There is a great deal of factors that may cause cancer, and not all of them are known. Yet, doctors know some of them very well. Bad nutrition is one of them.

Cabbage

Out of all vegetable, cabbage is especially rich in specific anti-cancer substances that block the development of the disease at all stages. They suppress the activity of the genes responsible for cancer development, prevent damage to healthy genes and decrease the ability of timorous cells to grow.

Brussels sprouts and broccoli are especially beneficial. Some independent research studies conducted in Denmark, Great Britain and Finland showed that even a small portion of broccoli (100 grams a day) is enough to lower the risk of prostate and lung cancer. Brussels sprouts are also rich in calcium, sodium, phosphor and iron.

Onion and garlic

Both these vegetables are capable of preventing primary damage to genes causing cancer development. Garlic is particularly good for preventing colon cancer and decreases the risk by 70%. Garlic is best consumed raw. Before consumption it is recommended to finely chop it and let it “breath” for 10 to 15 minutes.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes contain a special anti-cancer pigment also contained in red bell pepper. Tomatoes are good in any way, fresh, as ketchup, tomato paste, juices and even sauces. Research revealed that consumption of tomato juice on a daily basis for a month lowers the risk of prostate cancer by 20%.

Blueberry and Raspberry

Blueberry has been long ago recognized as a miracle berry in all respects. Thanks to high concentration of antioxidants it protects all cells in the body from destruction, and its dark blue segment (also found in bilberry) enhances eyesight and prevents eye diseases.

Blueberry and raspberry contain ellagic acid that deprives focus of disease nutrition and ability to survive.

Green tea

Green tea is one of the leaders in terms of antioxidants as well as a depository of the most important anti-cancerogenic substance, epigallocatechin gallate. The substance prevents tumor growth and decreases the risk of their appearance. Daily consumption of 5 cups of green tea a day decreases chances of breast cancer. It is believed that adding milk or any diary product to tea weakens its antioxidant features.

Spices

The most favorite Indian spice, curry, provokes health loss and restrains growth of cancerous cells. This effect is made possible by curcuma, to be more exact, its fragrant component curcumin.

The scientists that made the discovery (in Tohohu University, Japan) were astonished by the discovered effect and decided to synthesize curcumin and were successful. The substances they obtained were more resistant and can affect cancer cells even more efficiently. In the years to come, the substances may be used to produce medication.

Wine

Benefits of moderate alcohol consumption have been proven long time ago. British cardiologists came to a conclusion that daily (albeit small) doses of wine reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and related deaths. US physiologists are convinced that women who regularly consume red wine are on average skinnier than non-drinking women.

Eighteen months ago American Society for Cancer Research declared that weak alcohol had certain benefits. For example, every glass of white wine (assuming consumption of no more than 2 glasses per day) reduces the risk of lung cancer by 2%; and during chemo therapy antioxidants contained in wine protect healthy cells from radiation damage.

Dark chocolate

Dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants, which makes it prevent damage to healthy cells and forming of cancer cells. Antioxidants come from cocoa bean, which means their concentration must be maximal. For better results, eat not just bitter or dark chocolate, but chocolate marked as “65% or more of cocoa . Recommended daily dosage is 30 to 40 grams..

Coffee

Despite all the faults of this beverage, it gets a definite “plus” from oncologists. Researchers found out that daily consumption of caffeine drinks reduced cancer development by 16%. To prevent prostate cancer doctors recommend drinking coffee every day. Three to four cups of coffee per day reduced risk of colon cancer by 24%. Women willing to protect themselves from endometrial cancer have to drink two cups of coffee a day.

There is evidence, however, that coffee consumption may slightly increase chances of breast and lung cancer, but there is no unified opinion. Some experts believe that cancer is caused not by the beverage itself but accompanying habits like sweets consumption and smoking.

Legumes

Legumes are rich in phitoestrogen that is proven to fight lungs and breast cancer. They also a good source of fiber. Scientists found that eating beans on a regular basis reduced risk of cancer by 40%.

