Healthy Me - At Home and Away: Amsterdam

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Vitamin D boosts brain power in middle-aged men

AFP - Thursday, May 21

Higher levels of vitamin D, synthesized in the skin after being exposed to the sun and found in oily fish (such as salmon), are associated with increased brain power among middle-aged men, according to a new British study.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - - Higher levels of vitamin D, synthesized in the skin after being exposed to the sun and found in oily fish, are associated with increased brain power among middle-aged men, according to a new British study.

The link between increased vitamin D and faster information processing "was more significant in men aged over 60 years old, although the biological reasons for this remain unclear," read the report, to appear in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Manchester, in collaboration with other European specialists, compared the cognitive performance of more than 3,000 men between the ages of 40 and 79 years.

Men with higher levels of vitamin D "performed consistently better in a simple and sensitive neuropsychological test that assesses an individual's attention and speed of information processing," the study showed.

Resarchers "observed a significant, independent association between a slower information processing speed and lower levels of vitamin D," said lead author David Lee at Manchesters School of Translational Medicine.

The study is based on a large population sample and took into account other possible factors, such as depression, season and levels of physical activity.

The main source of vitamin D is 10 to 15 minutes daily exposure to sunlight. Oily fish are also an excellent source of vitamin D.

A separate 2008 study by researchers in Amsterdam showed that a lack of vitamin D could increase the risk of depression or other psychiatric problems among older people.

From Yahoo! News; see the source article here.

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Don't like the fish? This one will do!

Friday, May 15, 2009

It’s a matter of time when Singapore will see H1N1 case

Channel NewsAsia - Saturday, May 16

It’s a matter of time when S’pore will see H1N1 case

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Health (MOH) says it is a matter of time when Singapore will see an Influenza A (H1N1) case.

An MOH spokesman, who was responding to media queries on Malaysia confirming its first H1N1 case, said Singaporeans should not be surprised by this development.

The spokesman added that the Malaysian health authority had informed its Singapore counterpart that there were no Singaporeans and also no passengers connecting to Singapore onboard the flight taken by the confirmed Malaysian case.

He said the infected person in Malaysia is reported to be in stable condition and will likely recover fully — as in many other cases elsewhere — because he had sought medical treatment as soon as symptoms appeared.

The spokesman added that prompt treatment will lead to full recovery, unless there are other underlying medical conditions.

He also said the only way to avoid infection is for people to maintain a high standard of personal hygiene and be socially responsible by staying at home if they are unwell and wearing a mask if they are on the way to see a doctor.

— CNA/ir

From Yahoo! News; see the source article here.

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Be protected now!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Obese young men have less hope of marriage: study

Well, this is one way that your future is drastically affected by your weight…
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FP - Friday, May 8

AMSTERDAM (AFP) - - Men who were grossly overweight at the age of 18 had nearly 50 percent less chance of being married by their 30s and 40s, an international conference on obesity heard in Amsterdam on Thursday.

The findings, which held true regardless of the men's intellectual performance or socio-economic position, could suggest that women rank a man's appearance higher than other traits when choosing a partner.

"Yes, that may be one explanation," researcher Malin Kark of the Swedish Karolinska Institutet medical university, told AFP on the sidelines of the four-day gathering hosted by the European Association for the Study of Obesity.

Kark's study was conducted among more than 500,000 Swedish men born between 1951 and 1961.

It found that men who had been obese at 18 were 46 percent less likely to be married in 1991, when they were aged between 30 and 40, than men with no weight problem, and 45 percent less likely by 2004.

For men who were overweight but not obese at 18, the chances of marriage were somewhat higher -- 10 percent lower than for men of normal weight in their 30s and nine percent lower in their forties.

"We think this shows that there is stigmatisation of obese young men that continues into adulthood -- in their working life and also in inter-personal relationships," said Kark.

While no information was available on the men's adult weight, other studies have found that obese adolescents were likely to become obese adults, she added.

Obesity for the purposes of the study was qualified as a person with a body mass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of more than 30.

The World Health Organisation estimates that in 2005 about 1.6 billion adults were overweight, of which at least 400 million were obese.

From Yahoo! News; source article is here