Why you should watch how much sodium you eat

Eating a sodium-free diet by choice may be difficult to imagine, especially when you don’t suffer from high blood pressure or food-restricting conditions like diabetes. However, it may be a smart move.

A recent article in the Huffington Post lists numerous negative health effects caused by high sodium consumption, which includes kidney disease, osteoporosis, asthma and even gastric cancer. The majority of these negative health affects are a result of the average sodium intake in America today. About 3500mg of sodium is consumed by a single individual in a day. Compared to our early ancestral diet of natural foods where there was only 1000mg of sodium, this is a grotesquely high number.

Living in a society where fast food and other unhealthy options are readily available makes sodium and diet constrictions a challenge for many.  Unfortunately, a high sodium diet puts even the healthiest person at risk for health trouble beyond high blood pressure. So much so, that the American Heart Association has recently dropped its recommended maximum sodium intake from 2300 mg to 1500 mg.

Unhealthy eating trends over the past decade have varied among North Americans. Only until recently, has affordable, organic food become more mainstream and widely available. Stores like Trader Joe’s can be found in more local neighborhoods. Whole Foods, although pricier, offers organic, pre-made balanced meals that provide consumers a variety of options to chose from.

Eating less sodium doesn’t have to be a painful alteration to your lifestyle. Not to mention, the health benefits you will gain from eating a low sodium diet will far outweigh how you looked and felt before!

Courtesy of CareNotes: The Home Care Newsletter

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Home Care Assistance offers the highest quality 24/7 live-in home care in the Region of Halton (Oakville, Burlington, Halton Hills, and Milton), Region of Peel (Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon), Hamilton and surrounding areas.

"Taste receptors" found in lung; potential breakthrough in asthma treatment

A University of Maryland study, published in Nature Magazine, has shown that bombarding taste receptors in the lungs of mice with bitter-tasting compounds opened their airways and eased breathing. These taste receptors can be found on the smooth muscle of the lungs and have a different composition from the well-known taste buds in your mouth. The most notable difference is the fact that the taste receptors in the lung do not send signals to the brain however still respond to exposure to bitter compounds. Being on the smooth muscle lining, this discovery could be a breakthrough in asthma medication and treatment which is focused on opening the contracted muscle lining. Lead researcher, Dr. Stephen Liggett believes that an inhaler based on bitter substances such as quinine or saccharine could "replace or enhance" current treatment "more profoundly than any known drug that we have." However, simply eating bitter foods does not yield the same results not prevent people from asthma attacks.

Dr. Yassine Amrani from the University of Leicester was pleased by the study and believes the next step is to reproduce the effect in humans and prevent any unwanted side effects such as inflammation.

The concept of having bitter taste receptors in the smooth muscle of the airways is a new one, and activating this receptor could offer a new way to relax them. -- Dr. Yassine Amrani, University of Leicester

Asthma UK was quick to announce that new drugs based on this research would not hit the market for many years however is very excited by the prospects of the asthma treatments. Leanne Metcalf, the director of research at Asthma UK felt that research into new treatments was "vital" as the millions of current asthmatics still have trouble controlling their symptoms using existing drugs.

The effectiveness of bitter substances at overcoming the airway narrowing that causes asthma symptoms has so far only been tested in mice, however this somewhat surprising approach does make sense in terms of what we already know about the cell signalling processes involved in asthma... with further in-depth research, this approach could potentially pave the way for a new range of asthma treatments based on bitter substances which could either supplement or replace existing asthma treatments but if this were possible, it would be a long way into the future. -- Leanne Metcalf, director of research at Asthma UK

Source: BBC Health

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Home Care Assistance offers the highest quality 24/7 live-in home care in the Region of Halton (Oakville, Burlington, Halton Hills, and Milton), Region of Peel (Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon) and Hamilton.

Study: Soft Drinks, Sleeping Pills Linked to Heartburn

If heartburn is keeping you awake at night, you may want to lay off the carbonated beverages or sleeping pills if this uncomfortable condition is affeccting your sleep. A new study on the risk factors associated with night-time heartburn found that drinking carbonated soft drinks and ingesting benzodiazepines, a commonly-prescribed class of sleeping pill, are among the strongest predictors of heartburn. The study, which appeared in the journal Chest, is the largest study undertaken to date on the incidence and risk factors associated with nighttime heartburn.