Bananas

Bananas are another product for cleansing and tumor prevention. Bananas are also rich in sugar, which means that they are a great source of energy, both physical and mental. Bananas are rich in vitamin K. It is necessary to provide kidney functioning, bone formation and digest calcium and vitamin D. Pravda RU

This glamorous Asian city is known for its mouth-watering dim sum. Its high fashion. And its 100-pound-and-under women.

Agatha Yau, a marketing executive, is one of these women. She has done many things over the years to stay trim: taken diet pills, eaten meals of boiled vegetables and practiced delaying gratification.

“Sometimes, I’ll look at the food and just smell it,” Yau, 22, says one morning as she has her breakfast — a skim caramel macchiato from Starbucks. “I think to myself that once I get married and have kids, I’ll be able to eat it” because there’ll be less pressure to diet.

“Guys here are so small and skinny,” she adds. “They need to feel masculine, and they don’t if you’re bigger than them.”

In most developed parts of the world, women feel pressure to be thin. But such pressure is especially intense in Asia — in places like Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo — where scores of skinny women seem always to be looking for ways to get even skinnier. Experts say dieting in Asia tends to be more extreme than in the West because of cultural perceptions of beauty.

“The magic number is to be below 100 pounds, no matter your height or your weight,” says Philippa Yu, a clinical psychologist at the Hong Kong Eating Disorders Association.

In Asia, women want to stay skinny without exercising because muscles aren’t considered a feminine feature, says Sing Lee, director of the Hong Kong Eating Disorders Center at Chinese University.

That’s why, “when they want to control their body weight, they eat less or take pills” instead of exerting themselves, Lee says.

Hong Kong dieters also flock to slimming centers throughout the city for ultrasound, electrical stimulation and infrared radiation treatments that promise to whittle away inches of fat. (The Hong Kong Consumer Council has called some of the slimming centers’ weight-loss claims “dubious.”)

The newest dieting fad in Hong Kong? Swallowing parasites. This radical form of weight loss has become popular enough that the Hong Kong Health Department issued a warning in February that these worms — which are sold on Chinese websites — can cause abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea and even death.

Eating disorders on rise

As extreme weight-loss methods take hold in Asia, eating disorders are also increasing.

In Beijing, at Peking University’s Institute of Mental Health, more than 100 patients were hospitalized last year for eating disorders, says Darong Zhang, director of the institute’s treatment center. That compares with about 20 patients hospitalized 10 years ago.

In Hong Kong, the number of patients treated for eating disorders at one clinic has nearly doubled — to 128 — from 1998 to 2007 when compared with the prior 10-year period, Lee’s research shows.

Eating disorders also are becoming more common in Korea, but many women don’t want to admit they have a problem, says Mirihae Kim, a psychology professor at Duksung Women’s University in Seoul.

“The last time I tried to run an eating disorder group, only one person showed up,” Kim says. “So I changed the group’s name to Overeaters Group Therapy.”

The reality is that in Korea, being thin is the “main standard of beauty,” Kim says. “People say that if you are overweight, you can’t study, you will fail the exam. That’s the attitude here.”

Koreans also say weight plays an important role in whether someone can find employment and how good a job he or she can get.

Duksung Women’s University senior Hyun-Jung Lee, 25, says she’s dieting because she wants to land a job as a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company.

“If I am in good shape, other people will judge me as diligent and successful in life,” says Lee, who is 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds. “But on the other hand, if I am fat and out of shape, people will think: ‘She’s lazy. Maybe she doesn’t care about herself.’ “

Unlike others, Lee says she’s choosing the “healthy” way to lose weight. She eats low-fat food and exercises five times a week, two hours each time. She has lost about 10 pounds and hopes to lose an additional 22 pounds.

“The better you look, the more opportunity you have,” she says.

As Asian societies become wealthier — and people have more options about what to eat — it’s only natural that some will struggle with their weight, experts say.

A new kind of competition

With the shift from an agrarian to an urbanized society, “there are definitely more opportunities to overeat,” says David Schlundt, an associate psychology professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, who researches eating habits.

