A Look at Obama & Clinton Health Models
As we all know, socialized medicine is a popular topic with the presidential candidates. Some people think it’s the answer to healthcare, others (such as professionals like us), know the dark sides of socialized medicine. Here’s a look into the ideas of Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton….
Call it Obamacare or call it Clintoncare. But don’t call it “socialized medicine.” And don’t think that the health care systems that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have promised to put into effect if they get into the White House would be anything like the universal health coverage offered in Great Britain or Canada.Last week, Sen. John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, described his challengers’ health care plans as a “move closer to a nationalized health care system.” But that’s a stretch. To nationalize means to transfer ownership or control to the government. There’s still a vast distance between what the Democratic candidates have proposed and nationalized health care.
Clinton and Obama aren’t proposing government hospitals or government doctors. They want people to have health insurance, and they want people to be able to choose from a variety of policies. The menu would include private plans as well as an option similar to Medicare. Tax breaks would help lower- and middle-income people pay their monthly premiums.
Employers, except for small businesses, would also pay into the system if they don’t offer coverage to their workers. Wealthier people would pay too because their taxes would go up. Both candidates have promised to discontinue income tax cuts passed in President Bush’s first term for those households with incomes exceeding $250,000. The revenue generated would be used to help pay for more health coverage.
The biggest difference in the two candidates’ plan is who would be required to get insurance. Clinton says everyone should be. Obama says only children must have coverage.
Such a system would continue the split system that the U.S. has when it comes to health coverage. The elderly, poor, disabled and many veterans would continue to get care paid for primarily by the government. Others would get coverage from private companies, usually through their employer, or through the Medicare-like option.
“Their approach is not taking any other country’s system. It’s building on what we have in the U.S,” said Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, which conducts health research.
The candidates say the Medicare-like option they include in their health care plans offers additional competition that would benefit consumers. But, if that plan is subsidized so generously that private companies can’t compete, then it has the potential to be the “backdoor to single-payer,” said Regina E. Herzlinger, a professor at Harvard Business School.
Still, the mix of private and public coverage bears little resemblance to Canada or Great Britain, two nations that Americans might think of when it comes to universal health insurance.
Consider, for example, that in Canada, all medically necessary services are paid for by the government. Each province determines what’s medically necessary, but surgery, prenatal care and visits to a doctor’s office for an annual health exam are typical examples. Private insurance is basically limited to dental care, vision care and prescription drugs.
In several Canadian provinces, patients are prohibited from using private insurance to pay for services covered through that nation’s Medicare program.
The prohibition stems from the fear that some people could use private insurance to get to the front of the line, thereby undermining access to publicly insured services.
Advisers to each candidates dismissed such restrictions. “We don’t eliminate the employer-based side of the equation. We don’t dismantle private insurance,” said Heather Higginbottom, policy director for the Obama campaign. “We still have competition and choice and all the things that would lead to adequate supply and good care.”
Even for those people who select the government-managed plan, nothing will preclude them from buying additional coverage, just as older people today are free to buy insurance to fill gaps in their Medicare coverage, said Neera Tanden, the policy director for the Clinton campaign.
“She wanted to build on the system we have rather than radically reshape it,” said Tanden.
Private insurance is also little used in Great Britain. About 11 percent of the population has it. Many use private insurance to escape waiting lists for elective services. But, the great majority of care is paid for by the government.
There are pluses and minuses to the single-payer system that those two countries have. Among the pluses, health care expenditures in Great Britain come to about $2,724 a person. Canada spends $3,359 per resident. Meanwhile, the U.S., spends about $6,401 per resident, according to worldwide figures compiled by the Organization for Economic Development.
Many doubt that the U.S. is getting good value for all that spending. It also makes it harder for U.S. companies to compete internationally.
“That’s why it costs less to build a car in Canada than in the United States because you’ve got a bunch of money tied up in health insurance,” said Steven Lewis, a Canadian health consultant.
