Curiously Awesome

Getting more sun may help your body fight disease. Researchers found that the immune cells responsible for destroying pathogens (T cells) cannot work properly if the body’s vitamin D levels are too low.

Vitamin D is naturally produced by the body when you get exposure to sunlight. Using sunscreen and lessening time outdoors has contributed to common vitamin D deficiencies. Vitamin D is present in some foods such as eggs, fatty fish and fortified milk, it is difficult to get high enough levels from food sources.

Only 15 minutes of sun on the face and hands every day will give a light-skinned person enough vitamin D. Darker skinned people need two to three times as much sun.

The body stops producing vitamin D when levels get high enough, making it impossible to get too much vitamin D from sunlight.

Vitamin D is important for calcium absorption and it has also been implicated in fighting diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis.

Researchers have found that consuming foods sweetened with HFCS raises the risk of developing high blood pressure.

One in three Americans has hypertension and many don’t know it. This puts them at risk for several deadly diseases, including heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, blindness and dementia.

People who consume 74 grams or more per day of fructose — the equivalent of 2.5 soft drinks daily — had a greatly increased risk of high blood pressure. A normal blood pressure reading is below 120/80 mmHg. For research participants consuming fructose regularly, the risk of a high blood pressure level of 134/85 went up 26 % and the risk of having a blood pressure of 140/90 rose by 30 %. The risk of very high blood pressure — 160/100 — was 77 % higher in people who consumed fructose sweetened foods and drinks on a daily basis.

BPA may increase the risk of asthma in children, according to a recent study.

BPA is a chemical often used in the manufacture of hard, clear plastics like water and baby bottles. You will also find BPA in resins used to line cans of food, beverages and infant formula. Exposure to BPA has been linked to an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, birth defects, and hormonal issues. BPA use in products for young children has been banned in many countries as well as in three U.S. states.

Researchers gave pregnant mice BPA for a week before they gave birth to create a similar BPA level in the mice as pregnant U.S. women have. After the mice babies were born, the researchers exposed the pups of these mice to a common allergy inducer. They then compared responses of mice who had not been exposed to BPA in utero to the mice who had been exposed. They found a greater asthma reaction in the BPA-exposed mice.

A 16-year-old girl lost nearly all of her vision ten days after receiving the second course of her vaccine against HPV. The HPV vaccine is designed to prevent infection by the viruses responsible for cervical cancer and genital warts cases.

The girl who developed a headache on the left side of her head and began to lose vision in her right eye. Over the next 48 hours, the pain spread across her head and she started losing sight in her left eye also.

Physical examinations showed demyelination in her brain and along her optic nerves. When demyelination occurs, the protective myelin sheath around nerve cells degrades. This leads to interrupted nerve signaling.

1.5 years later, the teenager’s vision has not improved.

The US FDA has now reversed an earlier finding about BPA in plastics. In 2008, the FDA found BPA to be a safe additive in food and beverage plastics. Now recently, the FDA has reversed its position, declaring that it now has concerns about the safety of BPA.

Scientific studies confirm that BPA is a highly toxic endocrine disruptor that can interrupt proper reproductive function and result in cardiovascular disease, liver problems, and diabetes.

A 2009 Harvard University study determined that people drinking from plastic bottles containing BPA for only a week experienced a two-thirds increase of BPA in urine output.

Many manufacturers already voluntarily remove BPA from their products. This is especially true of manufacturers who produce products for babies and young children.

Does ionizing radiation a cause of breast cancer? Cornell experts say “Yes” and go on to say:

“.. female breast tissue is highly susceptible to radiation effects.”

Then in the next breath they say:

“should not be a factor in individual decisions to undergo this procedure (mammography). The same is true for most diagnostic x-ray procedures.”

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered that radiation exposure can change cells’ microenvironment. This increases the odds that future cells will become cancerous.

The reason: signals from a cell’s microenvironment (when altered by radiation exposure) can cause a cell’s phenotype to change the way a cell uses its genes. The result can be a cell that becomes pre-cancerous AND passes this pre-cancerous condition on to future cells.

Young children who swim in chlorinated pools may suffer an increased risk of lung infections, lifelong asthma and respiratory allergies.

Researchers conducted health tests on Belgian kindergarteners. They found that 36 percent of the kids who had been exposed to chlorinated pools before the age of two had a history of bronchiolitis–compared with only 24 percent of children who had not been exposed to chlorine.

Researchers believe that chlorine in swimming pools may combine with sweat, saliva and urine from swimmers to create a chemical that irritates and weakens the lungs.

Researchers also found that indoor pools increased infection risk more than outdoor pools.

Breast reduction operations are becoming rapidly more popular among men. The surgeries increased 80 percent between 2008 and 2009. In 2004, only 22 male breast reductions were performed.

Breast reduction is the fourth most common form of male cosmetic surgery in the US, trailing nose jobs, eyelid surgery and liposuction.

Excess mammary tissue in men can be caused by a variety of underlying conditions including obesity, breast cancer and even the use of illegal or prescription drugs.

Men’s boobs go up and down in size as they gain or lose weight, just as a woman’s does. If a man is a pot smoker and is overweight, just changing his ifestyle might mean he wouldn’t need to have a breast reduction.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Softball Rampage. All opinions are 100% mine.

Any softball fans out there? Our family is big on both baseball and softball. As a matter of fact, the guys just got back from Miller Stadium in Milwaukee where they watched the Brewers beat the Astros 4 to 3. Good game! Good day!

On this same note…here is a different kind of softball winning opportunity.

Softball Rampage is looking for the best softball team names for softball teams that you can come up with. Got a good imagination? This contest if for you!

The winning is easy. Just go find the blog post for the contest and enter your best ideas for team names in the comments section. You may win $200 in RampageBucks Rewards, which you can then spend on their website to buy softball bats, gloves, and stuff.

I am horrible at naming things…pets, kids…you name it, I just cannot name things. My best shot at a creative name…let’s see…

Homerun Heroes
Super Sluggers

If you have even a shred of creativity, though, you really should try this. Nothing to lose…right?

Hey…if you think of some good ones, post them here in the comments section AFTER you go to the contest page and post your names there, of course!

Scientists have found new evidence that nuts are healthy for the heart because they improve blood cholesterol levels without drugs. Consumption of nuts has been the focus of intense research because of their ability to reduce coronary heart disease risk and to lower blood lipid levels.

Researchers investigated data from 25 international nut consumption trials involving 583 people with high cholesterol or normal cholesterol levels. The studies compared a control group of research subjects to a group assigned to eat nuts regularly. No one took cholesterol lowering drugs.

The people in the trials who ate 2.4 ounces of nuts each day had a reduction in total cholesterol levels of 5.1 percent.

Researchers concluded the results of the study support including nuts as a natural dietary therapy for improving blood cholesterol levels.