treatments is that Western medicine is effective for the majority of patients," he added. "But for those who don't get complete relief, adding in a more holistic Eastern approach that includes exercise, improved sleep, a better diet, and acupuncture and self-administered acupressure seems to provide an alternative that can have great benefit."

Suh and his colleagues report their findings in the March issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology.

The authors point out that chronic rhinosinusitis is a very prevalent condition in the United States, with nearly 30 million American adults diagnosed with the disease in 2010 alone, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The acute version of the disease is typically due to infection, experts say. However, the chronic form (namely, cases enduring past 12 weeks) is thought to stem from a variety of environmental and anatomical causes (such as the presence of polyps or a deviated nasal septum), thereby complicating treatment efforts.

Such efforts usually include the use of nasal corticosteroid sprays and nasal irrigation, while in some instances surgical intervention is required. Despite such efforts, some patients remain debilitated.

Suh and his team focused on 11 such individuals (eight men and three women), between the ages of 32 and 70. Many had struggled with the condition for years. None had had any kind of surgery in the three months before the study started. Similarly, no one had undergone acupuncture or acupressure intervention in the two months beforehand.

During the study, all previous treatments were continued. However, patients were offered eight weekly 20-minute sessions of therapeutic acupuncture and acupressure massage, performed by licensed therapists. Counseling was also offered to teach patients how to self-administer acupressure at home.

A dietary analysis was also conducted, and patients were given nutritional guidance that tracked traditional Chinese approaches towards food consumption. Stress management was also discussed, as were the benefits of regular exercise.

The result: The team found that when applied alongside modern medicine, the use of such so-called "staples of Eastern medicine" appeared to be both safe and effective.

After two months, all the patients showed a statistically significant gain in terms of quality of life, with a drop in feelings of frustration and restlessness and a boost in their ability to concentrate.

What's more, patients were found to have less of a problem with runny noses, reduced sneezing and a subsequent reduced need to blow their noses. Facial pain and pressure also appeared to drop off somewhat.

"These were the worst of the worst patients," Suh stressed. "And during treatment they got better. Now were they completely better? No. Only some of their symptoms improved. And those who did not keep up the lifestyle modifications like self-administered acupressure returned to their previous state after the study. But those who kept it up continued to see a benefit. So this offers some hope, and leads us to consider the next question, which is what might be possible with Eastern therapy alone?"

That said, Dr. Jordan Josephson, a sinus and allergy specialist with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, cautioned that chronic sinusitis is a "very complex problem" for which there is no simple solution.

"Augmenting traditional medicine with Eastern therapies is a very wise thing to do for sinus sufferers," he said. "In my practice, I certainly do this. Because it's not a question of antihistamines or acupuncture."

"And the reason for that is that we're not taking about a cure," Josephson said. "This is not a cold or a sniffle. If you have chronic sinusitis, it's chronic, like diabetes. So, the best thing to do is to treat patients with a combination of diet, antibiotics, antifungals, nasal sprays, allergy treatment, acupuncture, lifestyle changes, irrigation with saline and irrigation with medicines. You need a comprehensive plan for each individual patient that will give them the best chance at control."

More information

For more on chronic sinusitis, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Could Soy Help Lower Your Blood Pressure?

SUNDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- Isoflavones -- a compound found in foods such as soy milk, green tea, tofu and peanuts -- may help lower blood pressure in young adults, new research suggests.

The researchers also found that isoflavones may be of particular benefit for black American adults, nearly 42 percent of whom are estimated to have high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.

One expert not connected to the study said there is reason to believe that isoflavones could help the heart.

Isoflavones "dilate the vessels by increasing the release of nitric oxide," explained Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of women and heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She said the new study, "brings to light a compelling dietary recommendation that can help control hypertension in younger patients."

In the new study, investigators examined data from more than 5,000 participants in a major study funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The analysis revealed that those who consumed the highest amounts of isoflavones per day (more than 2.5 milligrams

Passive smoking: An active threat to children

Further evidence that, even if you can’t quit smoking, you should try your damnedest not to smoke around your kids: A new study has found that children exposed to second-hand smoke had almost double the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as adults, compared to those who were not exposed.

Killer cribs, toxic silverware, and other imaginary monsters

In his latest blog post for Medical Progress Today, ACSH’s Dr. Josh Bloom skewers a recent New York Times feature on the growing paranoia among new parents who want to shield their children from just about anything that can be traced back to the periodic table. In his post, “Land of the Free, and the Home of the Neurotic,” Dr. Bloom explains how advances in analytical chemistry have allowed for the detection of minuscule amounts of chemicals, which, coupled with scare tactics used by certain activist groups, is giving rise to a whole new set of neuroses and a generation of parents who are terrified of their children’s cribs, footed pajamas, and rubber ducks.

Take this with a whole grain of rice

In their latest study, published in BMJ, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health suggest that increased consumption of white rice may be linked to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. There’s just one small caveat: The association was only significant among Asian populations.

The study, which was a meta-analysis — a review of four other studies — included over 350,000 participants who answered food frequency questionnaires and were followed from anywhere between 4 and 22 years. After crunching some numbers, the researchers found that participants who ate the greatest amount of white rice had a 27 percent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, compared to those who ate the least. The link, however, was stronger among Asian participants, among whom the increase in risk of the disease was 55 percent in the high consumption group.

Although the risk of type 2 diabetes was heightened among Western populations, too, it did not reach statistical significance. This led Dr. Bruce Neal of the University of Sydney in Australia to observe that the “interpretation of the observed association, and, in particular, determination of the likelihood of causality, are problematic.”
 
ACSH’s Dr. Ruth Kava, while in agreement with Dr. Neal’s assessment, goes a bit further in her dismissal of the clinical relevance of this study: “Such a meta-analysis is merely an estimate of an estimate,” she says. “These observational studies cannot distinguish a causal effect from correlation.”   

