Get 30 minutes of exercise a day It forces muscle cells to take up extra blood sugar and also makes them more sensitive to insulin
Trim belly fat Eat whole grains, fruits and veg, and make time to exercise - these strategies can shrink dangerous abdominal fat, which wraps itself around your internal organs and raises your odds of metabolic syndrome.
Snack on fruit not sweets High-sugar, low-fibre processed sweets send blood sugar levels soaring and trigger the release of loads of insulin to bring levels down. A high-sugar diet taxes your body's ability to control blood sugar, especially if you're overweight or inactive.
Could you have metabolic syndrome?
You're likely to have metabolic snydrome if you have three of these:
Evidence suggests that too much of this amino acid-created when your body digests protein, especially from meat - damages the inner lining of arteries and promotes blood clotting. People with high homocysteine levels have an increased risk of heart disease. Homocysteine levels are naturally kept low by higher blood levels of B vitamins and people who eat plenty of fruit and veg - which contain vitamin B6 and folate (also a B vitamin) - generally have lower rates of heart disease. But vegans tend to have high homocysteine levels because they eat no meat, fish or dairy produce, the main sources of vitamin B12, which also cuts homocysteine levels.
So a healthy, balanced diet is what you need - and unless you're deficient in B vitamins, it's no good just popping a vitamin pill. In the Norweign Vitamin Trial(NORVIT), researchers from the University of Tromse found that people who took supplements containing folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 got no benefit from supplements even though homocysteine levels fell up to 30 percent. Here are some hints on keeping vitamin B levels naturally high and homocysteine levels in check.
Cut the coffee A study at the University of Bergen in Norway, showed that those who drank more coffee had lower vitamin B and higher homocysteine levels.
Have an orange at breakfast and a spinach-and-tomato salad with lunch Citrus fruits, tomatoes and spinach are all sources of folic acid, which breaks down homocysteine.
Snack on low-fat, unsweetened yoghurt People who regularly enjoy dairy products have homocysteine levels 15 percent lower than those who avoid them, studies show.
Stir-fry peppers and broccoil for dinner In a study of 6,000 people, those who ate the most peppers (red, yellow, green or hot) and the most cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower had homocysteine levels 16.5 percent lower than those who didn't eat them regularly.
Cancer
For all the fear it invokes, cancer is not an invader of your body, like a virus or bacteria. Cancer is simply your own cells running amok. It develops when the built-in mechanisms designed to destroy damaged cells fail or are overwhelmed by the extent of the damaged cells.
And so those damaged or cancerous cells keep doing what cells do - multiplying. Unlike normal cells they don't have an 'off' switch, so they keep dividing, using up valuable blood, oxygen and nutrients that healthy cells need. Eventually, the proliferation of cancer cells makes it impossible for healthy cells to survive.
These cancer cells are pretty smart. They are able, in many instances, to disguise themselves to evade detection by the immune system. They also mutate to resist the poisons designed to root them out. And, sometimes, they lay dormant for years until something - such as biochemical stress, gene mutations, toxins or trauma - triggers them into action again.
The connection between cancer and age? Maths. The older you are, the longer your cells have been dividing. The greater the number of divisions, the greater the likelihood that some mistakes will occur. The more mistakes, the greater the likelihood that one of those 'mistake' cells survive and become a cancer. That's why 77 percent of all cancers are diagnosed in those aged 55 and over. And it's why until about 100 years ago - when the average lifespan in developed countries finally passed the 50 year mark - cancer was relatively rare. Today, it's among, the leading causes of death in developed countries, with one in three dying from cancer.
But here's the thing: about two-thirds of all cancers could be prevented - if people stopped smoking, ate better foods and exercised.
Your job, then is to arm yourself with all known (and suspected) weapons to reduce the probablity that cellular mistakes will occur and increases the likelihood that if they do occur, the system designed to correct or destroy them work. That means reducing the production of free radicals, increasing the availability of antioxidants to fight off free radicals, and stemming the tide of inflammation.
The best ways to prevent cancer
At a cellular level, all cancers are similar. But what makes cancer so challenging is that it can develop in many places in the body, each based on different triggers and causes.
