Monthly Archives: January 2010

January 11th, 2010

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Sesame Seeds Health Benefits

I have always been worried that Baby C is not getting enough calcium as she does not drink enough formula milk. She is still very much addicted to my boops and I am worried that my breast milk is not enough to provide her with the nutrients, vitamins and minerals that her body needs. Baby C is 21 months now and my milk supply has dwindled ever since Baby C was hospitalized for 3 weeks after her 2 surgeries last year. During that period of time, she could not eat or drink and I had to express my milk and pour the milk away.

Baby C does not eat much either and she’s a very small eater, with a pretty small tummy.To ensure that Baby C gets sufficient calcium, I try to include as much calcium-rich food as possible in her diet. One of it is sesame seeds. I always toss in a spoonful of sesame seeds into her green tea or buckwheat noodles, homemade breads and homemade pancakes. I also spread sesame seed paste (Tahini) on her bread. I also add about 1/2 a teaspoon of sesame seed oil into the chawan mushi (Japanese steamed egg) that I prepare for her about 3-4 times a week.

Food For Thought
Did you know that half a cup of sesame seeds contains three times more calcium than half a cup of whole milk? In addition to being an excellent dietary source of calcium, sesame seeds are also a good source of manganese, copper, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin B1 (thiamin), zinc, vitamin E, healthy protein, and fiber.Sesame seeds also contain sesamin and sesamolin, two substances that are thought to prevent high blood pressure and protect the liver against oxidative damage. Sesame seeds are also a good source of both dietary fiber and monounsaturated fats.

Sesame oil rubbed on the skin may soothe a minor burn or sunburn as well as help in the healing process.

Sesame seed oil is said to remove wrinkles when applied to the skin in a facial massage.

Eat some sesame seeds to relieve constipation and to remove worms from the intestinal tract. They’re an aid to digestion, stimulate blood circulation, and benefit the nervous system.

Sesame oil makes ideal massage oil because of its excellent emollient properties. Applied topically, sesame oil is thought to aid in healing chronic diseases of the skin. With its vitamin E content, it’s also a benefit to the heart and nervous system.

Nutrients from the sesame seed are best absorbed in the form of sesame oil, tahini or sesame butter.The whole seeds do not break down readily and release all their nutrients.

There is a little bit of controversy about sesame seeds and calcium, because there is a substantial difference between the calcium content of hulled versus unhulled sesame seeds. When the hulls remain on the seeds, one tablespoon of sesame seeds will contains about 88 milligrams of calcium. When the hulls are removed, this same tablespoon will contain about 37 milligrams (about 60% less). Tahini-a spreadable paste made from ground sesame seeds-is usually made from hulled seeds (seeds with the hulls removed, called kernels), and so it will usually contain this lower amount of calcium.

Interesting Information, Nutritional Information On Food

January 9th, 2010

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Dangers Of Not Getting Sufficient Sleep And Not Sleeping At Night

Before my kids came along, I used to have between 6-8 hours of continuous beauty sleep everyday. Ever since my kids arrived, getting 6-7 hours of continuous sleep a day is hardly achieved. Ever since Baby was born, the number of hours of sleep I get each night has not been more than 6 hours a day. Waking up in the morning to be greeted by a brightly lit sky is a thing of the past for me. I wake up at 5ish every morning, sometimes even earlier before my maid wakes up. I can feel the consequences the lack of sleep has caused to my body. My immune system is low and I fall sick very easily. In the past, I hardly ever fall sick.

I found out recently that having insufficient sleep not only disrupts your brain function and every physiologic function in the body, it also increases the risk for a variety of major illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity, recent studies indicate. Most people apparently need between about seven and nine hours, with studies indicating that an increased risk for disease starts to kick in when people get less than six or seven, experts say.

Here’s an interesting article, excerpts of which I have extracted from http://www.washingtonpost.com:

Physiologic studies suggest that a sleep deficit may put the body into a state of high alert, increasing the production of stress hormones and driving up blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes.

Moreover, people who are sleep-deprived have elevated levels of substances in the blood that indicate a heightened state of inflammation in the body, which has also recently emerged as a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes. If you lose sleep that your body needs, then you produce these inflammatory markers that on a chronic basis can create low-grade inflammation and predispose you to cardiovascular events and a shorter life span

After several studies found that people who work at night appear unusually prone to breast and colon cancer, researchers investigating the possible explanation for this association found exposure to light at night reduces levels of the hormone melatonin. Melatonin is believed to protect against cancer by affecting levels of other hormones, such as estrogen. “Melatonin can prevent tumor cells from growing — it’s cancer-protective,” said Eva S. Schernhammer of Harvard Medical School, who has conducted a series of studies on volunteers in sleep laboratories. The theory is, if you are exposed to light at night, on average you will produce less melatonin, increasing your cancer risk.

