Tag Archives: health benefits

Why Should We Start to Drink Green Tea?

Posted on March 26, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Health issues are a topic that everybody is interested in. People find healthy foods because they have irregular eating habits and living habits. Organic foods, vegetables, less meat consumptions, fresh fruits, supplements like vitamin D are major substances that most people are pursuing.

Amongst those various health-related foods, one of the most I love to have is green tea because of its huge benefits other than anything.

source: nokchawon

Green tea is the most well-known and popular beverage in the world. Even people living in non- tea culture conturies enjoy green tea for its health benefits.  The origin of green tea started in China and it is widely accepted that the first green tea appeared in history was in 2723 BC. Then green tea spread to East Asia and Britain, and then to the rest of the world.

source: teasenz

Then why is green tea so loved? What makes it so beneficial to our health?

Green tea has a variety of antioxidants and nutrients. Catechin and caffeine are well-known among them. These antioxidants and nutrients work in multiple beneficial ways in our body.

Here are few benefits of drinking green tea

 

1) Protect the heart health:

Having green tea prevent many risk factors for heart disease such as stroke, lowering blood pressure, and reducing cholesterol levels. Even after suffering from heart disease, green tea helps the recovery of heart cells.

2) Protect vision:

One of major nutrients in green tea is called catechins; a type of antioxidants. Because catechins are strong antioxidatns, they help to protect the eyes  from oxidation stress and also vision loss. Therefore, it would benefit to people who are surrounded by electronic devices.

3) Improve bone health:

Because bone is a living tisuue, it has certain balance between formation and resorption. As humans get old, this balance gets weaker too. Regular consumption of green tea helps to increase bone formation (mineralization) and weaken the cells that resorb it, so the balance of formation and resorption is maintained in normal.

4) Improve brain function:

Regular consumption of green tea every day could help to improve memory. According to the reseach done by University of Newcastle, green tea inhibits certain enzymes in the brain which cause memory loss. In addition, it is shown that green tea is also effective to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Green tea inhibits the enzyme in the brain which breaks down neurotransmitter (it transmits signals across brain nerve cells).

5) Prevent cancers:

According to the research in the Nature, regular consumption of green tea help preven cancers in humans by inhibition of enzyme that causes growth of cancers; typically stomach, breast, and prostate cancer.

 

source: ochaandco

Too much dosage of any foods or drinks always induce troubles as well as green tea. However, moderate intake of green tea regularly will change our lifestyle and health in highly beneficial ways. This is not hassle as much as visiting physicians and not hard as much as doing exercise everyday. This simple living habits can greatly change our health.

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A Glass a Day Keeps the Doctor Away!

Posted on February 21, 2018 by | 5 comments

At the end of a draining week, there is nothing more satisfying than having a long awaited glass of red wine. This may seem like a guilty pleasure, but what if your favourite weekend beverage actually has proven health benefits?

Source: Flickr

History has shown that red wine has been in production for over 6,000 years, and has been used primarily for religious purposes since its origin. However, red wine has been proven to be advantageous for one’s health.

The term wine describes an extensive class of alcoholic beverages, which are the result of grape fermentation. Although wine is a fruit product produced from grapes, the process of fermentation allows it to transform from regular grape juice, into the beverage that we all know as wine!

Ethanol is the alcoholic component in wine, and it has been proven that moderate ethanol consumption can lead to a longer lifespan. A study in Eastern France was conducted, and moderate red wine intake, which was defined as 2-5 glasses per day, was shown to have a 24%-31% reduction in mortality. Now, how exactly does red wine make you live longer?

What makes red wine so unique is the presence of secondary metabolites in grapes, which are called polyphenols. Secondary metabolites are organic molecules that are not directly involved in plant development. Rather, they indirectly aid in defense mechanisms, and keep plants safe.

The skin and seeds of grapes are the source of these polyphenols, and are essential components in the red wine making process. During fermentation of red wine, the skin and seeds are left on, thus allowing humans directly consume the polyphenols. In contrast, before being fermented, white wines are pressed off of the seeds and skins, which also explains why red wine has greater benefits when compared to white wine.

Polyphenols have vital antioxidant properties, which help to lower the overall risk of chronic diseases. They protect our body’s cells from damage, thus helping to lower the possibility of heart conditions, diabetes, and even cancer. Specifically, there is strong evidence that mortality caused by certain types of heart disease is decreased when red wine is consumed. For example, red wine can prevent build-up of fats and other substances in the arteries, ultimately reducing the risk of heart disease.

Source: Flickr

Now it is important to remember that this is all in moderation, and doctors recommend 5 ounces, or 1-2 glasses of red wine a day. With that being said, excess consumption of red wine, and similarly other alcoholic beverages, will not have the same effects, and can even lead to higher mortality. So remember, red wine may in fact have health benefits, but it is only a glass a day that will ultimately keep the doctor away.

Bottoms up!

By Alexis Llewellyn

 

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The Role of Vitamin D and the Deficiency of Vitamin D

Posted on February 5, 2018 by | 1 comment

Health issues are one of major concerns of us in present days. As our lives become urbanized and modernized, we take less care of our body. Subsequently, our nutrition balances are getting worse. Unfortunately, it is undeniable fact.

