HEALTH ALL DAY

Archive for October, 2008

Drinking just one ounce, or two tablespoons, of tart concentrated cherry juice every day can help alleviate arthritis pain. That’s because tart cherries, specifically Montmorency tart cherries, contain anthocyanins and two important antioxidants: isoqueritrin and queritrin.Anthocyanins create cherries’ dark red pigment. Arthritis inflammation and pain is caused by the hormone prostaglandin; it is directly related to two enzymes that cause tissue inflammation and the resulting pain.

Anthocyanins inhibit those two enzymes, decreasing inflammation and joint pain. Remarkably, the pain-inhibiting strength is comparable to ibuprofen and naproxen. And laboratory tests at Michigan State University find that tart cherry compounds are at least 10 times more effective than aspirin in reducing inflammation–without any of aspirin’s side effects. Read the rest of this entry »

Asthma, characterized by difficulty in breathing, is a chronic lung condition. Asthma patients have hyper responsive airways that narrow down when irritated. This makes air movement difficult and cause wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and chest tightness. The two factors that provoke asthma are –

· Triggers – They irritate the airways and result in Bronchoconstriction. The common triggers of Bronchoconstriction are cold air, dust, strong fumes, inhaled irritants, emotional upsets and smoke. Read the rest of this entry »