Staying Healthy In A World Of Medical Problems
An astonishing number of Americans are affected by either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. Not only do they face the difficulties of dealing with diabetes, but they are also at risk for other medical conditions.
The key to preventing these issues begins with a heatlhy lifestyle, and of course obtaining health insurance for you and your family in order to maintain preventative care. Once you have those things in place here are some other tips!
A small US study suggests that people with type 2 diabetes who drink the equivalent of four cups of coffee or more a day may be causing their blood sugar levels to go up by 8 per cent (compared to non caffeine days), thus making it harder for them to manage their condition.
The study was carried out by Dr James Lane, a psychologist at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues, and is published in the February issue of Diabetes Care.
Other recent studies have shown that in habitual coffee drinkers with type 2 diabetes, caffeine appears to raise glucose and insulin after intakes of standardized carbohydrate loads. Lane and colleagues decided to investigate if this effect manifested after meals in the everyday life of type 2 diabetics and how it might undermine their efforts to manage their condition.
They used small glucose detection devices implanted under the abdominal skin of 10 patients so they could observe the rise and fall of their blood sugar while they went about their normal day for 72 hours, the first time such a thing has been done in relation to caffeine consumption, they said.
The patients had established type 2 diabetes and were regular coffee drinkers who consumed at least two cups everyday. They were also trying to manage their diabetes through a combination of diet, exercise and drugs, but not with extra insulin.
On one day the patients took caffeine capsules equal to about four cups of coffee and on the other day they took identical capsules except they contained a placebo. The study was a double blind crossover study, so neither the patients nor the drug administrators knew which capsules contained the caffeine and which contained the placebo.
The patients all had the same nutrition drink for breakfast but chose their own food for lunch and dinner.
The results showed that on caffeine days, the patients’ average daily sugar levels went up by 8 per cent. After meals the blood sugar levels were even higher: 9 per cent after breakfast, 15 per cent after lunch, and 26 per cent after dinner.
Lane said they didn’t know how caffeine drove up the glucose levels but they had a couple of ideas.
“It could be that caffeine interferes with the process that moves glucose from the blood and into muscle and other cells in the body where it is used for fuel. It may also be that caffeine triggers the release of adrenaline — the fight or flight — hormone that we know can also boost sugar levels,” said Lane.
Either way, it appears that caffeine causes blood sugar to rise which is bad news for patients with diabetes, he added.
As more research evidence gathers to support this conclusion, it is likely that official guidelines for how to manage diabetes will advise diabetics to avoid coffee and other drinks that contain caffeine, said the researchers.
As Lane pointed out:
“Coffee is such a common drink in our society that we forget that it contains a very powerful drug: caffeine.”
“Our study suggests that one way to lower blood sugar is to simply quit drinking coffee, or any other caffeinated beverages. It may not be easy, but it doesn’t cost a dime, and there are no side effects,” he added.
The next stage would be to do a study where coffee drinking diabetes patients gave up caffeine to see if this helped them manage their blood sugar levels more easily.
Thanks to Medical News for this helpful information!
Preventing Problems During Pregnancy
Every parent wants the same thing: a heatlhy pregnancy and a health baby. However, with the stresses in the world today, many babies can be affected in ways that parents would never expect.
A recent study of stresed mothers painted a startling picture.
Severe emotional stress during the first delicate months of a woman’s pregnancy may permanently impair the neurodevelopment of her unborn child, leading to an increased risk of schizophrenia later in life, new research suggests.
The link between maternal stress and fetal development is not new: A study in the Lancet in 2000 suggested, for example, that a mother’s stress during pregnancy may increase the risk of congenital brain malformations in her baby. And it has been well established that severe maternal stress is associated with low birth weight and premature birth. Now, a new study by British and Danish researchers in this week’s Archives of General Psychiatry examines the impact of stress — the acute, agonizing kind, such as that experienced with death or sickness in the mother’s immediate family, and not the run-of-the-mill anxiety of daily life — on the future psychiatric health of her offspring.
