Posts
Eddie Redmayne was struck down with a bad bout of food poisoning during last night's BAFTAs ceremony.Continue reading...
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Eddie Redmayne taken ill during BAFTAs
Eddie Redmayne was struck down with a bad bout of food poisoning during last night's BAFTAs ceremony.Continue reading...
Adele and Beyoncé triumph at the Grammys
Hang out with GLAMOUR and Very tonight!
To celebrate GLAMOUR’s first collaboration with fashion power-house Very, Google + will be hosting a hang out with Editor Jo Elvin and the fashion team live online tonight.Continue reading...
How Low Testosterone Affects Your Health
Dropping levels of this male hormone can cause more than sexual problems. It can also affect your mood, weight, and concentration.Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, DO, MS
Pete Evans knew something was wrong when he had sudden problems getting an erection. At 52, he had always had an active sex life. Even the bone marrow transplant he underwent in the summer of 2009 had little effect on his libido. Then, six months after the transplant, he lost his ability -- and his appetite -- for sex.
"After the operation, I had tons of energy, great libido. Then suddenly, things just stopped working," Evans (not his real name) says. "I was kind of depressed, too. After all I'd been through and now this."
Finding himself unable to perform was an alarming first for him. When Evans, a retiree who lives in Amherst, Ohio, told his doctor, he received a prescription for Viagra. That didn't help. At a follow-up appointment, he had some blood work done. It showed that his testosterone level had tanked, likely a side effect of one of the post-transplant medications he was taking. This time, his doctor sent him to a urologist, who prescribed a testosterone skin patch to boost the levels of the hormone in his blood. He's now been using patches for about five months.
"I'm feeling more and more confident," Evans says. "Bringing up my testosterone has brought up my mood dramatically. I feel normal in every way."
Evans needed his bone marrow replaced because he has a rare blood disorder called aplastic anemia. His low level of testosterone, however, is a condition he shares with many men his age. The big difference is that Evans's testosterone levels plummeted almost overnight due to complications with his medication.
Age-related loss of testosterone, on the other hand, is gradual, dropping by about 1% to 1.5% per year beginning at age 40. The low testosterone levels that result can leave men feeling less energetic, less self-assured, and less manly.
In some labs, the normal levels (determined by a simple blood test) of a man's testosterone will measure 300 to 1,000 nanograms per deciliter. However, it's important to confirm low levels of testosterone since many men will have normal levels on repeated testing due to fluctuations of the hormone.
"I felt like something had been taken away from me," Evans says, and it wasn't just about the sex. "I didn't have the strength I once had, and I was not able to build muscle mass."
Evans's description resonates with Edmund Sabanegh, chair of the urology department and director of the Center for Male Infertility at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. "I look at testosterone as jet fuel. It keeps men running. Diminished mental clarity, motivation, drive -- all of these things can be related to low testosterone."
Testosterone plays a big role throughout a man's life. The hormone is the prime driver of puberty, responsible for the deepening of the voice, the development of muscles, and the growth of pubic hair. Without testosterone, there would be no beards or mustaches since it regulates facial hair. Sperm production falls under testosterone's control. In sum, it's the hormone that makes a man a man, and it is what gives men their appetite for sex.
While a decline in blood testosterone may be a normal part of aging and the most common cause of low testosterone, it is not the only one. Testicular cancer as well as the chemo and radiation used to treat it and other forms of cancer can deplete a man's levels of the hormone. Excess alcohol and certain medications may also be the cause. Pituitary and thyroid diseases as well as injuries to the testes can also drain your testosterone.
Get A Fashion-Forward Bouquet For Valentine's Day
This Valentine's Day Browns lets you show your commitment to the catwalks with fashion-inspired bouquetsContinue reading...
For Restaurants, Healthier Menus May Mean Healthier Bottom Line
By Mary Elizabeth Dallas
HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, Feb. 7 (HealthDay News) -- A leaner menu may lead to a fatter wallet for those invested in the restaurant industry, research suggests.
According to a new analysis, business improved when restaurant chains offered more low-calorie fare.
After monitoring 21 of the largest restaurant chains in the United States for five years, researchers found that those that increased the amount of reduced-calorie options they served had better sales growth, greater increases in customer traffic and stronger gains in total servings than their competitors who offered fewer lower-calorie options.
"Consumers are hungry for restaurant meals that won't expand their waist lines, and the chains that recognize this are doing better than those that don't," the report's lead author, Hank Cardello, said in a news release from the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
"The bottom line is that it's good business to sell more lower-calorie and better-for-you products," said Cardello, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and director of the institute's Obesity Solutions Initiative. "This holds true for major food and beverage companies and for restaurants."
The researchers analyzed market research data and the annual reports of fast-food chains, such as McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King and Taco Bell, as well as sit-down chains, such as Applebee's, Olive Garden, Chili's and Outback Steakhouse. They also developed calorie criteria to assess the chains' menus with the help of colleagues from the Nutrition Coordinating Center at the University of Minnesota.
Lower-calorie main-course menu items had no more than 500 calories. Drinks were considered lower-calorie if they had 50 or fewer calories per 8 ounces. Appetizers, side dishes and desserts with no more than 150 calories were also considered lower-calorie options.
The analysis revealed that between 2006 and 2011, lower-calorie foods and beverages outperformed other menu items in 17 of the 21 restaurant chains. The chains that increased their reduced-calorie options saw a boost in business, including a 5.5 percent jump in same-store sales, a nearly 11 percent increase in customer traffic and about a 9 percent increase in total food and beverage servings.
Meanwhile, the chains that offered fewer lower-calorie servings had a 5.5 percent drop in same-store sales, a nearly 15 percent decline in traffic and about a 16 percent reduction in total servings, the investigators found.
The report, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, also revealed that lower-calorie food servings increased as a percentage of total servings across all 21 chains. Over the course of the study, the chains had an increase of roughly 472 million orders for lower-calorie foods and beverages. Meanwhile, servings of items that did not meet the lower-calorie criteria dropped by 1.3 billion.
Dr. James Marks, senior vice president and director of the Health Group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said the report "shows that companies can serve both their interest in healthy profits and their customers' interest in healthier eating. We need more companies to make this shift, and now they have even more reasons to do so."
The researchers pointed out all the chains included in the report have a combined $102 billion in annual U.S. sales and 49 percent of the revenue of the top 100 restaurant chains.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about healthy food environments.
Scientists Explore How Zinc Fights Off Infection
Title: Scientists Explore How Zinc Fights Off Infection
Category: Health News
Created: 2/7/2013 12:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 2/8/2013 12:00:00 AM
Category: Health News
Created: 2/7/2013 12:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 2/8/2013 12:00:00 AM
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)