Sunday, May 30, 2010

Natural birth 'bacteria' protects child from asthma, allergies

Natural birth 'bacteria' protects child from asthma, allergies

Sydney, May 30 : Babies delivered vaginally receive protective bacteria as they pass through the birth canal, a scientist says.

Infants born by caesarean section, however, are more vulnerable to asthma, allergies and infection as they miss out on receiving mothers' good bacteria, according to Professor Patricia Conway, of the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of NSW.

According to the expert, the bacteria, left on the baby's skin, could then colonize the intestine and help inoculate newborns against hospital bugs, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

Gut flora was also crucial for developing a balanced immune system, Professor Conway said.

"With a C-section, the newborn baby misses an opportunity to pick up a lot of mum's good bacteria," she said.

She added: "This can have long-term health implications, as the development of a good intestinal ecosystem is necessary for health and immunity to allergies, from childhood right through to adulthood."

Monday, May 3, 2010

Advantages of honey and it Medical usage

Sweet wonderful honey! It is the nectar of life! A little in my tea, coffee, desserts, and even main dishes makes our life so wonderful. It is even good in lip balms and lotions. To top it off, honey could be the solution to many ordinary health concerns.

Honey has been used by humans for thousands of years. The ancient civilizations such as Greece and Egypt were very familiar with the benefits of honey including the medicinal properties. How it worked, they did not know, but they knew it worked!

We all know that honey comes from bees. The kind we eat is only made by honeybees and can vary in taste based on the flowers they honey take the nectar from. The purpose of honey is not to sweeten our lives, but to feed the bees during the winter or other lean times. Beekeepers encourage extra honey money so that we can take the excess and enjoy our day.

Honey is largely carbohydrates and water. That much might be obvious because of its sweetness. But it also contains zinc, iron, potassium, calcium, riboflavin, phosphorus, and magnesium. All of these are needed by our bodies and can be useful in fighting diseases and keeping ourselves healthy. But lately, researchers have discovered that honey is full of antioxidants. These are important to fight cancer, the common cold, and other diseases and viruses. They help fight these out of our bodies. Honey is full of these wonderful antioxidants. In fact, the darker the honey the more antioxidants you will probably find.

It has only been with the rise in the use of antibiotics that honey began to take a back seat. Now, research is showing that antibiotics could be overused and will therefore make us immune to their effects. Honey has not shown any sign of immunity in human bodies. In fact, honey is a great way to kill off infection. When used in tending to a wound, you will find less chances of infection, the elimination of infection, and quicker healing. It does not have to be just a scratch. Deep wounds can also be treated well with honey.

There is extensive documentation on the healing effects of honey. Doctors around the world understand it and sometimes apply it in their practice. Throughout history it has also been used in preventative medicine. At this time, there has not been enough documented research shown to support any of these, but at the same time researchers are dismissing it either. Honey is very powerful and reports keep coming in to support that.

Of all these medicinal uses for honey, only the wound healing has been formally researched and documented with enough evidence to support it. Most of the others are from people who down through the generations have used honey for many more purposes. Here are few that you can try in your life. Some people also mix in cinnamon since it also has shown some help in these areas.

Wounds – If you have a wound which could be a scratch, cut, scrape, or resulting from surgery, try using honey under the dressing to work on killing any bacteria and help speed up the process of healing. Like treating any wound, make sure that it has been cleaned out thoroughly before apply the dressing. Do this on a regular basis and you will results.

Heart Disease – Replacing your morning jelly for honey could help you decrease you chances of heart disease. Honey could be effective in cleaning out the arteries and preventing heart attacks and future surgeries. It has been noted that those that take in a regular amount of honey each day has a decrease in cholesterol.

Oral Health – You would think that because of its sweetness that honey would be dangerous for your teeth. Quite the opposite is proving true. Have a tooth ache? Apply honey. Want to fight gingivitis? Honey can help you in that war. It works to help chronic bad breath, also.

Arthritis – Rubbing honey deep into the areas being affected by arthritis is a great way to help ease the pain. Taking a spoonful of honey each day also has shown results in keeping the pain at bay.

In fact, a daily intake of honey works great for all of these things:

Cough

Colds

Weight loss

Acne

Upset Stomach

Immune System

Honey is wonderful and the benefits of it are just being fully recognized. As time goes on, more and more conditions are being treated with honey. Begin taking a serious look at honey in your life and how you can use it. Make it a part of your daily life and feel the benefits of this sweet nectar.