Why It’s Important To Keep Your Gut Healthy

by | Aug 23, 2013 | Digestive system | 0 comments

Food Be honest: when was the last time you thought about how healthy your digestive system was?

The truth is that we only tend to think about it when something goes wrong, but Gut Week is all about focusing on how important it is to consider what you eat.

Think of the digestive system as the pistons of an engine – to get the most amount of energy, and to ward off future illnesses, it’s important to keep it running right.

Alice Mackintosh, nutritional therapist at The Food Doctor Clinic says: “The digestive system is responsible for assimilating nutrients from food and delivering them to the rest of the body.

“This alone is a big job, and if you don’t do it properly you can be eating the healthiest diet in the world, but you aren’t likely to be getting the full benefits of it. As well as this, the gut forms a complex network around the body, communicating with our nervous system immune system and endocrine system.

“It is therefore a cornerstone for health, and the symptoms of imbalances can be surprisingly far-reaching. Headaches, depression, hormonal imbalances and adrenal dysfunction can often go hand in hand with poor gut function. It is also one of the most immunologically active organs in the body, so look after it, and it will look after you!”

Recent figures revealed that nearly a quarter of Brits (24%) are not eating three square meals a day and instead grabbing snacks twice during the day and once after dinner according to research carried out for Gut Week. Dr Nick Read, medical advisor to the IBS Network warns that snacking on the go “can hinder digestion leading to bloating, abdominal pain and bowel upset”.

The gut does more than just digest food though. Nutritionist Karen Poole says: “It supports the nervous system as it is responsible for the synthesis of serotonin the ‘feel-good’ hormone that helps to regulate mood and our sleep wake cycle.”

Proof that we’re a nation of stress addicts, is the revelation that we’re also under pressure to eat as quickly as we can to get on with our work or tasks.

Read more

Dancing is good for your health

by | Aug 22, 2013 | Exercise | 0 comments

Dancing Activities such as dancing, reading and going to the theatre have a “positive impact” on the health of Scots, new research has suggested.

The Scottish government-commissioned study was based on data from the Scottish Household Survey 2011.

It found that people who take part in or attend culture events are more likely to report “good health and life satisfaction” than those who do not.

The report comes on the day Commonwealth Games tickets go on sale.

Glasgow will host the event in the summer next year.

The research found that regardless of factors such as age, economic status, income, education and disability, cultural participation was positive for health and wellbeing.

Continue Reading

7 Foods You Never Knew Contained Gluten

by | Aug 21, 2013 | Carbs, Diet | 0 comments

Licorice If you have celiac disease — or another condition that requires avoiding gluten — you probably got the basics down pretty quickly. It’s a no-brainer that things like breads, cakes and beer need to be gluten-free to be on your menu.

But gluten can be found in a number of less obvious foods — things like pickles, candy and even meat. What’s more, not all of them are food. Certain vitamins, supplements and even medications may contain gluten, so make sure all of your doctors, not just your gastroenterologist, are in the loop.

Watch out for some unexpected gluten culprits in the grocery store…. Find out here

Soda drinks may make children more aggressive and distracted

by | Aug 20, 2013 | Artificial Sweeteners, Sugars | 0 comments

Softdrinks Soft drinks may cause young children to become aggressive and develop attention problems, according to a study published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Researchers from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, the University of Vermont and Harvard School of Public Health, studied around 3,000 children aged 5.

All children were enrolled in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study – a cohort study that follows mothers and children from 20 large cities in the US.

The researchers asked the mothers of the children to report their child’s soft drink consumption. Their child’s behavior in the 2 months prior to the study was reported through a “Child Behavior Checklist.”

Just over 40% of the children consumed a minimum of one serving of soft drinks a day, while 4% consumed four or more soft drinks a day.

The study results found that any level of soft drink consumption was linked to higher levels of aggressive behavior, as well as more attention and withdrawal problems.

Continue Reading

Leaky Gut Syndrome: What Is It?

by | Aug 19, 2013 | How Your Body Works | 0 comments

Stomach Pain “Leaky gut syndrome” is said to have symptoms including bloating, gas, cramps, food sensitivities, and aches and pains. But it’s something of a medical mystery.

“From an MD’s standpoint, it’s a very gray area,” says gastroenterologist Donald Kirby, MD, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the Cleveland Clinic. “Physicians don’t know enough about the gut, which is our biggest immune system organ.”

“Leaky gut syndrome” isn’t a diagnosis taught in medical school. Instead, “leaky gut really means you’ve got a diagnosis that still needs to be made,” Kirby says. “You hope that your doctor is a good-enough Sherlock Holmes, but sometimes it is very hard to make a diagnosis.”

“We don’t know a lot but we know that it exists,” says Linda A. Lee, MD, a gastroenterologist and director of the Johns Hopkins Integrative Medicine and Digestive Center. “In the absence of evidence, we don’t know what it means or what therapies can directly address it.”

Intestinal Permeability

A possible cause of leaky gut is increased intestinal permeability or intestinal hyperpermeability.

That could happen when tight junctions in the gut, which control what passes through the lining of the small intestine, don’t work properly. That could let substances leak into the bloodstream.

People with celiac disease and Crohn’s disease experience this. “Molecules can get across in some cases, such as Crohn’s, but we don’t know all the causes,” Lee says. Whether hyperpermeability is more of a contributing factor or a consequence is unclear.

But why or how this would happen in someone without those conditions is not clear.

Little is known about other causes of leaky gut that aren’t linked to certain types of drugs, radiation therapy, or food allergies.

Continue Reading