The study group consisted of 1.38 million births recorded in Denmark, from 1973 to 1995. Children were followed from age 10 until their death, their departure from Denmark, the onset of schizophrenia or the end of the study period in 2005. Researchers determined also whether the birth mothers had suffered extreme stress — due either to the death or illness (heart attack, cancer or stroke) of a first-degree relative — six months prior to and at any time during pregnancy. The data showed that women who experienced a close family member’s death during the first three months of pregnancy had a 67% increased risk of having a child who would develop schizophrenia later in life. Stress before pregnancy or in late pregnancy had no such effect; neither did stress associated with a family member’s illness.
Intuitively, it makes sense that death would have an impact that illness did not. “The problem with diagnoses of heart disease and that kind of thing is that it’s likely that there has been worry about the health of that individual for some time,” says the study’s author, Kathryn Abel of the Centre for Women’s Health Research at the University of Manchester. “Once somebody gets admitted with a heart attack or stroke or a serious illness, in some way there is relief because they’re being managed — it might not be such an acute event, which we know death to be, even when someone has been ill for a long time. When they die, that’s it.”
If the severity of maternal stress matters, then one would expect the death of child to cause more injury than the death of a parent. Indeed, says Abel, her data hinted at such a response — compared with women who lost a parent, those who lost a child appeared to have a higher likelihood of giving birth to a child at risk for schizophrenia — but her sample size was too small to confirm the theory.
How the mother’s emotional stress impacts her fetus’s growth is still mostly a mystery. It’s possible that increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol interfere directly with fetal development. Or it may be that the mother’s stress response triggers a cascade of other chemical changes — in her immune system, in blood levels of sex hormones, or perhaps in cell-signaling proteins called cytokines — that may indirectly affect early fetal development. Whatever the exact mechanism, its effects lend credence to the theory that starting early in pregnancy, “mothers transmit information to their fetus about what condition they’re likely to be born into — whether they’re going to be thrifty and expect to be in a relative state of starvation, for example, or whether they can expect plenty — a clear evolutionary advantage,” says Abel. “But it may be that in some settings, it has an adverse consequence because it restricts the growth of the fetus, and perhaps causes abnormal development of the brain, which makes it more susceptible to diseases, such as schizophrenia.”
Though the current study looked only at schizophrenia risk, Abel and her collaborators at the University of Aarhus believe that maternal stress may have a similar effect on the risk of other conditions, among them depression and other mental disorders, along with social consequences such as the risk of criminal conviction or the likelihood of marriage, “things that tend to cluster in the deprived,” says Abel. “We have not shown that this is specific to schizophrenia. We’ve just only looked at schizophrenia.”
Abel hopes to replicate her findings in Sweden — with a bigger study population and richer data, including the socio-economic status of mothers. “Social class is one of the big, enduring predictors of risk of mental illness. The lower the social class the higher the risk. You’re born with this risk,” says Abel.
The other big congenital risk factor is genetics, first-degree family history being the most powerful risk factor for schizophrenia. And, in fact, the new study found that the added risk associated with maternal stress disappeared in children whose mothers already had a family history of mental illness — showing once again that the interplay of environment and genes is anything but straightforward.
Thanks to Time for this great information!
New Bill to Open Up Health Insurance Market
Some more changes are in the air for health care. One of the latest ideas comes from Arizona congress. Since TheHealthQuote.com works in multiple states, we think this is a revolutionary idea for health care.
Being based in California, we have some of the higher rates compared to many other states. If individuals and families had the option to obtain rates and plans from various states, the population of uninsured individuals may drop significantly.
———————–
A new House bill introduced by Arizona Republican John Shadegg will allow people to buy health insurance across state lines, reported The Washington Times. The bill is designed to make health insurance markets more competitive and reduce the number of people without insurance.
The cost of health insurance varies dramatically from one state to the next. A policy that costs $60 a month in one state may cost several hundred dollars a month in another.
Why such a large difference in pricing? State laws have a lot to do with it. Many states mandate benefits that all insurance policies must offer, driving up the cost of coverage. Other states mandate that all health insurance applicants must be accepted by private insurance companies, which also drives up the cost of coverage.