In Asia, obesity is becoming more common among adolescents, although it’s less of a problem than in the USA. For now, in cities such as Hong Kong, health professionals say their biggest challenge is dealing with young women who don’t eat enough, not those who eat too much.

“You can see how pervasive slimming is in this culture,” says Yu, of the Hong Kong Eating Disorders Association. In the old days, Asian women competed with one another to see how many children they could have, but now they compete to be the most successful, and the thinnest, she adds.

Slimming centers have cropped up all over Asia to cater to such desires.

In Shanghai, at Chuanye Slimming Center — a popular Chinese chain — women buy packages of 10 sessions. They can choose from treatments such as “ultrasonic liposuction,” which claims to vibrate your fat away, or one in which they’re covered with Chinese herbs and bandages, then encased in an Austin Powers-esque, heat-emitting machine that’s said to draw out toxins while toning the body.

During the treatments, “we don’t recommend exercise because it’ll turn into muscle,” says manager Xu Wenli, whose clients include brides-to-be who are eager to fit into their wedding dresses. “After you lose a certain amount of weight, then you can exercise.”

Another slimming center, Marie France Bodyline, which has locations throughout Asia, promises results with “no vigorous exercise.” One treatment applies heat and a pulsating suction to remove 2 inches of body fat after just one treatment, the company’s brochure says.

Wing Yim, a customer service manager at a Marie France slimming center in Hong Kong, says that women want to be thin, but they already work long hours, so they “don’t want to sweat” to achieve their goal.

Yau, the Hong Kong marketing executive, says slimming centers are too expensive (a package of treatments can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars) and she’s not sure they work. So she loses weight the inexpensive way, she says: via portion control. For dinner sometimes, she’ll have two spoonfuls of rice with vegetables and soup.

“Dieting is a life-long career for women,” Yau says. “It’s true for women everywhere, but especially in Hong Kong.” By Cathy Chu, USA Today

Almost a third of butterflies in Europe are in decline and one in ten is threatened with extinction, according to a new study.

There is particular concern for the Large Blue, which is endangered throughout the continent. This butterfly disappeared from the British countryside in 1979 but has been successfully reintroduced and is thriving in Somerset and Devon.

Experts believe similar schemes should now be adopted by other countries.

Without urgent action, however, Britain could lose two other favourite butterflies, the Duke of Burgundy and the Lulworth Skipper.

According to the European Red List assessment of species at risk, commissioned by the European Commission, both butterflies have fared badly in Britain during the past year and are classed as “near threatened”, which means at serious risk of extinction.

The Lulworth Skipper is in most trouble, having declined by 87 per cent since 1980, and is now found only along the south coast in Dorset.

Twenty years ago there were 200 Duke of Burgundy colonies throughout southern England but today there are just 80, and they are confined to Kent, Hampshire, East and West Sussex, Dorset and Gloucestershire.

Dr Martin Warren, author of the report and chief executive of Butterfly Conservation, the UK charity, blamed the decline on loss of habitats caused by intensive farming practices that had reduced traditional grasslands and wild flower meadows, woodlands and wetlands.

He said: “We need to see much greater efforts for farmers to adopt environmentally sensitive agriculture. We want to see more grasslands, which are good carbon sinks.

“Grasslands also absorb water and prevent flooding.

“There are also parts of Europe, especially in alpine areas, such as the Alps and Pyrenees, where people have had such poor returns from farming they have abandoned the land.

“We would like to see more cash support for these rural communities.”

The study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature(IUCN) has highlights concerns about 22 species of butterfly, 29 types of beetle and five dragonflies.

Annabelle Cuttelod, IUCN co-ordinator, said that most of the butterflies at risk were in southern Europe and this was due to a number of reasons including changing patterns of agriculture, climate change, forest fires and the expansion of tourism.

One species that may already be extinct is the Madeiran Large White, which has not been seen on the island for 20 years and is classified as critically endangered.

Another in grave decline is the Macedonian Grayling, whose habitat has been destroyed by quarrying.

