Which is better for my heart - butter or margarine?

Margarine usually tops butter when it comes to heart health.

Margarine is made from vegetable oils, so it contains no cholesterol. Margarine is also higher in "good" fats - polyunsaturated and monounsaturated - than butter is. These types of fat help reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad," cholesterol, when substituted for saturated fat. Butter, on the other hand, is made from animal fat, so it contains cholesterol and high levels of saturated fat.

But not all margarines are created equal - and some may even be worse than butter. Most margarines are processed using a method called hydrogenation, which adds unhealthy trans fats. In general, the more solid the margarine, the more trans fats it contains - so stick margarines usually have more trans fats than do tub margarines. Like saturated fats, trans fats increase blood cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. In addition, trans fats can lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good," cholesterol levels.

When choosing a margarine, try to find one with the lowest trans fat content possible and less than 3 grams total of saturated plus trans fats. Manufacturers are now required to list saturated and trans fats separately on food labels.

Anti-aging Tips: 7 Ways to Boost Your Health

We all know the drill: Eat all the right foods and get at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day, and you’ll live to a ripe old age. So how come healthy 60-year-olds drop dead, while people with all sorts of serious maladies live well into their 80s and 90s? Apparently there’s more to “good health” than physical activity and good nutrition.

Here are seven unheralded ways to boost your health and your long-term survival rate.

• Maintain social and community ties. Numerous studies have linked social support to improved immune function, longevity, a lower risk of heart disease and speedier recovery from serious illness and surgery. In fact, a 1999 study in BMJ (the British Medical Journal) found that socially active individuals were just as healthy as their counterparts who exercised regularly, and that social engagement was more important than blood pressure and cholesterol levels in determining longevity. There is a catch, however: These connections need to be genuine. Casual acquaintances and cocktail party chatter are no substitutes for fast friends and abiding relationships. (Visit Revolution's Relationship & Life Balance Center for more information.)
  
• Get a pet. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that having a pet can lower your blood pressure, decrease levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, and moderate feelings of loneliness. A 1999 study at the University of Buffalo showed that pets — in this case cats and dogs — reduced blood pressure and heart rate in a group of high-stress stockbrokers who were already diagnosed with hypertension. A study at Cambridge University in England found that the health of non-pet owners improved when they were given a cat or dog, with the highest level of improvement in the dog group (most likely from increased exercise). In 2006, researchers at the University of Cincinnati found that infants raised in households with two or more dogs were a third less likely to experience bouts of wheezing — a precursor to allergies later in childhood.
• Take a vacation. This may seem like a no-brainer, but a study published in 2005 in the Wisconsin Medical Journal found that women who took a vacation only once in two years had a higher risk of depression and stress than those who took two or more vacations a year. They were more likely to report lower marital satisfaction as well. And vacations are good for the heart — both for men and women. A study at The State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego found that men who did not take regular vacations were more likely to die over a nine-year period than those who did, and that middle-aged women who do not take frequent vacations have eight times the risk of either having a heart attack or dying of heart disease. Conversely, women who take two or more vacations a year have half the risk of developing coronary heart disease or other serious heart problems.
• Volunteer. Giving back turns out to be an excellent way of getting back — at least when it comes to your health. In 2004, researchers at the Center for Aging and Health at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found that older adults who volunteered in troubled urban schools reported feeling stronger and healthier — and a 50% percent drop in the use of a cane. An earlier Canadian study found that volunteering can improve self-esteem, reduce heart rates and blood pressure, increase endorphin production and enhance the immune system. Need more incentive? Volunteering can improve your financial health as well — an English business survey found that 73% of employers would employ a candidate with volunteering experience over one without.
• Laugh out loud. In Anatomy of an Illness As Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration (W.W. Norton & Company, 1979), famed magazine editor Norman Cousins wrote that 10 minutes of belly laughter bought him two hours of painless sleep. His 1976 article in The New England Journal of Medicine about his battle with ankylosing spondylitis ushered in the study of laughter and health. Subsequent research at Loma Linda University in California has shown that laughter increases the number and activity level of the body’s natural killer cells and reduces stress hormones that have been linked to heart disease. Studies presented to the American College of Cardiology in 2000 and 2005 found that laughter can protect against heart attack by increasing blood flow — it causes the lining of the blood vessels to expand. Other studies have shown that laughter boosts immune function and lowers blood pressure — although women seem to experience this latter benefit more than men. When not to laugh? After abdominal surgery or breaking a rib. (Learn more about laugher therapy.)
  