Best Natural foods to cleanse your arteries

Best Natural Foods That Cleanse Your Arteries ..The flexibility of the arteries that supplies blood and oxygen to the body should be intact. There are many important processes that take place in these arteries. Major changes takes place in these arteries that contribute to the proper functioning of heart.<br /><br />Deposits that are accumulated on these arteries can cause serious issues. These deposits are mainly cholesterol, cellular waste product, fatty substance and calcium. If the deposits are frequent without any care then this might block the flow of blood in arteries. The situation might be dangerous and can lead to a cardiac arrest or a heart stroke depending upon the capability of a person to manage the blockage.<br /><br />Plaques which build up inside the arteries are the main cause of heart stroke. You should avoid any cardiac illness because it might lead to death as well. Have food which is good for your heart and keeps your heart healthy. Do regular cardio vascular exercises that keep the heart pumping and blood cleaning. Avoid intake or consumption of such foods which will trigger blockage of arteries. Here are some foods have been identifies which are good for cleansing the arteries. These type of foods are mentioned below-<br /><br />1. The grapefruits which contains a special type of fiber known as pectin and this pectin is famous to lower down the increment of atherosclerosis.<br /><br />2. Green tea is one of the best drinks for the heart as suggested by many experts. This green tea has an ingredient that prevents the blood clot and makes the arteries free smooth and available for hassle free blood flow.<br /><br />3. An apple a day keeps a doctor away a very famous saying about apple and works great for heart.<br /><br />4. Beans like Garbanzo are also very beneficial for smoothening of arteries. Survey shows that proper consumption of Garbanzo will definitely give protection from all cardiac issues major or minor.<br /><br />5. The olive oil is essential for the better performance of heart. The oxidized cholesterol is prevented by the use of olive oil to stick to the walls of arteries. The formation of plaques is minimized by the use of olive oil. This oil speaks for heart as it has what it takes to secure the heart from artery blockage.<br /><br />6. Spinach is also equally goof for the proper functioning of the heart. It has vitamin A and Vitamin C. These two vitamins work great for heart and prevent any sort of cholesterol formation that might harm the arteries and increases the risk of heart strokes.<br /><br />7. Salmon or any omega 3 rich fatty acid is efficient in making the arteries smooth and clean.<br /><br />8. Tomatoes which are easily available and are affordable as well will definitely do well to your heart. The lycopene that is found in tomatoes is very beneficial for heart. The antioxidant nature of this lycopene makes an attempt to stop or restrict the formation of plaques and makes the arteries smooth and free from any blockage.<br /><br />9. Swiss chard which is again an antioxidant and is beautifully made for the heart to function properly. Atherosclerosis is prevented by this swiss chard and it has proved efficient in maintain the flow of quality blood in arteries.<br /><br />10. Garlic. Since ancient times, garlic has been used to treat heart diseases ( including high cholesterol, atherosclerosis ) and hypertension. A study published in Preventive Medicine shows that garlic can prevent and reverse coronary artery calcification. <br /><br />11. Pomegranate is an excellent source of antioxidant that can help reduce artery hardening. A daily glass of pomegranate juice can help cleanse your arteries and improve blood flow in your arteries. A new study shows that pomegranate juice may help fight hardening of the arteries and related diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes.<br /><br />12. Berries (such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, and blueberries) contain powerful antioxidants flavonoids that can help fight artery hardening and protect artery walls from plaque.<br /><br />There are many other foods which will help you to restore the health of your heart. Diet is the key for a healthy heart but regular work outs should not be missed. Simple aerobics of a brisk walk of 3 kilometers daily would definitely help you make your heart healthy.

Swelling Feet remedy

Swelling feet is a very irritating and unbearable condition. There can be many causes. The swelling feet need immediate attention as it may hinder you from performing your daily chores. It is extremely essential to get respite from this foot pain. There are many home remedies available for curing swelling feet.

Causes of Swelling Feet:

The main cause of swelling as well pain can be arthritis. The usual symptoms of arthritis are swelling, pain and inflammation in feet. There may also be stiffness in joints hampering their flexibly to move and restrict the mobility. Another cause of swelling feet can be frost bite in very cold regions. There can be swelling of hands, feet and other parts of body due to various causes. These involve improper kidney functioning, kidney diseases, deficiency of protein, sodium retention, cancer congestive failure of heart, standing for a prolonged time, pregnancy, any injury, premenstrual syndrome, oral contraceptives, anemia, low thyroids, allergies, and deficiencies of Vitamin B and potassium.

It is difficult to bear the irritation and pain in the swelling feet. You should go for a proper medical examination to detect the real cause as it is a sign of many serious problems like arthritis, kidney diseases or problems pertaining to nerve or circulatory system.

You can make use of many home remedies which are helpful in getting you the respite from the problem:

- Alternative hot and cold water massage gets enormous relief from feet swelling is best remedy.
- Water helps in curing swelled feet without any worry about bad effects.
- Dipping feet in lukewarm water and then massaging them gently with cream or lotion is helpful to get rid of pain.
- If you stretch your feet, it is a good exercise to get over foot pain.
- You should no put on high heeled shoes. Do not wear too tight or too loose shoes; those may cause pressure on your feet.
- Using a mixture of lemon juice, olive oil, cinnamon, milk and water is useful to treat swelled feet. Then massage the feet with it.
- Massage your feet with a mixture of of peppermint oil with eucalyptus oil and lemon.
- Baking powder mixture with diluted rice water is very effective for increasing micro circulation in feet
- Soaking feet in tea free oil will relive you of foot pain.
- Lavender bubble bath is very soothing for recovering from swelled feet pain.
- Do massage with sandalwood, it will give you soothing effect.

Best Natural Foods That Cleanse Your Arteries (Rose Tjandra)

Advanced SearchHomeSubmit ArticlesTop AuthorsLatest ArticlesTop ArticlesLoginHome » Health » Alternative MedicineBest Natural Foods That Cleanse Your ArteriesBy Rose TjandraMar 12, 2012The flexibility of the arteries that supplies blood and oxygen to the body should be intact. There are many important processes that take place in these arteries. Major changes takes place in these arteries that contribute to the proper functioning of heart.