Representative Shadegg’s bill would “introduce true competition to health insurance by creating a nationwide marketplace,” said David Merritt of The Center for Health Transformation.
Policy experts and political commentators don’t expect the bill the pass. The recent showdown between Congress and the White House over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program demonstrated how much disagreement there is over the direction of health coverage in the United States. It also demonstrated how little each side of the debate was willing to compromise.
Health Care: A Change In The Air!
Millions of Americans are constantly frustrated with our healthcare system. While it has so many positive aspects to it, there are also many negative issues that must be fixed. Many insurance companies are finally making some changes to the way they do busines
Wellpoint, the parent company of Blue Cross, is one of the places making some good changes!
INDIANAPOLIS, Nov 14, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — WellPoint, Inc., (NYSE: WLP) the nation’s largest health benefits company, today launched the State Health Index, a program that incorporates public health data from the 14 states in which the company’s Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield licensees operate to identify major state health issues. WellPoint’s state plans will then work with community and state leaders to design programs that will help address those health issues and, in turn, improve the health of millions.
The states where WellPoint operates Blue plans include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.
“Given that one in nine Americans is covered by a WellPoint health benefits plan, our company has a mission and a unique responsibility to understand and help improve not only the health of our members, but also the overall health of the communities we serve,” said Angela F. Braly, president and CEO of WellPoint.
“The State Health Index will provide WellPoint and our public and private partners with a roadmap to help improve the overall health of millions of people.” Developed from data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the State Health Index will track 23 measures of public health established by the CDC. WellPoint has selected these measures of improvement for its focus during the first several years of the program as they have the most potential to be positively influenced by the actions of the company: Prenatal Care in First Trimester Physical Activity Levels Low Birthweight Infant Rate Cigarette Smoking Rate Adult Influenza Immunization Rate Diabetes in Adult Population Adult Pneumococcal Immunization Rate Heart Disease Death Rate WellPoint and its state plan representatives are collaborating with local and state officials, as well as community organizations, health care professionals, and consumers to research the reasons behind prevalent health deficiencies in each state, and to design policy solutions and implement or enhance programs aimed at improving the overall health of all residents in each state.
“The guiding measures selected for the State Health Index provide a broad snapshot of the overall health of a state’s population,” said Sam Nussbaum, MD, executive vice president, clinical health policy and chief medical officer of WellPoint. “WellPoint is making significant monetary and resource contributions through the implementation or scaling of public health programs that have proven successful in other states, including smoking cessation, physical activity and adult immunization programs.” The State Health Index is a companion program to WellPoint’s Member Health Index, launched earlier this year. WellPoint’s Member Health Index uses data from the company’s own nearly 35 million members to track the improvement of the quality of health care members receive. In comparison, the State Health Index uses data pertaining to all the residents of a state to identify the most serious heath issues facing each unique population and enables WellPoint and its state plan representatives to partner with organizations to help improve and benchmark all consumers’ health through unique partnerships and programs.
“Together, WellPoint’s Member and State Health Indices clearly demonstrate our company’s commitment to measurably improving the quality of life for both our members and all of the people who live in the communities in which we live and serve,” said Braly. “We believe these innovative initiatives set a new industry standard and will help improve the health of Americans.” About WellPoint, Inc.
WellPoint’s mission is to improve the lives of the people it serves and the health of its communities. WellPoint, Inc. is the largest health benefits company in terms of commercial membership in the United States. Through its nationwide networks, the company delivers a number of leading health benefit solutions through a broad portfolio of integrated health care plans and related services, along with a wide range of specialty products such as life and disability insurance benefits, pharmacy benefit management, dental, vision, behavioral health benefit services, as well as long term care insurance and flexible spending accounts. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, WellPoint is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as Blue Cross Blue Shield in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through UniCare. Additional information about WellPoint is available at www.wellpoint.com.