• Pray or meditate. Although scientific proof of the efficacy of prayer lags behind claims, a 2001 study in BMJ reports that saying the rosary (or repeating yoga mantras) may be good for the heart and synchronizes breathing with cardiovascular rhythms. Proponents of the health benefits of prayer say it improves coping mechanisms and produces better health outcomes. Perhaps that applies to individual prayer only — the 2006 Harvard Medical School Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) could find no benefit from intercessory prayer in recovery from surgery. Numerous studies have reported multiple health benefits from meditation (particularly transcendental meditation) — among them stress reduction, improved recovery from surgery, lower blood pressure, improved pain management and a longer life span. (Learn more about prayer, spirituality and healing)
  
• Get — and stay — married. When Oscar Wilde quipped that divorce was made in heaven, he clearly hadn’t thought through the health consequences. In a study involving 127,000 adults between 1999 and 2002, the CDC found that married people were healthier than those who never married, are divorced or widowed, or live with a partner in “nearly every measure of health.” The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., reports that happily married people live longer than singles. A 2006 study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health drew a similar conclusion, adding that “having never been married was the strongest predictor of premature mortality.” The effect seems most profound for men. A Rand Corporation study says that 50-year-old divorced men can expect their health to deteriorate much faster than their married cohorts because they miss out on marriage’s moderating influence on such risky behavior as smoking, excessive drinking, drugs, and unsafe sex — and on its nurturing effect on diet, stress, and illness. But women clearly benefit as well: A Harvard University study found that married women were 20% less likely to die from a number of causes, including heart disease, suicide, and cirrhosis. The only negative? The CDC found that married folks weigh more, especially the men — three out of four of those ages 45 to 64 were overweight or obese. The slimmest? Those who never married.
  

Lifting Your Way to Weight Loss

Date updated: December 27, 2006
Content provided by Custom Communications

If you've tried a dozen diets but the pounds always sneak back, you may be able to lose them for good by making strength-training a part of your weight-loss program.

"Using your muscles can help you achieve and maintain a healthful weight," says Wayne L. Westcott, Ph.D., author of "Strength Training Past Fifty."

Too much fat is only half the problem of weight gain. "Then there is too little muscle," Dr. Westcott says.

Here's why: Muscles burn calories and keep people active, while fat is dead weight.

As people lose muscle through aging or inactivity, their metabolism slows, so they gain fat, become more sedentary, lose more muscle and gain more fat -- an unhealthy repetitive cycle that impairs quality of life and leads to many health problems.

Restrictive dieting alone just prolongs the problem because you lose muscle along with fat. This slows down your metabolism and reduces your calorie needs. Soon, you have more fat and less muscle than before.

For permanent weight loss, "you need to restore your body to a healthier muscle- to-fat ratio," Dr. Westcott says. "You want to build more active muscle while you get rid of the fat."

Strength training breaks the cycle by replacing lost muscle tissue, which increases your metabolism. You burn more calories and fight fat even while you sleep.

Strength-training workouts also burn lots of calories. A half-hour session with weights can easily consume more calories than a comparable period of moderate cycling, brisk walking or jogging. Plus, your body will continue to burn calories faster for up to two hours after a strength-training session.

"With more muscle and less fat, you'll naturally be more active, which will help you burn still more calories," says Dr. Westcott. "Slowly but surely, you'll work your way back to a more healthful weight."

Make sure that you talk to your health care provider before beginning any new exercise or strengthening program to be sure it's right for you.

Count the benefits

Weight control is just one benefit of strength training. With a regular program, you can also:

• Lose inches. Muscles are more dense than fat, so they take up less space.
• Protect bone density. Strength training can maintain bone strength and increase bone-mineral density, helping to prevent osteoporosis.
• Prevent or reduce lower-back pain. Well-conditioned muscles are better able to support the spine and cushion it against stress.
• Avoid injury. Stronger muscles guard against fatigue that can lead to injury.
• Improve athletic performance. You'll be able to perform better and be less fatigued.

"Weight loss and other benefits of strength training multiply when you add regular aerobic activities for endurance and eat a low-fat diet," Dr. Westcott says.

Easy does it

You don't have to spend all day in a gym to benefit from strength training. Studies show you can see significant results with two or three half-hour sessions a week.

For starters, Dr. Westcott recommends a routine of about 15 different exercises that work all major muscle groups. Do one set of 10 repetitions of each exercise.

Use slow, controlled movements that follow through the full range of motion for each exercise. Gradually increase the number of reps or add another set. When you can do 12 reps in good form, you're ready to increase the weight a little --but no more than 5 percent at a time. Check with a professional trainer to see how and when you should increase the weight and what should be the maximum weight you should use.

"Almost everyone can reap the benefits of strength training," Dr. Westcott says. "Whether you're in your teens or in your 90s, a small investment of time and effort can make a dramatic difference in how you feel and in the things you're able to do in your daily life."

Check with your health care provider to see if strength training can help you reach your goals.