Heartburn is a symptom of a condition called gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). GERD occurs when stomach acids creep up into the esophagus, causing burning and chest pain and sometimes leaving a bad taste in your mouth. For many people, it can be brought on by big heavy meals, spicy foods, or alcohol. Lying down too soon after eating can also bring on heartburn. Many people have the mild form of GERD, where symptoms happen less than 3 times per week and do not interfere with sleep or daily activity. When GERD happens more frequently and to the extent that it keeps you awake, it is classified as severe. While mild GERD can generally be managed through lifestyle modifications or non-prescription medications, severe GERD usually requires prescription medication or even surgery and can even be a risk factor for esophageal cancer.

"There are simple lifestyle changes people can make to help reduce their frequency of heartburn during sleep. Reducing consumption of carbonated soft drinks, replacing benzodiazepines with other types of sleeping pills, and losing weight can all help reduce nighttime heartburn." --Dr. Paul A. Kvale, president of the American College of Chest Physicians.

The study is the first to look at how many people are being kept up at night, said the study's author, Dr. Ronnie Fass. The study involved more than 15,000 Americans, all of whom filled out questionnaires on their sleep habits, medical history, social habits, and more.

"We found that up to a quarter of the U.S. population loses sleep because of nighttime heartburn, and many of these individuals have related sleep complaints and suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness," Dr. Fass said.

Because excess weight is a known risk factor for heartburn and was found in the study to be one of the predictors, it's possible the rate of nighttime heartburn is lower in Canada. About half the population here is considered overweight or obese, compared to two thirds of Americans.

Among the factors that were strong predictors were soft drinks (likely because of their acidity, the researchers said), certain prescription sleeping pills known as benzodiazepines (such as diazepam (Valium), triazolam (Halcion), lorazepam (Ativan), and alprazolam (Xanax)), and having high blood pressure or asthma. Sleeping problems such as insomnia, snoring, and daytime sleepiness were also associated with nighttime heartburn.

But the good news is that the experts don't believe people who report nighttime heartburn are doomed to uncomfortable, sleepless nights.

Courtesy of Canada.com

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Home Care Assistance offers the highest quality 24/7 live-in home care in the Region of Halton (Oakville, Burlington, Halton Hills, and Milton), Region of Peel (Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon) and Hamilton.

6 Health Benefits of Having Pets

According to care2.com, scientists have recently discovered many health benefits that can be attributed to pets. Many people intuitively believe that pets have healing benefits, but there is now scientific proof for such beliefs:

1. Pets lessen the risk of allergies and asthma: Recent studies have found that children who grow up in homes with dogs are much less likely to have certain allergies, and are less likely to develop eczema later in life.

2. Pets reduce stress: A Mindlab International survey reported that 55% of people were more relaxed after spending time with their pets. Stress reduction is a novelty in today’s society and can greatly improve one’s mental and physical health.

3. Cats lower risk of fatal heart attack: Those who own cats have been found to have a 40% lower risk of heart attack, most likely due to the fact that owning a cat can reduce anxiety, which can lead to heart conditions.

4. Dogs lower blood pressure and cholesterol: The British Journal of Health Psychology reported this, and attributed it to the fact that dog owners generally engage in regular walks with their pet.

5. Pets can help people with serious illness: Physicians often encourage ailing patients to own a pet because it has been found that this can motivate people to take better care of themselves.

6. Dogs help with weight loss: A study from the University of Missouri found that people were much more likely to be motivated to walk when their walking partner was a dog rather than another human. It has been found that walking a dog for just 20 minutes a day could result in up to 14 pounds of weight-loss in a year.

Source: Home Care Blog

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Home Care Assistance offers the highest quality 24/7 live-in home care in the Region of Halton (Oakville, Burlington, Halton Hills, and Milton), Region of Peel (Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon) and Hamilton.