Jane Smart, director of the IUCN biodiversity action group, said: “When talking about threatened species, people tend to think of larger, more charismatic creatures such as pandas or tigers, but we mustn’t forget that the small species on our planet are just as important and are also in need of conservation action.

“Butterflies, for instance, play a hugely pivotal role as pollinators in the ecosystems in which they live.” Valerie Elliott, The Times

Health experts have underlined the need to pay more attention to check malnutrition among people, especially in developing countries, noting that efforts to address the issue must be considered as an ‘investment in human capital’.

They made the observation during a workshop here to discuss current challenges in nutrition related health problems in Oman. Dr Randa Yousef, Association Professor of Community Medicine at Sultan Qaboos University’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences, called for a conceptual framework to identify and manage malnutrition.

Yousef pointed out that developing countries faced a double burden — the emerging problem of over nutrition and the persistence of under nutrition among vulnerable groups. “Under nutrition is receiving greater public health attention because of its considerable magnitude and serious impact exceptionally in developing parts of the world. Prevention of under nutrition is an investment in human capital with subsequent impact on poverty elimination.”

Making a presentation on diet and risk of cancer, Dr Amanat Ali, Associate Professor in Food science and Nutrition Department, said diet had been known to play a major role in the development of various types of cancers and tumour behaviour.

“Foods not only influence the ability to achieve one’s genetic potential but also influence both the physical and cognitive performance as well as modify the risk of a variety of disease conditions including cancer, he explained,” he said.

Recent studies, he added, suggested that dietary factors might influence the risk of developing various types of cancers. “However, the evidence is still limited. Although it is not possible to exactly quantify the overall risks, it has been estimated that almost 35 per cent of all cancer deaths may be related to dietary factors,” Ali said. Khaleej Times

Experts believe more than 14,000 women a year would probably not develop the disease if they had adopted healthier behavior from an early age.

Modern lifestyles which feature regular drinking, lack of exercise and increased obesity are fuelling the rise of the disease, the European Breast Cancer Conference heard on Thursday. Around 45,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year in Britain. Carlo La Vecchia, of Milan University, told the conference in Barcelona: “What can be achieved with screening has been achieved. It’s time to move on to other things.”

Healthier lifestyle

Dr La Vecchia said the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) estimates that 25 to 30 per cent of cases could be avoided if women were thinner and did more exercise.

But Robert Baan, an IARC expert, said it was not clear if already overweight women could lower their cancer risk by slimming down or if long-term damage had already been done. Around one in five British women is classified as obese. Research shows they are almost 50 per cent more likely to die from breast cancer than women carrying fewer pounds.

It is unclear why obese women are more at risk, although changes in sex hormone levels triggered by weight gain could be behind oestrogen-dependent tumours, which form the majority of cases.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) last year suggested up to 40 per cent of diagnosed women — around 18,000 a year, could avoid cancer by adopting a healthier lifestyle.

Studies show drinking one large glass of wine a day increases the chances of developing the disease by a fifth, say experts. Again, this could be linked to alcohol raising levels of oestrogen. Dr Rachel Thompson said the WCRF had reviewed 954 separate studies.

“The evidence is now convincing that drinking alcohol, being physically inactive and having excess body fat all increase risk of breast cancer,” she said.

“There is also convincing evidence that breastfeeding reduces the mother’s risk of breast cancer. Overall, we estimate about 40 per cent of breast cancer cases in the UK could be prevented through these lifestyle factors.” Gulf News

We tend to plan many events during a life time such as, births, communions, weddings, anniversaries, all kinds of milestones but what about our final milestone, our final passage? So now, welcome to the real world. We cannot deny the fact that while a lot of companies produce local wedding-planning guides, yet, no one has created a local funeral-planning guide aimed at consumers. Well, careful planning takes into consideration the funeral cost of services and merchandise.

Though some people tend to make the funeral more memorable, but it doesn’t have to be expensive just to be meaningful. Now for people who lived a long and blessed life this doesn’t have to be all tears and sadness for them, as they can pre-set the stage by letting everyone know that they want it to be life celebration and not the traditionally morbid affair of one’s final passing.