Thanks to cnbc.com for this information! (more…)
Why Use TheHealthQuote.com?
Online Health Insurance is quickly becoming the primary means to find the perfect health insurance plan. With so many options to compare and review, it’s a daunting task that no one wants to face. Individuals find excuse after excuse to avoid their search for the right health insurance plan, but eventually give in and face the facts.
An online health insurance search begins with finding the perfect website that represents the health insurance companies you’re looking for. At first click, many websites may appear to have strong insurance companies and reasonably priced plan options. Unfortunately, many online health insurance websites aren’t what they seem. The trusting consumer oftentimes gets caught in the trap of discount plans, indemnity plans and all around poor health insurance coverage.
Once you have overcome these minor hurtles with the online health insurance search, you’re able to view plans with most major carriers, compare rates (direct from the insurance company) and complete the application process online! Websites have dedicated themselves to making the research process as simple for the consumer as possible. Websites even have live customer support to answer questions about gray areas or concerns that consumers may have.
With all the benefits of using an online health insurance website, why not give it a try? TheHealthQuote.com is a place you can count on to help you through the steps of searching and enrolling for a health plan. TheHealthQuote.com genuinely strives to look at the best interest of each and every one of our customers! The search for online health insurance can be a simple one, as long as you have the right website to help!
How Strong Are Your Children?
Have you ever thought about bringing your children along to the gym with you? But not just for the kiddy-care while you work out. How about bringing them along for strength training. It might be something for you!
The young athlete in your family is disciplined and devoted, squeezing in practice whenever he or she can. Now your child wants to start strength training. You’ve heard coaches and other parents talk about strength training, but you wonder — is strength training really good for a child?
The answer is yes. Strength training exercises that are supervised, safe and age-appropriate offer many bonuses to young athletes.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the National Strength and Conditioning Association all support strength training for kids — if it’s done properly. Today’s children are increasingly overweight and out of shape. Strength training can help put them on the lifetime path to better health and fitness.
Strength training, not weightliftingStrength training for kids — not to be confused with weightlifting, bodybuilding or powerlifting — is a carefully designed program of exercises to increase muscle strength and endurance. Weightlifting, bodybuilding and powerlifting are largely driven by competition, with participants vying to lift heavier weights or build bigger muscles than other athletes. This can put too much strain on young muscles, tendons and growth plates, especially when proper technique is sacrificed in favor of lifting larger amounts of weight.
Strength training for kids, however, isn’t about lifting the heaviest weight possible. Instead, the focus is on lighter weights and controlled movements, with a special emphasis on proper technique and safety.
Your child can build muscle strength using:
- Free weights
- Weight machines
- Resistance bands
- His or her own body weight
Benefits for young athletesStrength training for kids has gotten a bad reputation over the years. Lifting weights, for example, was once thought to damage young growth plates — areas of cartilage that have not yet turned to bone. Experts now realize that with good technique and the right amount of resistance, young athletes can avoid growth plate injuries. Strengthening exercises, with proper training and supervision, provide many benefits to a young athlete.
Supervised strength training that emphasizes proper technique:
- Increases your child’s muscle strength and endurance
- Protects your child’s muscles and joints from injury
- Helps improve performance in a particular sport
Your child may gain other health benefits from strength training, too. These include:
- Better heart and lung function
- A healthy body composition
- Stronger bones
- Lower blood cholesterol levels
- A good fitness habit that lasts a lifetime
Some studies suggest that improved self-esteem and a decreased chance of depression also are upshots of strength training. Your child may get a feel-good boost after improving his or her performance.
Who benefits most?Strength training benefits older preteens more than younger kids. At the age of 5 to 6, kids should be focusing on body awareness and body control, balance, running, jumping and throwing.
Strength training also helps those kids who have a focused interest in a particular sport. For example, a figure skater or dancer who has a goal of jumping higher can improve with strength training. Football players, soccer players — just about all young athletes — can enhance their performance with a strength training program.