Deposits that are accumulated on these arteries can cause serious issues. These deposits are mainly cholesterol, cellular waste product, fatty substance and calcium. If the deposits are frequent without any care then this might block the flow of blood in arteries. The situation might be dangerous and can lead to a cardiac arrest or a heart stroke depending upon the capability of a person to manage the blockage.

Plaques which build up inside the arteries are the main cause of heart stroke. You should avoid any cardiac illness because it might lead to death as well. Have food which is good for your heart and keeps your heart healthy. Do regular cardio vascular exercises that keep the heart pumping and blood cleaning. Avoid intake or consumption of such foods which will trigger blockage of arteries. Here are some foods have been identifies which are good for cleansing the arteries. These type of foods are mentioned below-

1. The grapefruits which contains a special type of fiber known as pectin and this pectin is famous to lower down the increment of atherosclerosis.

2. Green tea is one of the best drinks for the heart as suggested by many experts. This green tea has an ingredient that prevents the blood clot and makes the arteries free smooth and available for hassle free blood flow.

3. An apple a day keeps a doctor away a very famous saying about apple and works great for heart.

4. Beans like Garbanzo are also very beneficial for smoothening of arteries. Survey shows that proper consumption of Garbanzo will definitely give protection from all cardiac issues major or minor.

5. The olive oil is essential for the better performance of heart. The oxidized cholesterol is prevented by the use of olive oil to stick to the walls of arteries. The formation of plaques is minimized by the use of olive oil. This oil speaks for heart as it has what it takes to secure the heart from artery blockage.

6. Spinach is also equally goof for the proper functioning of the heart. It has vitamin A and Vitamin C. These two vitamins work great for heart and prevent any sort of cholesterol formation that might harm the arteries and increases the risk of heart strokes.

7. Salmon or any omega 3 rich fatty acid is efficient in making the arteries smooth and clean.

8. Tomatoes which are easily available and are affordable as well will definitely do well to your heart. The lycopene that is found in tomatoes is very beneficial for heart. The antioxidant nature of this lycopene makes an attempt to stop or restrict the formation of plaques and makes the arteries smooth and free from any blockage.

9. Swiss chard which is again an antioxidant and is beautifully made for the heart to function properly. Atherosclerosis is prevented by this swiss chard and it has proved efficient in maintain the flow of quality blood in arteries.

10. Garlic. Since ancient times, garlic has been used to treat heart diseases ( including high cholesterol, atherosclerosis ) and hypertension. A study published in Preventive Medicine shows that garlic can prevent and reverse coronary artery calcification.

11. Pomegranate is an excellent source of antioxidant that can help reduce artery hardening. A daily glass of pomegranate juice can help cleanse your arteries and improve blood flow in your arteries. A new study shows that pomegranate juice may help fight hardening of the arteries and related diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes.

12. Berries (such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, and blueberries) contain powerful antioxidants flavonoids that can help fight artery hardening and protect artery walls from plaque.

There are many other foods which will help you to restore the health of your heart. Diet is the key for a healthy heart but regular work outs should not be missed. Simple aerobics of a brisk walk of 3 kilometers daily would definitely help you make your heart healthy.About the AuthorIf you want more information about Health please visit at http://www.chicnhealth.com. Find effective relieve muscle soreness at http://buy-biofreeze.com/.Rating:Please Rate:

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Basic Arm Strokes for Massage

Arms Strokes

Basic Arm Strokes



First, gently hold the right wrist in your right hand. Then with the little-finger side leading, slide your left hand up the outside of the right arm.



Pivot on the shoulder tip and slide down on the back side of the arm.

Connecting ARMS Stroke



Now let your left hand hold the wrist away from his/her body.Slide your right hand up the inside of the right arm, with your little-finger side leading.



Just before the underarm,pivot your hand to the back side of the shoulder and slide downward on the back side of the arm.

Upper Arm Stroke



Hold the right hand on your left rib cage. Slide your left hand upward on the outside of his/her upper arm while your right hand slides downward on the back side.

Forearm Stroke



Holding the forearm upright, slide the flat sides of your thumbs down the inside of the forearm. Let your thumbs be parallel with each other

When your thumbs reach the inner side of the elbow, lighten your touch and slide your hands back up to the wrist.

Continue with the right hand before massaging the left arm.

Let’s drink to lower stroke incidence in women

ACSH has long advocated the heath benefits associated with moderate alcohol consumption. Now a new review of data from the Nurses’ Health Study, published in the journal Stroke, finds that one drink a day may lower a woman’s risk of stroke.
 
After tracking the health of over 80,000 women between 1980 and 2006, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that, compared to teetotalers, women who consumed half a glass to a glass and a half of wine daily had about a 20 percent reduced risk of stroke. The benefit was the same for ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, and the analysis accounted for risk factors such as age, smoking, hormone use, aspirin use, hypertension, and history of atrial fibrillation.

“In addition to potentially lowering the risk of heart disease, it seems that moderate alcohol consumption is also beneficial in reducing women’s stroke risk,” says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. “The American Heart Association recommends no more than one to two drinks daily for men and one drink per day for women. Too much alcohol, however, raises the risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Docs turn up the heat on parents to vaccinate their kids

While scientists around the world advocate for adult and childhood immunizations to counter the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases, many pediatricians are also doing their part to discourage parents from refusing to vaccinate their children.

An article yesterday in USA Today provides an excellent description of the steps some pediatricians are taking to improve compliance with the recommended vaccine schedules — not only to help their patients stay healthy, but also to maintain a safe environment in their practices so that children will not be exposed to potentially dangerous communicable diseases from unvaccinated children.

Some of the measures pediatricians take to encourage parents to accept vaccinations include counseling them on the benefits and extremely low risks of vaccines, making parents sign a waiver if they bring a child in who is not vaccinated, or even refusing to accept patients who have not received their vaccinations.

The article also highlights the potentially devastating consequences of avoiding vaccines. For instance, one pediatrician’s two-week-old infant became severely ill with whooping cough and needed to be put in an intensive care unit because she treated a patient who had this disease while she was pregnant.