Other researchers are exploring a possible link to other malignancies, including prostate cancer.There’s absolutely no reason it should be limited to breast cancer, and it wouldn’t necessarily be restricted to people who work night shifts. People with disrupted sleep or people who are up late at night or get up frequently in the night could potentially have the same sort of effect,” said Scott Davis of the University of Washington.

The newest study on obesity, from Columbia University, is just the latest to find that adults who sleep the least appear to be the most likely to gain weight and to become obese. Other researchers have found that even mild sleep deprivation quickly disrupts normal levels of the recently discovered hormones ghrelin and leptin, which regulate appetite.

In addition, studies show sleep-deprived people tend to develop problems regulating their blood sugar, which may put them at increased risk for diabetes.”The research in this area is really just in its infancy,” Van Cauter said. “This is really just the tip of the iceberg that has just begun to emerge.”

So much have been said about getting sufficient sleep. One of my New Year’s Resolution is to get a minimum of 6 hours sleep a night. If I get 7 hours, it’s a bonus!

How much sleep do you get a day?

Interesting Information

January 2nd, 2010

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Cell Phones, Cancers and Brain Tumors. What is the REAL story?

So much has been talked about that the radiation from cell phones are hazardous to our health. But how true and accurate are the findings that the radiation can cause ill effects to our health? Because cell phones are held near the head when in use, the main concern has been over whether they might cause or contribute to tumors in the brain and salivary glands.

How do cell phones work?Cell phones communicate with nearby cell towers through radio frequency (RF) waves, a form of energy located on the electromagnetic spectrum between FM radio waves and microwaves. The RF waves from cell phones, like FM radio waves, microwaves, and visible light, are a form of radiation. But these types of radiation are non-ionizing. They don’t have enough energy to directly damage DNA.They are different from types of ionizing radiation such as x-rays and gamma rays, which are known to damage DNA and can cause cancer.At very high levels, RF waves can heat up body tissues. (This is the basis for how microwave ovens work.) But the levels of energy given off by cell phones are much lower, and studies suggest they aren’t able to heat up body tissues.

Here’s an excerpt from www.cancer.org:
As noted above, the RF waves given off by cell phones don’t have enough energy to damage DNA directly. Because of this, many scientists believe that cell phones aren’t able to cause cancer. Most studies done in the lab have supported this theory, finding that RF waves do not cause DNA damage.A number of scientists have reported that the RF waves from cell phones may have different effects on cells in the lab, some of which could possibly help tumors grow. However, these claims have not been verified by other scientists. Given the widespread use of cell phones, it is important that these claims be carefully tested by other scientists with expertise in this area.

Here’s some interesting information on the effects of cell phone radiation, extracted from this website:

Cell Phones Do Not Cause Cancer

Tokyo Women’s Medical University compared phone use in 322 brain cancer patients with 683 healthy people and found that regularly using a mobile did not significantly affect the likelihood of getting brain cancer. “Using our newly developed and more accurate techniques, we found no association between mobile phone use and cancer, providing more evidence to suggest they don’t cause brain cancer,” Naohito Yamaguchi, who led the research, said. His team’s findings were published in the British Journal of Cancer.
American Cancer Society – “Considerable research has also found no clear association between any other electronic consumer products and cancer. Cell phones, microwave ovens and related appliances emit low-frequency radiation—the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that includes radio waves and radar. Ionizing radiation such as gamma rays and X-rays can increase cancer risk by causing changes to DNA in cells of the body. Low frequency, non-ionizing radiation does not cause these DNA changes”
Medical College of Wisconsin – A very detailed page, with a considerable amount of information, including both FAQs and citations to references; it can be technically overwhelming for non scientists.
National Institute of Health / National Cancer Institute – April 2000. “There was no evidence of higher brain tumor risk among people who use hand-held cellular phones compared to those who do not use them.”
The Independent Expert Group chaired by Sir William Stewart published its report on the health implications of mobile phones in 2000. Two later reports by the independent Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation (AGNIR) and the most recent “Mobile Phones and Health 2004” by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), have endorsed Stewart’s findings. All three reports can be found at:www.nrpb.org.uk.