What does this mean? For example, although excessive sun is the top cause of the cellular damage that leads to skin cancer, non-burning sun exposure may protect you from internal cancers, by boosting vitamin D production. And even though your digestive system encounters many toxins and chemicals in your food that can ultimately cause cancer to develop in your stomach. oesophagus or intestines,they might have less impact elsewhere in your body.
That means one set of preventive measures cannot effectively battle all cancers. On next, are the top five
top 5 cancer myths
Researchers from the American Cancer Society, the US equivalent of Cancer Research UK, decided to find out just how much we know about the disease. what they found might surprise you. More than 25 percent of the 1,000 people surveyed believed the following statements were true. If you thought they were true, too, beware: lack of knowledge about cancer is itself a risk factor for developing cancer.
1 The risk of dying from cancer is increasing Not true in modern countries. In fact, the risk of dying is decreasing as we get better at diagnosing and treating cancer. Plus, the risk of developing certain cancers is also declining as people out smoking and take other lifestyle steps to reduce their cancer risk.
2 Pollution is a greater risk factor for long cancer than smoking No. While high levels of pollution can increase the risk of lung cancer, the increase is tiny compared with smoking: tobacco causes around 90 percent of lung cancers, pollution causes about 3 percent.
3 Physical injuries later in life cause cancer Not really. Although a few studies have linked injuries such as head trauma to a later risk of certain rare cancers, the vast majority of cancers have nothing to do with trauma.
4 Electronic devices such as mobile phones cause cancer Although any risk from long-term intense use is still unclear, the vast majority of studies show no risk from short-term use of mobile phones.
5 How you live when you're young has little effect on your risk of cancer later One word here: sunburn. A single serious sunburn in your teens can set you up for melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, 30 years later. Smoking for even a year creates genetic damages in lung tissue cells that can trigger cancerous cells decades later. In fact, some studies are now finding that the seeds of cancer could be sown in the womb - based on what your mother did when she was pregnant with you.
Trim belly fat Eat whole grains, fruits and veg, and make time to exercise - these strategies can shrink dangerous abdominal fat, which wraps itself around your internal organs and raises your odds of metabolic syndrome.
Snack on fruit not sweets High-sugar, low-fibre processed sweets send blood sugar levels soaring and trigger the release of loads of insulin to bring levels down. A high-sugar diet taxes your body's ability to control blood sugar, especially if you're overweight or inactive.
Could you have metabolic syndrome?
You're likely to have metabolic snydrome if you have three of these:
- A waist circumference over 94cm (37in) in men or 89 cm(35in) in women
- Triglycerine levels of 1.7 mmol/l or more
- Blood pressure above 130/85 (or if you are taking drugs for high blood pressure)
- Fasting plasma glucose(blood pressure) levels over 5.6 mmol/l (or if you are taking drugs to reduce your blood sugar levels)
- HDL cholesterol levels of less than 1.03 mmol/l in men or 1.29 mmol/l in women
Evidence suggests that too much of this amino acid-created when your body digests protein, especially from meat - damages the inner lining of arteries and promotes blood clotting. People with high homocysteine levels have an increased risk of heart disease. Homocysteine levels are naturally kept low by higher blood levels of B vitamins and people who eat plenty of fruit and veg - which contain vitamin B6 and folate (also a B vitamin) - generally have lower rates of heart disease. But vegans tend to have high homocysteine levels because they eat no meat, fish or dairy produce, the main sources of vitamin B12, which also cuts homocysteine levels.
So a healthy, balanced diet is what you need - and unless you're deficient in B vitamins, it's no good just popping a vitamin pill. In the Norweign Vitamin Trial(NORVIT), researchers from the University of Tromse found that people who took supplements containing folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 got no benefit from supplements even though homocysteine levels fell up to 30 percent. Here are some hints on keeping vitamin B levels naturally high and homocysteine levels in check.
Cut the coffee A study at the University of Bergen in Norway, showed that those who drank more coffee had lower vitamin B and higher homocysteine levels.
Have an orange at breakfast and a spinach-and-tomato salad with lunch Citrus fruits, tomatoes and spinach are all sources of folic acid, which breaks down homocysteine.
