Squatting is a healthier way to go according to various researchers. On August 26, the online magazine Slate provided a review of the health benefits of squatting that include shorter potty time, “‘complete evacuation’ of the colon, ridding our bowel of disease-causing toxins,” and hemorrhoid prevention.

Believe it or not, the current toilet seat is a comparatively new invention. It was developed in the Industrial revolution by people who thought it was more ‘dignified’ to sit on a ‘throne’ than the way the natives did.

However, many doctors at the time were worried about this causing health problems because it went against nature. But in Victorian England where even table legs were covered with long table-cloths because they suggested legs (which were called only “limbs”) it was considered very improper to discuss such things.
If you have ever felt, as many, many people do, that after you have evacuated, there is still something left, here is the reason:

The anal canal is UNSTRAIGHTENED when seated. Bowel evacuation when seated results frequently in OBSTRUCTIVE CONSTIPATION.

Adopt a relaxed, FULL SQUAT POSTURE and the anal canal STRAIGHTENS

This obviously can help constipation. Months later other health improvements can happen, due to your body being free of extra toxins. Also, bladder function may improve after several months because of an improved pelvic floor nerve supply.

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Taking afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong is one of the few traditions left in the city from its colonial period. Once the hottest ticket in town for Governors, Generals and visiting royalty, the Peninsula Hotel remains the height of luxury in Hong Kong and Asia and the imperious Peninsula Tea Set has changed little in the last eighty years.

Set in the colonial styled Peninsula Hotel, all marble floors, gilded columns and expensive looking paintings, afternoon tea takes place in the palatial Lobby.

The high tea set itself is straight out of Alice in Wonderland and features Earl Grey, or your choice of tea, a selection of belt busting cakes, English scones and finger sandwiches all served on silver platters. It’ best shared by two. While you work your way through the goodies, you’ll be serenaded by a string quartet and fussed over by bow tied waiters.

Afternoon tea is offered at the Peninsula everyday from 2p.m. – 7p.m. The Lobby does not accept reservations and at weekends you may need to queue before getting a seat.

The Peninsula Hotel is one of the few places left in Hong Kong that enforces a dress code and you’ll be turned back at the door, if you’re wearing flip flops or, for men, sleeveless shirts.

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Even though we knew that red wine and dark chocolate have health benefits, a new study finds that the two are actually potent medicine for killing cancer.

In addition to blueberries, garlic and some teas, Angiogenesis Foundation leader William Li told attendees at the TED Conference in California that red wine and dark chocolate also have cancer-fighting qualities.

“What we eat is really our chemotherapy three times a day,” he said. The foods appear to cut off the blood supply to tumors and quite literally starve them to death. The Foundation went as far as to say that certain foods — like soy, parsley and red grapes — are as effective if not more than FDA approved drugs in battling cancer cells.

So, this Valentine’s Day, indulge in a nice glass of Cabernet and some chocolates without the guilt!

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Lingering residue from tobacco smoke which clings to upholstery, clothing and the skin releases cancer-causing agents, work in PNAS journal shows. Berkeley scientists in the US ran lab tests and found “substantial levels” of toxins on smoke-exposed material.

They say while banishing smokers to outdoors cuts second-hand smoke, residues will follow them back inside and this “third-hand smoke” may harm. Opponents called it a laughable term designed to frighten people unduly.

The scientists say nicotine stains on clothing, furniture and wallpaper can react with a common indoor pollutant to generate dangerous chemicals called tobacco-specific nitrosamines or TSNAs.

In the tests, contaminated surface exposed to “high but reasonable” amounts of the pollutant nitrous acid – emitted by unvented gas appliances and in car exhaust – boosted levels of newly formed TSNAs 10-fold.

Substantial traces of TSNAs were also found on the inside surfaces of a truck belonging to a heavy smoker.

The researchers say third-hand smoke is an unappreciated health hazard and suggest a complete ban on smoking in homes and in vehicles to eliminate any risk.

Cancer chemicals

Toxic particles from cigarette smoke can linger on surfaces long after the cigarette has been put out, and small children are particularly susceptible because they are likely to breathe in close proximity, or even lick and suck them, they say.