“This story is truly illustrative of the problematic situation in this country regarding vaccinations and vividly demonstrates two of our main messages,” comments ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. “One is that adults and teens need to be sure to get booster shots for whooping cough, not just to protect themselves, but also to keep little ones safe, since they are particularly susceptible to the disease. Second, pediatricians need to be firm with parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. Even if physicians don’t simply refuse to see these families, they should certainly counsel them and discourage such superstitious and dangerous fears.”

Yet some parents are still foregoing vaccines out of concern that they can overload a child’s immune system and cause autism. ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan points out that “there is no scientific basis for this argument. Children’s immune systems are bombarded with antigens all the time, at levels far higher than what exists in vaccines. Their immune systems are not overloaded. Much of this misinformation originated in a phony study done in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield. While debunked and discredited, its effects linger on.”

An Apple a day keeps doctors in play

It turns out that doctors and medical residents may now represent a new niche market for Apple iPads. A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that when 115 internal medicine residents from the University of Chicago were given the tablet computers for four months, they reported that the devices saved them about an hour of work per day. Ninety percent of the residents also said they used the tablets to help with work, including accessing patient medical records, the hospital’s paging system, and medical publications.
 
Researchers also found that the iPads increased orders placed before 7 a.m. rounds by 5 percent, and that 8 percent more orders were placed before residents were scheduled to leave the hospital.

“The implementation of personal mobile computing was associated with improvements in both perceived and actual resident efficiency,” the authors wrote.
 
ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross thinks that adding iPads to hospitals is a nifty and efficient advancement in patient care. “Now doctors can spend less time waiting for a computer in the charting area, and they also have easy access for writing orders. Hopefully,” he says, “this will translate to devoting more time to patients.”

Scourge of childhood leukemia deflated

Up until the early 1980s, a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) — the most common form of childhood leukemia — was considered a death sentence. Now a new study finds that five-year survival rates for kids with ALL rose to 90 percent in the period 2000 to 2005.
 
Each year, about 12,000 children aged 14 and younger are diagnosed with cancer, and about 34 percent of these cases are leukemia. ALL accounts for approximately 75 percent of all childhood leukemia cases, which is why the vast improvement in survival rates over the last few decades is so crucial.

The latest study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, analyzed data on over 21,000 patients who were diagnosed with childhood leukemia between 1990 and 2005. Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine found that ten-year ALL survival rates increased from 80 percent between 1990 and 1994, to 84 percent in 1995 to 1999. The recent results show that this positive trend is continuing.
 
ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross was quite pleased with the latest statistics, especially considering that, when he was a medical student, an ALL diagnosis had a 90 percent mortality rate. “Now it’s the opposite,” he says, “90 percent of kids are surviving — it’s just a miraculous breakthrough.”  

Alzheimer's Association Fact: Alzheimer's Strikes Every 68 Seconds

The Alzheimer's Association just released a new Fact Sheet this week. Here's a synopsis of some of the sobering statistics they provide:

Every 68 seconds, someone in the U.S. develops Alzheimer's. That number is projected to grow to one every 33 seconds by 2050, resulting in 16 million Americans with dementia.Currently, an estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer's. 5.2 million are over the age of 65, while approximately 200,000 are younger than 65. The cost of caring for persons with Alzheimer's in the U.S. in 2012 is $200 billion. Those costs are largely due to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements for care and services provided. The estimated cost in 2050 is $1.1 trillion in today's dollars.1 in 8 adults over the age of 65 have Alzheimer's. Over the age of 85, almost half of Americans have Alzheimer's.1 person out of 7 with Alzheimer's lives alone, and up to half of those don't have an identifiable caregiver.Of the top 10 causes of death, Alzheimer's is ranked at number six. While all other top ten causes have declined from 2000 to 2008, the number of deaths due to Alzheimer's has increased by 66%. All other top 10 causes also have had some success in effectively preventing or curing the disease, while Alzheimer's has none. There are a few medications that attempt to slow the progression of Alzheimer's, but their success is limited. Approximately 60% of caregivers for Alzheimer's or other dementias report that they're highly or very highly emotionally stressed, and a third of caregivers report feelings of depression.

View the dementia statistics for each state to see how your area is faring.

We all need to increase awareness of the widespread devastation and cost that this disease brings with it. Spread the word, please.

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Getting more teens to say ’no’ to cigs

Over half a million middle school students and three million high school students smoke, announced U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin while presenting the office’s first report on youth smoking since 1994. Nine in 10 smokers pick up the habit before their 18th birthday, thus prompting Dr. Benjamin to declare youth smoking an “epidemic” that requires a renewed effort to prevent teens from smoking.
 
Smoking leads to 1,200 deaths daily, and nearly 99 percent of all first-time tobacco use occurs before the age of 26; these young people become vulnerable to the long-term health effects of smoking, including lung cancer and heart disease, since after starting to smoke, quitting later on is extremely difficult. Part of the problem, the latest report says, is that tobacco companies are specifically advertising cigarettes to youth, with ads appearing in retail stores or online. But as ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross points out, “Many laws are in place that specifically ban these manufacturers from marketing to young people.” He adds, “These companies are already prohibited from placing ads in magazines that cater to a younger demographic, and they’re strictly controlled on where they can advertise their products. That being said, however, we do understand that cigarette makers need new ‘recruits’ to replace older smokers who quit, or die, and there are probably some clever ways to get around these restrictions to seduce young audiences.”
 
Concerns about smoking, unlike the pervasive and baseless fears of many safe and useful chemicals, are grounded in science — smoking is a real public health threat, and ACSH has long supported smoking prevention and effective cessation policies, especially among teens. “We need to find more effective means to dissuade young people from taking up smoking, “ says ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “Eighty percent of high school smokers will continue to smoke as adults,” she adds, “so we need to make teen smoking prevention a serious priority.”

To combat smoking, some advocates ignore common sense

E-cigarette use among U.S. adults increased more than three-fold from 2009 to 2010 (0.6 percent vs. 2.7 percent), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And although ACSH staffers were delighted to hear that these effective tobacco harm reduction products are catching on, many anti-smoking groups are still fighting to limit their accessibility, arguing that too little is known about the product’s health effects.
 