One of crucially important nutrition that we are usually missing these days is Vitamin D. Many of us may have heard about vitamin D at least once.

But, it is just without knowledge of its important role in our body when it is deficient.

Vitamin D, in simple description, is a key nutrition that regulates our feelings and health (preventing depression and strengthens bones). Therefore, it causes several problems without sufficient amount of vitamin D intake.

Vitamin D is synthesized in our cell tissues under the skin with exposure of sunlight, specifically ultraviolet rays:

  • In human, when 7-dehydrocholestrelol in our skin is exposed to sunlight, it is converted into cholecalciferol which is vitamin D3.
  • In plants, when sterol meets sunlight, it is converted into calciferol which is known as vitamin D2; regulates calcium and phosphorus in our body.

Source: wordpress vitaminsaandd

We are only able to treat vitamin D in form of D2 and D3 in our body and they both work the same thing during the metabolic process.

Vitamin D is easily absorbed through the skin into our body within the wavelength of 290 nm to 315 nm. People who spend more than 20 minutes a day outside between 10 am to 2 pm would have no worries of vitamin D deficiency.

However, due to the location of Canada (cloud-covered sunlight during winter in the norther hemisphere region) and long rainy seasons, we are not freely able to enjoy the sunlight well to absorb the enough amount of vitamin D.

So, vitamin D deficiency is very common to people in Canada during the winter season since we have much less exposure to sunlight.

source: nutritionaction

As a result, vitamin D deficiency may causes several serious problems:

1) Weaken the immune system

Vitamin D enhances T-cell; cells that destroy microbes causing diseases. In case of vitamin D deficiency, T-cell may be weakened.

2) Diabetes

Risk of type-2 diabetes increases by up to 80 % – Vitamin D helps with insulin (hormone that regulates blood sugar level) secretion and conversion to glucose (a type of sugar from food we eat) energy. Low levels increase insulin resistance and damage glucose metabolism

3) Cardiovascular diseases (hear and blood vessel diseases)

Vitamin D inhibits renin which is a hormone increases the blood pressure of the systolic period. Vitamin D deficiency increases risk of several cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension (high blood pressure), heart attacks, and heart failure.

4) Depression

Vitamin D deficiency causes low serotonin levels and high cortisol hormone. Cortisol is stress hormone and serotonin is brain hormone that regulates happiness. The level of serotonin is increased when the body is exposed to sunlight.

source: department of nutrition, Harvard school of Public Health

 

To prevent vitamin D deficiency, it is best to expose oneself to sunlight 15~20 minutes a day without sunscreen. When it is not possible to spend time under the sun, however, intake of vitamin D with foods are another good option.

 

source: asianetindia

 

Sources of vitamin D from foods:

  • salmon&tuna
  • whole grains
  • egg yolk
  • mushroom
  • milk
  • cheese

source: BC Medical Journal

 

Even we intake vitamin D with foods, the content is too small for suggested daily dose. Therefore, the intake of vitamin D supplements are considered as the second-best option. However, supplements may cause the overdose problem so that it is crucial to follow the recommended dosage.

 

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A Glass a Day Keeps the Doctor Away!

Posted on January 29, 2018 by | 1 comment

At the end of a draining week, there is nothing more satisfying than having that long awaited glass of red wine. This may seem like a guilty pleasure, but what if your favourite weekend beverage actually has proven health benefits?

Source: Flickr

History has shown that red wine has been in production for over 6000 years, and has been used primarily for religious purposes since its origin. However, red wine has been proven to have significant health benefits.

The term wine describes an extensive class of alcoholic beverages, which are the result of grape fermentation. Wine is a fruit product produced from grapes, however the process of fermentation allows it to transform from regular grape juice into the beverage that we all know know as wine!

Ethanol is the alcoholic component in wine, and it has been proven that moderate ethanol consumption can lead to a longer lifespan. A study in eastern France was conducted, and moderate red wine consumption, which was defined as 2-5 glasses per day, was shown to have a 24%-31% reduction in mortality. Now, how exactly does red wine make you live longer?

What makes red wine so special is the content of secondary metabolites in grapes, which are called polyphenols. Secondary metabolites are organic molecules that are not directly involved in plant development. Rather, they indirectly aid in defense mechanisms, and keep plants safe. The skin and stems of grapes (the source of polyphenols) are essential components in the red wine making process. This also explains why red wine has greater benefits when compared to white wine.

These polyphenols have very prominent antioxidant properties, which help to lower the overall risk of chronic diseases. They protect our body’s cells from damage, thus helping to lower the possibility of heart conditions, diabetes, and even cancer. Specifically, there is strong evidence that atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease mortality is decreased through consumption of red wine. This means that red wine prevents build-up of fats and other substances in the arteries, ultimately reducing the risk of heart disease.

Source: Flickr

Now it is important to remember that this is all in moderation, and doctors recommend 5 ounces, or 1-2 glasses of red wine a day. Consequently, excess consumption of red wine, and similarly other alcoholic beverages, will not have the same effects, and can even lead to higher mortality. So remember, red wine may in fact have health benefits, but it is only a glass a day that will ultimately keep the doctor away.

Bottoms up!

By Alexis Llewellyn

 

 

 

1 Comment

Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in News

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