Researcher Lara Gundel, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said: “Smoking outside is better than smoking indoors but nicotine residues will stick to a smoker’s skin and clothing.

“Those residues follow a smoker back inside and get spread everywhere. The biggest risk is to young children.

“Dermal uptake of the nicotine through a child’s skin is likely to occur when the smoker returns and if nitrous acid is in the air, which it usually is, then TSNAs will be formed.”

They are now doing more research to better understand what threat, if any, TSNAs pose.

Amanda Sandford of Action on Smoking and Health said: “The harmful effects of second-hand smoke are already well-established but this study adds a new dimension to the dangers associated with smoking and provides further evidence of the need to protect children, in particular, from exposure to tobacco smoke.

“The study shows that the residue of smoke on surfaces represents a potential risk for cancer but so far we don’t know how big at risk.”

Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ lobby group Forest, remained sceptical.

He said: “The dose makes the poison and there is no evidence that exposure to such minute levels is harmful.

“That doesn’t seem to matter, though. The aim, it seems, is to generate alarm in the hope that people will be stopped from smoking or will give up.

“The real danger is not third-hand smoke but propaganda dressed up as science. Until the evidence of harm is irrefutable, scientists and campaigners should resist the urge to tell us how to live our lives.”

Ed Young of Cancer Research UK said: “This is an interesting piece of research that adds the possibility of an extra level of harm from tobacco smoke.

“There is clear evidence about the harmful effects of second-hand smoke to children, especially in homes and cars.

“The most important step parents can take to protect their families from the dangers of cigarette smoke is to make their homes and cars smokefree.”

Source: BBC News

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Drinking an eight ounce glass of pomegranate juice every day may slow the growth of prostate cancer and even prevent men from dying of the disease, U.S. scientists said.

Men who drank the beverage had a longer time until doubling of their blood levels of PSA — a protein that indicates the presence of prostate cancer, a new three-year pilot study from the University of California at Los Angeles found over the weekend.

The average doubling time for the disease is about 15 months. In the study, however, drinking pomegranate juice extends this period to 54 months – an almost four-fold increase. Patients with short doubling times are more likely to die from the cancer.

The study involved 50 prostate cancer patients who had undergone surgery or radiotherapy.

All the men had experienced a post-treatment increase in blood levels of PSA (prostate-specific antigen), indicating that cancer was still present in their bodies. Over a period of three years, scientists measured the men’s PSA levels to calculate how fast they were taking to double.

The effect was so pronounced it may allow older men to avoid dying from the cancer, experts believe.  The research, published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, showed that an ingredient in the fruit may help to slow the growing pace of breast cancer tumors.

Researchers in the City of Hope Cancer Research and Treatment Center in Duarte, California, found that ellagitannins in pomegranate inhibit an enzyme which helps the body make oestrogen, a hormone which fuels most breast cancers.

Medicines as aromatase inhibitors are for post-menopausal women who have got breast cancer. The ingredient in pomegranate has the same effect as the drugs.

“We were surprised by our findings,” said Dr. Shiuan Chan, one of the researchers. However, the researchers did not recommend people start eating the fruit as a replacement for the medicines. Chan said, “They are not as potent as the real drugs.”

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Governments around the world are constantly trying to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks by using stringent screening tools in airports. These practices that border on the violation of privacy, now may potentially cause serious long term health problems.

Airport security may begin to use x-ray scanning technology on every passenger before they are allowed to board an airplane. The scanner is called a backscatter, which is an x-ray system that would be able to identify bombs or other lethal weapons attached to a traveler’s body. It provides the observer with a full nude picture of a person’s body. The scanner that will most likely end up in airports around the world, shoots a person with ionizing radiation that is equal to less than 1 percent of a dental x-ray.

Experts say that this extremely low dose will not cause any detrimental effects and is perfectly safe. However, the concern is for those frequent fliers who may be exposed to this low dose several times a week. The US government has already allotted funds for 450 of these machines to be used in airports around the country. Britain has plans to use a similar technology that uses less powerful, non-ionizing radiation.

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