E-cigarettes, which rely on battery power, do not contain any tobacco; instead, they convert nicotine-infused liquid into vapor that is then inhaled and exhaled as a mist by the user. Although the FDA originally regulated e-cigarettes as medical devices, the agency reported in April that it would regulate them as tobacco products instead — although it could be months or years before the FDA issues any concrete criteria.
 
In the meantime, however, state and local legislatures are taking it upon themselves to speed the regulatory process by proposing their own e-cigarette legislation. For instance, lawmakers in over half a dozen states have introduced bills that would prohibit e-cigarette sales to minors. ACSH, of course, is strongly opposed to any tobacco or nicotine product sales to minors. Yet that being said, ACSH’s president, Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, expresses concern that some of these measures are mere pretext for more stringent, but counterproductive, restrictions on e-cigarettes.

“Some lawmakers have proposed increased taxes on these products, ostensibly to keep them away from minors,” Dr. Whelan says. “But sales to minors are already illegal, and the higher prices resulting from increased taxation would quite likely discourage smokers from trying these much safer devices that can help them quit,” she notes. “Furthermore, there is no reason, based on science or health, to bar them from public spaces as though they were actual cigarettes.”

On the other hand, even though e-cigarettes pose no known adverse health effects and generate no secondhand smoke, ACSH’s Cheryl Martin still believes that there may be a rationale for not allowing the use of e-cigarettes in public areas. “If the point of e-cigarettes is to provide a safer alternative to smoking, but smokers are already prevented from lighting up in most public places, then it could be logical to extend such a ban to e-cigarettes — if only to prevent confusion — since they would not, in that instance, be serving as a replacement.”
 
Indeed, some anti-smoking groups also point out that, because e-cigarettes look quite similar to traditional cigarettes, “vaping” in non-smoking places could create confusion. “I would rather err on the side of caution,” said state Rep. Susan Westrom, who sponsored a bill in Kentucky to ban e-cigarette use in public areas.
 
Such a statement left ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom perplexed. “Err on the side of caution?” he asks. “Does that mean Rep. Westrom is actually suggesting that just having people continue to smoke cigarettes is being more ‘cautious’? This is not a logical argument.”

Caveat emptor: Supplements can be harmful...or deadly

The dangers of unregulated supplements have attracted renewed attention following the recent deaths of two U.S. soldiers who were reportedly taking an amphetamine-like substance that is marketed as a dietary supplement. Yet as ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross and Medpage Today editor Dr. George Lundberg point out in their joint statement, the soldiers’ story is just the tip of a multi-billion-dollar industry whose ingredients go largely unregulated, and whose dangers go largely unnoticed and unreported.

Vitamin D for young bones

What do healthy bones need? Calcium is most likely the first thing to come to mind. But a new study reinforces the evidence that vitamin D also plays an essential role in bone health. Researchers from the Children’s Hospital Boston report that a higher level of vitamin D intake may protect girls against stress fractures.

The study, published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, assessed the dairy, calcium, and vitamin D intake of over 6,700 girls aged nine to 15. Researchers followed the participants for seven years, tracking the occurrence of stress fractures, which often result from sports activities. About 4 percent of the girls developed a stress fracture over the course of the study, but those girls who had the highest level of vitamin D intake were 50 percent less likely to have a stress fracture than girls with the lowest vitamin D consumption. Contrary to what one might expect, higher calcium intake was actually linked to an increase in stress fracture risk: Those girls with the highest intake were twice as likely to develop such a fracture, a finding unexplained by the authors.

ACSH’s Dr. Ruth Kava notes that this study reminds us of the importance of vitamin D to bone health. “It doesn’t matter how much calcium you consume,” she says, “If you don’t have enough vitamin D, your body won’t be able to absorb it.” Aside from sunshine, fortified dairy products and breakfast cereals, some fish, and supplements are also good sources of vitamin D.

Making a diff against C diff

Even as the public is becoming more aware of the risks of hospital-acquired infections, and health providers are working to improve sanitary practices to prevent disease transmission, there is still a worrying trend: Infections with C. difficile (Clostridium difficile) are actually on the rise. C. difficile is a bacterial infection that can cause severe diarrhea and even death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that, over the past 10 years, the number of Americans who have been hospitalized for C. difficile infections has tripled. Even worse, over this same time period, the number of people dying from the infection has quadrupled. Currently, about 14,000 Americans die every year from C. difficile infection.

Although it had been thought that most C. difficile infections are contracted in the hospital setting, in fact about half of those who harbor C. difficile were already infected before they arrived at the hospital. Patients who are taking antibiotics long-term or in combination are particularly susceptible to this infection — the antibiotics kill off beneficial bacteria, which allows the C. difficile to proliferate.

Yet hospitals are still a key location to target in reducing the toll of C. difficile. Health care providers, whether they work in a hospital, a nursing home, or a clinic, need to work to end the transmission of C. difficile, says the CDC. Important measures include reducing the overprescription of antibiotics, isolating patients who have been diagnosed with C. difficile infection, sterilizing all surfaces a patient comes into contact with, and being sure that health workers wear gloves and gowns and wash their hands regularly. “Unfortunately,” adds ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom, “it will take a new family of antibiotics to further get a handle on C. difficile infections and deaths, but the amount of ongoing research in this area is woefully inadequate.”

RID (the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths), founded and led by Dr. Betsy McCaughey, an ACSH trustee, works to encourage modifications in health care settings and in policy that help to reduce hospital-acquired infections, such as C. difficile.

Foods to eat that help reduce belly fat

Knowing what to eat

To eat generously does not have to mean to eat irresponsibly. The important thing to remember is to eat natural and nutrient-dense foods as well as whole foods that the body understands how to use to properly. Below are some examples:

1. Apples - There is wisdom to the saying, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. In a Brazilian weight study, subjects who ate three apples a day while dieting lost more weight than those who didn't. This fruit contains pectin, a compound that is known to inhibit colon cancer. Apples are packed with nutrients and are a rich source of vitamin C, beta-carotene, dietary fiber, phytosterol, flavonoids, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

2. Watermelons - In a study conducted by the University of Kentucky, watermelon was found to have a significant effect on artery plaque deposition because it altered blood lipids and lowered the risk of developing belly fat. The researchers in the study observed that animal subjects in the experiment who had diet-induced high cholesterol were given a supplement of watermelon juice while another group was given a typical diet with water. Eight weeks later, the animals given watermelon juice had lower body weight than those who were just given water. It appeared that there was no decrease in muscle mass and the weight loss was due to abdominal fat loss.

