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Healthy Living Newsletter - Volume 2, No. 10
Issue Date: June 1, 2005
Publisher: Mellanie True Hills, The Health & Productivity Revitalizer®
Escape the hype. The Healthy Living News cuts through the health clutter to bring you reliable news to optimize your life, your health, and your work.
Be your best. The Healthy Living News provides you information that makes it easy to know how to take the best care of yourself.
In this issue we'll explore:
- Even If You Eat Healthfully, You May Still Be at Risk for a Heart Attack...Unless You Do This
- ALERT: Chemicals in Plastics Increase Your Breast Cancer Risk
- Stem Cell Leapfrogging
- "Cone of Silence" For Your Cubicle
1. Even If You Eat Healthfully, You May Still Be at Risk for a Heart Attack...Unless You Do This
You can eat healthfully, and have normal cholesterol, but still be at risk for a heart attack. It almost happened to me...I came within one millimeter of a deadly heart attack.
One possible explanation is that as we age, tiny cells inside the blood vessel walls, called mitochondria, start to leak a highly-reactive form of oxygen that damages the cell walls. The body tries to repair this damage through building up plaque in the arteries.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis created mice with leaky mitochondria, and fed them low-fat, low-cholesterol diets. All of the mice developed clogged arteries.
The researchers suggested that leaky mitochondria may result from low levels of the good fats, such as omega-3 fatty acids. So here's one more reason to eat fish, flaxseed, avocados, walnuts, or other foods that are good sources of Omega-3 fatty acids. Eating these foods could save your life.
Source: Nature
2. ALERT: Chemicals in Plastics Increase Your Breast Cancer Risk
The hard plastics used for food and beverage containers often contain a chemical called Bisphenol A, which leaches into food upon heating. Recent research in mice leads investigators to conclude that this chemical may be especially damaging to both male and female fetuses in the womb. In the case of female offspring, bisphenol A appears to increase the density of breast tissue, which in humans is a known risk factor for breast cancer.
What does that mean to you, especially if you're pregnant? The advice our son's allergist gave us many years ago seems to be prudent for all of us: avoid mixing hot foods and plastics. He said to never microwave food with plastic wrap or plastic containers, and to always let food cool down before storing in plastic containers (or even better, store it in glass or ceramic containers).
For more details, see Nature or the journal Endocrinology.
3. Stem Cell Leapfrogging
The recent announcements about Therapeutic Cloning, the South Korean breakthrough in stem cell research (as reported in our last issue), were apparently the kick in the seat of the pants needed to push the US Congress forward.
The US House of Representatives last week passed a measure that would allow using Federal funds to support stem-cell research using embryos discarded by in vitro fertilization clinics. As one representative put it, our goal is to 'reassert our leadership' in stem-cell research.
This measure is expected to easily pass the Senate, but President Bush has said that he would veto the bill. Many speculate that he may not actually do so as this would become his first veto. Since 58 Senators have sent a letter to President Bush asking him to drop his veto plans, and 20 more say that they support the bill, if the President does choose to veto it, Senators have vowed to override the veto.
4. "Cone of Silence" For Your Cubicle
Are you stressed by noise in surrounding cubicles? If so, a solution is coming. A voice privacy system, called Babble, being developed for Herman Miller, the office furniture company, by a company called Applied Minds, will scramble voices to create office privacy.
For more information, see this article in The New York Times.
In your quest to be the healthiest you possible, download our Gift to You, What Every Woman Needs to Know About Weight and Stress to Save Her Life, or get yourself a copy of A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life. Please let your friends and family know about this, too.
Be the best possible you!
Until next time, wishing you health and happiness,
Mellanie
Mellanie True Hills
The Health & Productivity Revitalizer®...improving lives & productivity
Speaker and Author of A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life
Read the first two chapters
PS. Invite Mellanie to speak to your company, organization, or association. Her latest speaking topic is Getting More Done Without Killing Yourself. See some organizations for whom she has spoken or with whom she has worked at and view comments from attendees at her speeches.
PPS. Feel free to reprint this or any of my articles in your publication, company newsletter, or on your intranet. Please include attribution, copyright, and contact information (http://www.saveherlife.com and http://www.mellaniehills.com) and please send us a copy. Thanks.
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