Natural Cleaning Products for a 'Green' Home

When you think of air pollution, you probably conjure up images of smokestacks and clogged interstates. But recent research shows that air quality is actually the worst where we feel safest — in our homes.

Some toxins are an unfortunate and unavoidable fact of modern life. But others, like those in household cleaning products, are remarkably easy to do without. In fact, you probably have many of the supplies you need to "go green" right in your kitchen cupboard.

And these nontoxic cleaning supplies work just as well as their chemical cousins but without the nasty side effects (which range from irritating the skin to contributing to cancer).

The well-stocked pantry
Another benefit of going green with your cleaning products: You'll free up a lot of shelf space. Instead of having a single cleaner for each purpose (how different is cleaning a tub vs. a sink, anyway?), you’ll only need these five essentials:

• Baking soda. Buy it in bulk, because this wonder powder has about 1,001 household uses. Use it to cut odors in the fridge, mix it with castile soap for a gentle surface scrubber, or pour it down the drain with some vinegar to clear clogs.

• Salt. Say goodbye to your harsh oven cleaner. Instead, pour salt on spills as they happen, allow the surface to cool and scrape up the mess. "If you do that every time you have a spill, you don't need to do anything else," suggests Linda Mason Hunter, co-author of Green Clean: The Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home (Melcher Media, 2005).

• Castile soap. Much gentler than detergent-type cleansers, this basic liquid soap can clean just about anything — from toilets to armpits. Dr. Bronner's is a high-quality, superconcentrated brand.

• Lemon juice. Mix with olive oil for a wood and furniture polish, use it to clean glass and stainless steel or sprinkle it in baking soda to make carpet-cleaning powder. After you've squeezed out the juice, toss the rinds down the garbage disposal to cleanse and deodorize.

• White distilled vinegar. Because of its acidic properties, vinegar can dissolve grease, soap residue and mildew, making it the perfect bathroom cleaner. It's a hit in the kitchen, too. Use it to polish chrome, shine glass and mop tile or linoleum floors.

Ready-made cleaners
Of course, if you take comfort in a bottle that tells you exactly what it’s going to do, you can buy commercial, nontoxic cleaners. Companies like Seventh Generation, Ecover and Bio-Kleen are available at health food stores and many mainstream grocery stores.

Hunter's favorite is Shaklee's new Get Clean product line (www.shacklee.com). Green cleaners can cost more than conventional cleaners, but they're often more concentrated, giving you more bang for your buck.

Out with the old
So are you ready to go green? According to Hunter, if you really want to green your life, cleaning up your cleaning is the best place to start.

"It's manageable, you're working in your own house, you have control and you learn a lot about how to read labels, what's in products and what to look for," she says. "You can use that knowledge when you're doing other things as well — buying cosmetics, furniture and building materials, for example."

Allergies and Sensitivities

Vitamins that may be helpful

Content provided by: Healthnotes

Probiotics may be important in the control of food allergies because of their ability to improve digestion, by helping the intestinal tract control the absorption of food allergens and/or by changing immune system responses to foods.^{123 124 125} One group of researchers has reported using probiotics to successfully treat infants with food allergies in two trials: a double-blind trial using Lactobacillus GG bacteria in infant formula, and a preliminary trial giving the same bacteria to nursing mothers.¹²⁶ Probiotics may also be important in non-allergy types of food intolerance caused by imbalances in the normal intestinal flora.¹²⁷

Thymomodulin® is a special preparation of the thymus gland of calves. In a double-blind study of allergic children who had successfully completed an elimination diet, 120 mg per day of thymomodulin prevented allergic skin reactions to food and lowered blood levels of antibodies associated with those foods.¹²⁸ These results confirmed similar findings in an earlier, controlled trial.¹²⁹

According to one theory, allergies are triggered by partially undigested protein. Proteolytic enzymes may reduce allergy symptoms by further breaking down undigested protein to sizes that are too small to cause allergic reactions.¹³⁰ Preliminary human evidence supports this theory.¹³¹ Hydrochloric acid secreted by the stomach also helps the digestion of protein, and preliminary research suggests that some people with allergies may not produce adequate amounts of stomach acid.^{132 133 134} However, no controlled trials have investigated the use of enzyme supplements to improve digestion as a treatment for food allergies.

Many of the effects of allergic reactions are caused by the release of histamine, which is the reason antihistamine medication is often used by allergy sufferers. Some natural substances, such as vitamin C^{135 136} and flavonoids,¹³⁷ including quercetin,^{138 139} have demonstrated antihistamine effects in test tube, animal, and other preliminary studies. However, no research has investigated whether these substances can specifically reduce allergic reactions in humans.

Are there any side effects or interactions?
Refer to the individual supplement for information about any side effects or interactions.