3. Tomatoes - A large tomato contains only around 33 calories. Moreover, a recent study identified a compound extracted specifically from the fruit called 9-oxo-octadecadienoic (9-oxo-ODA) which was shown to influence the amount of blood lipids in circulation.
According to Dr. Teruo Kawada, the study leader, "finding a compound which helps the prevention of obesity-related chronic diseases in food stuff is a great advantage to tackling these diseases, and tomato allows people to manage the onset of dyslipedemia through their daily diet." According to Wikipedia, Dyslipedemia is a condition where there is too much lipid in the blood. This normally caused by diet and lifestyle.

4. Bananas - This is a fruit you can enjoy as a nutritious snack without ever worrying about gaining weight. Like apples, it contains a fiber called pectin that is known to inhibit colon cancer. It also contains vitamin A, C, E, B6 as well as potassium, calcium and magnesium. Bananas, depending upon the size, contain calories between 75 calories to 135 calories only.

5. Seafood - Seafood, when included in the diet, could result in a slimmer waist and better health. For those enjoying excellent health and ideal body weight, having seafood on a regular basis may even prevent possible future poor health and weight gain. Studies have shown that seafood has been found to contain monounsaturated fat (MUFA). Studies have also shown that having a regular diet with foods containing MUFA can prevent belly fat.

6. Lamb - Lamb contains vitamin B, protein, zinc and trytophan. This is certainly a better option to processed or canned meat, and is a healthy source of protein. Lamb contains conjugated linoleic acid. According to Dr. James Howenstine, author of "A Physician's Guide to Natural Health Products That Work," low levels of conjugated linoleic acid in the body can lead to obesity since dietary fat cannot be used as energy and is moved into cells resulting in fat storage. Editor's note: I cannot condone eating lamb due to humanitarian reasons. Lambs are mammals, and it would be far less damaging to living beings if you chose to eat a simpler lifeform instead, such as fish.

7. Tart cherries - In a study conducted by the University of Michigan, it was found that a diet containing tart cherries may help lower symptoms of heart disease and metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a term used to refer to a group of symptoms which increase the risk of a host of heart diseases, diabetes and belly fat. In the study, the animal subjects had reduced cholesterol levels and a fat content of only 54 percent compared to the non-cherry fed group of 63 percent belly fat. Tart cherries have also been identified to have antioxidant properties.

8. Celery - Celery is a negative calorie food containing only eight calories. It is high in vitamin C, calcium and is best enjoyed raw. Enjoying fresh celery juice before a meal can even help you lose weight. It contains apigenin, an active compound that slashes the risk of ovarian cancer.

9. Avocados - This fruit has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. It contains the amino acid lecithin - which helps in preventing liver overload - and aids the memory and helps balance weight. In one study, it was discovered that people who ate a considerable amount of avocados showed clear improvement in health. It balances cholesterol levels and prevents heart attacks and strokes.

10. Kelp noodles - According to NaturalNews.com, kelp noodles are a good alternative for those who love traditional noodles. They are made from seaweed and contain only six calories. They are raw and mineral rich and can be used like any regular noodles.

It's time to reconsider the low-calorie dieting theory and recognize that only natural foods can properly nourish the body and help it rebuild itself. Food can actually help us in attaining good health and proper weight management. When coupled with exercise, it can help us achieve sustainable weight loss, avoid obesity, prevent a host of other chronic diseases and increase health benefits that directly improve our quality of life.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/035170_foods_burning_belly_fat.html#ixzz1odLbGemw

Fitness can counter fatness, to an extent

Losing weight is an extremely difficult task. But a new study provides some good news for individuals struggling to lose excess weight but trying to reduce their cardiovascular risk: Keeping fit, even in the absence of losing weight, still benefits cardiovascular health.

Researchers led by a University of South Carolina scientist analyzed data obtained from over 3,100 adults seen at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Texas. These patients were mostly in their 40s and did not have cardiovascular risk factors at the start of the study. Participants were tested for factors relevant to cardiovascular health, including cholesterol, blood pressure, body fat percentage, abdominal girth, and aerobic fitness (measured by treadmill tests). The patients then returned for two follow-up checkups over the course of at least six years.

The results, published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, demonstrated that most patients gained body fat over the course of the follow-up period. Yet many had also improved their cardiovascular fitness at the same time. Those participants who had both increased body fat and decreased fitness over the course of the study were 71 percent more likely to develop metabolic syndrome (a combination of cardiovascular risk factors) than those who had lost fat. But even if patients were unable to lose fat, if they managed to increase their fitness while gaining weight they were still at a 22 percent lower risk than those who gained weight and had lowered fitness.

“So much attention gets focused on weight reduction, but reducing body fat is very difficult for most people,” lead author Dr. Duck-Chul Lee comments. But this study demonstrates that for cardiovascular health, “maintaining your fitness over your lifetime is just as important, and for most people is probably more achievable.”

“This is a promising result for people with excess weight,” notes ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. “Many people will find it easier to exercise regularly and keep fit than to lose weight.”

ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava agrees, and adds, “While it is encouraging that improving fitness, independent of body fat or weight increases, can improve or at least maintain cardiovascular health, it’s important to note that decreasing body fat adds to the decrease in risk. Both are involved.”

Massage beat meds for relief of lower back pain

A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests this therapy might indeed alleviate back pain better in the short term than traditional interventions of medicine, bed rest or exercise: Healthday reports.

The investigation conducted by the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle involved 400 patients who had low back pain, the majority of which were middle aged, Caucasian and female. Researchers found those who were given a series of relaxation massage or structural massage were better able to work and be active than those who were given traditional medical care, such as pain pills, muscle relaxants or physical therapy.