Snack on low-fat, unsweetened yoghurt People who regularly enjoy dairy products have homocysteine levels 15 percent lower than those who avoid them, studies show.
Stir-fry peppers and broccoil for dinner In a study of 6,000 people, those who ate the most peppers (red, yellow, green or hot) and the most cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower had homocysteine levels 16.5 percent lower than those who didn't eat them regularly.
Cancer
For all the fear it invokes, cancer is not an invader of your body, like a virus or bacteria. Cancer is simply your own cells running amok. It develops when the built-in mechanisms designed to destroy damaged cells fail or are overwhelmed by the extent of the damaged cells.
And so those damaged or cancerous cells keep doing what cells do - multiplying. Unlike normal cells they don't have an 'off' switch, so they keep dividing, using up valuable blood, oxygen and nutrients that healthy cells need. Eventually, the proliferation of cancer cells makes it impossible for healthy cells to survive.
These cancer cells are pretty smart. They are able, in many instances, to disguise themselves to evade detection by the immune system. They also mutate to resist the poisons designed to root them out. And, sometimes, they lay dormant for years until something - such as biochemical stress, gene mutations, toxins or trauma - triggers them into action again.
The connection between cancer and age? Maths. The older you are, the longer your cells have been dividing. The greater the number of divisions, the greater the likelihood that some mistakes will occur. The more mistakes, the greater the likelihood that one of those 'mistake' cells survive and become a cancer. That's why 77 percent of all cancers are diagnosed in those aged 55 and over. And it's why until about 100 years ago - when the average lifespan in developed countries finally passed the 50 year mark - cancer was relatively rare. Today, it's among, the leading causes of death in developed countries, with one in three dying from cancer.
But here's the thing: about two-thirds of all cancers could be prevented - if people stopped smoking, ate better foods and exercised.
Your job, then is to arm yourself with all known (and suspected) weapons to reduce the probablity that cellular mistakes will occur and increases the likelihood that if they do occur, the system designed to correct or destroy them work. That means reducing the production of free radicals, increasing the availability of antioxidants to fight off free radicals, and stemming the tide of inflammation.
The best ways to prevent cancer
At a cellular level, all cancers are similar. But what makes cancer so challenging is that it can develop in many places in the body, each based on different triggers and causes.
What does this mean? For example, although excessive sun is the top cause of the cellular damage that leads to skin cancer, non-burning sun exposure may protect you from internal cancers, by boosting vitamin D production. And even though your digestive system encounters many toxins and chemicals in your food that can ultimately cause cancer to develop in your stomach. oesophagus or intestines,they might have less impact elsewhere in your body.
That means one set of preventive measures cannot effectively battle all cancers. On next, are the top five
top 5 cancer myths
Researchers from the American Cancer Society, the US equivalent of Cancer Research UK, decided to find out just how much we know about the disease. what they found might surprise you. More than 25 percent of the 1,000 people surveyed believed the following statements were true. If you thought they were true, too, beware: lack of knowledge about cancer is itself a risk factor for developing cancer.
1 The risk of dying from cancer is increasing Not true in modern countries. In fact, the risk of dying is decreasing as we get better at diagnosing and treating cancer. Plus, the risk of developing certain cancers is also declining as people out smoking and take other lifestyle steps to reduce their cancer risk.
2 Pollution is a greater risk factor for long cancer than smoking No. While high levels of pollution can increase the risk of lung cancer, the increase is tiny compared with smoking: tobacco causes around 90 percent of lung cancers, pollution causes about 3 percent.
3 Physical injuries later in life cause cancer Not really. Although a few studies have linked injuries such as head trauma to a later risk of certain rare cancers, the vast majority of cancers have nothing to do with trauma.
4 Electronic devices such as mobile phones cause cancer Although any risk from long-term intense use is still unclear, the vast majority of studies show no risk from short-term use of mobile phones.
5 How you live when you're young has little effect on your risk of cancer later One word here: sunburn. A single serious sunburn in your teens can set you up for melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, 30 years later. Smoking for even a year creates genetic damages in lung tissue cells that can trigger cancerous cells decades later. In fact, some studies are now finding that the seeds of cancer could be sown in the womb - based on what your mother did when she was pregnant with you.
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