According to The New York Times, the study's participants were randomly divided into three groups: structural massage, relaxation massage and traditional care. Patients in the massage groups received one hour of therapy weekly for 10 weeks.

At the conclusion of the 10 week period, over one-third of the patients who were given massage therapy reported their pain was much improved or eliminated completely, as opposed to only one in 25 patients who were given traditional care. Furthermore, patients in the massage groups were twice as likely to have spent fewer days in bed rest, used less pain pills and participated in more activity than the traditional care group.

Lead author Daniel Cherkin was surprised by the fact that structural massage did not prove superior to relaxation massage in relieving pain. Structural massage involves manipulating specific back pain related muscles and ligaments, while relaxation massage, otherwise known as Swedish massage, involves inducing body-wide relaxation.

The beneficial effects of the massage seemed not only to be experienced during the 10-week therapy period, but also to linger for a time following the cessation of therapy. Evidence of this lingering effect was manifested by the fact that the massage groups continued to display improved function six months after the study's onset. At the one year mark, however, no significant differences were found in the three groups.

Although the researchers were uncertain of massage therapy's exact mechanism of action for easing back pain, they voiced several theories. One suggestion was that it either stimulated tissue locally or produced a general central nervous system response. Another speculation was that merely spending time in a relaxing environment and feeling cared for might have been responsible for the improvement. An additional factor to consider is the subjectivity that is impossible to eliminate in such studies. Patients in the control group were aware that the other groups were receiving massage and this knowledge may have caused them to discount their own progress.

It should be reiterated that the study suggests rather than proves the benefit of massage for back pain. Also, some members of the American medical community not associated with the research have expressed reluctance to accept the suggested benefits as being valid.

Conversely, the study's authors offered their assessments of its import. Cherkin characterizes the results as being "pretty strong." He states the massage was tested on patients who did not improve using the standard medical approach to back pain treatment. He feels that massage therapy is a reasonable thing to try for anyone getting insufficient relief from this malady. The coauthor, Dr. Richard Deyo, feels that massage appears to provide clinicians with another choice for managing the challenging medical problem of chronic low back pain.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033113_low_back_pain_massage_therapy.html#ixzz1oZROgdNE

Best Foot Massage Techniques

Best Foot Massage Techniques


Learning to give a good foot massage is one of the nicest gifts you can give to your own two feet, or to those of a friend! The ultimate study in this area is called "reflexology," and is something you may want to delve into further if you wish to use foot massage as a health care treatment. This article, however, explains the basics of a general, tension relieving rub for feet. Some benefits of reflexology will happen automatically simply by virtue of massaging the soles of the feet and paying special attention to tender places, but please do not take the information here as anything other than general guidelines for helping tired feet feel better. These instructions are wonderful for achieving that!

SUPPLIES you will need are two or three big towels and some form of lubricant. Rich cream works better for a foot's tough calluses and hardened skin than hand lotion or oil, but any will work. You may wish to use one scented with eucalyptus or mint (marvelous for refreshing tired, stale feet) or ti tree oil, which is a natural disinfectant. You can make your own by mixing a couple drops of essential oil into an unscented cream.

You can find lotions, creams or oils designed for massage at a health food store or massage supply house. If hand lotion or baby oil is what you have on hand, feel free to use it, but remember that it will need to be applied more often than the products designed especially for massage.


If you are working on a friend, have their knee and foot supported while you work; a recliner chair with the foot rest up is an ideal place for the recipient, with the giver either on the floor or on a small stool in front of them.


BEGIN WITH CLEAN FEET. A foot soak with a cup of Epsom salts dissolved in a gallon of warm water is a wonderful way to de-stress before you begin the foot massage. Dry thoroughly, including between your toes.

GENTLY MASSAGE ONE FOOT completely, then do the other. Begin by massaging the cream gently into the whole foot, top and bottom, toes to ankle. End this portion with strokes going from your toes to your ankles.

WORK A LITTLE MORE DEEPLY for these next few strokes. Put both hands around your feet with your fingers on the bottom and your thumbs on the top. Move your thumbs between the tendons (those cords you feel on the top) smoothly and firmly from your ankle toward your toes. Make long strokes rather than short, jerky ones. Work with enough pressure so it's not ticklish, but not so deep it feels like a gouge.

WORK ON THE SOLES of your feet next. When you are working on yourself, this is easiest with your foot propped on the opposite knee, with a towel underneath to protect your clothing from cream. Using your thumbs, make circular motions that cover the entire surface of the bottom of your foot, moving from the base of your toes toward your heel. Keep the pressure of the circles steady and even. Use a bit more firmness on your heels; the skin here is tougher.

CONTINUE with a little firmer pressure yet, and go back over the entire surface of the sole. Give a few extra strokes to any area where you experience chronic pain--the ball of your foot, or the arch, or perhaps around your ankles. Do not dig deeply; this is supposed to be relaxing! One way to relieve cramping in the arch is to hold gentle pressure with one hand, and stretch your foot with the other, but not to the point of pain, just to muscle resistance.

MASSAGE YOUR TOES with gentle, circular motions, using a bit of a stretch while you rub. Then, give them a little exercise by rotating them. Grip all your toes together by holding them with your thumb underneath and all your fingers on top. Gently rotate them three times one direction, then three times reversed. Now rotate each one individually, gently, now, we don't want broken bones here!

SHAKE THE ENERGY loose from your own hands as you feel it building up. If this happens for you, you will be aware of it; if not, don't worry about it. Although excess energy tends to accumulate in the feet and be released by massage, not all people feel it, even among professional body workers.

TWIST the foot by rotating both hands around it, each going in opposite directions; this is reminiscent of the "Indian burn" move from grade school. To keep it feeling wonderful, you


MUST use ample cream--and work gently.

FINISH the massage by repeating the all-over gentle massage you did to begin with. Keep the pressure of your strokes moving from the toes toward the ankle, continuing to work up around your ankle and all the knobs and crevices you find there.

(The reason for this directional movement is that, as we age, the skin and tissue in our feet tend to migrate toward our toes, leaving our ankles bony and without proper support. That affects our balance; we can help to prevent this by carefully moving things back the other direction.)

After the massage, wipe the soles of your feet with a towel to prevent your feet from being slippery. Slip into some wonderful heavy cotton socks or favorite (clean) slippers.

Your feet will thank you for taking the time to learn an effective way to give a foot rub!

If you have chronic foot pain that is not relieved by a thorough foot massage, or any pain that is made worse, PLEASE see your health care professional for further advice or treatment.

Too Much Sodium from Softened Water?

A Answer (Published 3/5/2012)

Water from household taps usually contains calcium and magnesium that can precipitate out and stick to plumbing pipes, water heaters and even tea kettles as is known as "scale." Eventually scale can clog pipes and interfere with heat conduction. One solution to this hard water is to install a water softener that removes the calcium and magnesium via the exchange of ions with sodium or potassium ions in a bed of small plastic beads or through a chemical matrix called zeolite.

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I recommend using potassium in the water softener, although I realize that it is three to four times more costly than sodium. Potassium is better for your health and better (though still not great) for the environment. I think softened water is fine for bathing, but not for drinking or cooking.

I doubt that you absorb a significant amount of sodium through your skin and bathing in water softened with sodium is not a significant contributor to your intake. Bear in mind that 90 percent of the sodium consumed in the U.S. diet comes from salt and that we get most of that (about 75 percent) from processed and restaurant foods. The amount added in home cooking accounts for most of the rest.

I recommend limiting your daily sodium intake to 1,500 mg (the average American consumes far more than that). According to an analysis from Washington University in St. Louis, the mean sodium concentration of municipal non-softened water is 110 mg per liter. Sodium from softened water can raise levels as high as 1,219 mg per liter. Using data from a 1997 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the analysis noted that in 17 percent of the households surveyed sodium levels were higher than 400 mg per liter (the harder the water, the more sodium needed to soften it). Drinking two liters of water, each of which contain 400 mg of sodium, would account for more than half your daily limit of 1,500 mg.

If you're concerned about the amount of sodium you consume, begin by avoiding processed foods, canned foods and snack foods. Keep the saltshaker off the table, and exclude foods with visible salt such as pretzels, chips and salted nuts. You can reduce some of the sodium in pickled foods by rinsing or soaking them in fresh water before eating them. Over time, you will notice that your taste for sodium will change and foods you once found appetizing will seem too salty.

The ratio of sodium to potassium in the diet and in our systems seems to affect blood pressure and kidney function more than salt levels alone. I also recommend increasing your potassium intake because these two elements balance each other. The best way to do that is to eat more fruits and vegetables. Most fruits are good sources of potassium, especially bananas, as are dark leafy greens, potatoes and legumes. Salt substitutes contain potassium chloride; do not use them without first consulting with your physician. And never take potassium supplements, except as prescribed by a physician.

Andrew Weil, M.D.

Oil Spreading techniques

Techniques Spreading Oil by Bodyrubs raytown

Warm oil in your hands.
(Be careful not to let drops fall on your partner.)




Spread the oil by sliding your hands up the back side:
starting at the feet, pull up the legs, the torso,all the way off the fingertips.

Repeat the same sequence on the other side.

(It is easier if you first move to the other side.)
This is not the only oil application. Generally, you add more oil in the initial stroke of each section.

Techniques for Bodyrubs Raytown

Finger Pulling massage

Fingers' Pulling massage

With a finger pad
on each side of the spine at the neck,
pull downward toward the buttocks.
Use a firm pressure.

(You can have even more pressure
by putting the fingers of your other hand
on top of the first.)



Side Pulling



Alternating your hands on one side,
slide them in a pulling manner
across the side of the torso
toward the spine.

(This series includes the area from the hips
to near the underarms.)

Move to the other side, and apply the pulling movements to the opposite side.

Mouse Study Suggests Vitamin E May Weaken Bones

SUNDAY, March 4 (HealthDay News) -- Vitamin E may stimulate cells that result in bone loss, a new study suggests.

Researchers led by Shu Takeda of Keio University in Tokyo said their findings could have implications for people who take vitamin E supplements.

The researchers explain that maintaining a balance between bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) and bone-degrading cells (osteoclasts) keeps bones strong. Although prior studies had suggested that vitamin E could be beneficial for bone health, the Japanese researchers found the opposite may be true, since the nutrient seems to trigger the production of bone-eroding osteoclasts.

A U.S. expert agreed with the hypothesis.

"Bone health is a dynamic tissue and issue," said Dr. Robert Graham, an internist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "It is in a constant struggle between osteoblasts ... and osteoclasts."

Understanding this cellular battle "is crucial in understanding how vitamin E may affect our bone health," Graham said.

The new study, published online March 4 in Nature Medicine, revealed that mice deficient in vitamin E actually have higher bone mass because there is less bone breakdown. Meanwhile, healthy mice that were fed a diet with the amount of vitamin E found in typical human supplements lost bone mass.

The study has revealed "the opposite of what was traditionally believed," Graham said. "This is intriguing, because previous in vitro

No need to stick with demitasse

Dark roast aficionados and overworked college students need not fear having a few cups of coffee a day, suggests a new study. Researchers from Germany report that people who drink coffee do not have any increased risk of chronic disease such as heart disease or cancer, compared to those who abstain from the beverage — and they may even have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

In a study of over 42,000 adults without a pre-existing chronic condition, researchers assessed participants’ coffee drinking habits, along with their diet, exercise, and general health. Over the course of nine years, the researchers assessed participants at two- to three-year intervals, paying special attention to indicators of conditions such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, or diabetes. The results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed no difference between coffee drinkers and non-drinkers in the rate of developing serious chronic diseases. The most significant difference, in fact, was that coffee drinkers were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, the most common form. When researchers controlled for factors such as weight and smoking, they found that people who drank four cups of coffee a day were 23 percent less likely to develop diabetes than those who drank none.

ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross appreciates having this large (although observational) study to provide a clearer picture of coffee consumption in the wake of earlier studies that questioned its health effects. “This report suggests that people who drink even fairly large amounts of coffee don’t need to worry about reducing their consumption to ward off chronic illness,” he observes.