Because technique and proper form are so important, don’t let your child begin strength training until he or she is mature enough to accept directions. A good rule of thumb is if your child is old enough to participate in organized sports, such as hockey, soccer or gymnastics, he or she is ready for some form of strength training.
Guidelines for youth strength trainingThe right strength training program for your child isn’t just a scaled-down version of what an adult would do. Many adult programs focus on fewer repetitions and heavier weights. A youth strength training program needs to focus on:
- Correct technique
- Smooth, controlled motions
- Less resistance and many repetitions
Your child’s coach can tailor a strength training program for your child according to your child’s age, size, skills and sports interests. The general principles of youth strength training are:
- Provide instruction. Show your child how to perform strength training exercises using controlled breathing and proper form. You might ask a trained professional to demonstrate. If you enroll your child in a class, make sure there’s at least one instructor for every 10 students to ensure that your child receives proper instruction.
- Supervise. Adult supervision is important to reinforce safety and good technique. For instance, if your child lifts weights to strength train, a spotter — someone who stands ready to grab the weights — can step in if the weight becomes too heavy. As a parent, you can get involved in strength training, too. You can supervise your child and serve as a positive reinforcement for healthy lifestyle habits.
- Warm up; cool down. Have your child begin each workout with 5 to 10 minutes of a warm-up activity, such as walking, jogging in place or jumping rope. This makes muscles warm and ready for action, all the while minimizing the risk of injury. End each workout with a cool down, including some light stretching.
- Think light weights, controlled repetitions. One set of 12 to 20 repetitions at a lighter weight is all it takes. Kids don’t need weights specially sized for them. They can safely lift adult-size weights as long as the weight isn’t too heavy. The resistance doesn’t have to come from weights, either. Resistance tubing can be just as effective — especially for younger kids.
- Rest between workouts. Establish a rest period of at least a day between strength training workouts. Two or three sessions per week are plenty.
- Track progress. Teach your child how to fill out a chart of which exercises, how many repetitions, and what weights or resistance he or she uses during a workout. It will be helpful in monitoring progress.
- Add weight gradually. Only when your child masters proper form should you add weight. If your child can’t do 10 repetitions at a certain weight, it’s too heavy.
- Keep it fun. Vary the routine often. Kids are more likely to stick with strength training if they don’t get bored by it.
Results won’t come overnight. But over time, you and your child will notice a difference in your child’s muscle strength and endurance.
A healthy habit for a lifetimeIf your child shows an interest in strength training, know that it can be a safe and effective activity. Along with aerobic exercise, stretching, and balance and stability, strength training is one part of a well-rounded fitness program.
Encourage physical activity in your child — it’s a key step to becoming a healthy adult.
Thanks to CNN.com for their tips!
Do You Really Need Health Insurance?
Each day, we speak with individuals that are uninsured. To many, it is not a big deal. However, most people know the fact of the matter: Health insurance is vital. It is not worth taking the risk of going uninsured. For an affordable cost, you can protect your finances, your health and your future!
Don’t take the risk of being one of the uninsured people out there. One trip to the emergency room can leave you with bills in the thousands! Even if you don’t get sick often, you can’t ever prepare for an accident or an emergency. Make sure you and your family are insured so we don’t have to say, “I told you so!” 
Here are some reasons why you must have insurance…we hope you agree!
- Health insurance helps to ensure that you and your family are protected against the financial hardships that may result from health care expenses.
- Without health insurance, you may not be able to afford medical care when you need it.
- People with health insurance are more likely to go to the hospital before their condition worsens and becomes more expensive to treat.
- People with diabetes who do not have health insurance have a higher mortality rate than people who have diabetes and health insurance.
- If large medical bills are not paid, the hospital can put a lien against your property.
- You may have to seek are at county run hospitals. County run hospitals are often overcrowded and it may take hours, if not days to be seen.
- Some colleges, universities, and international programs require proof of health insurance to be enrolled.
- You may receive a high life insurance premium.
Thanks to mamashealth.com for agreeing with us on reasons to have insurance!
8 Tips To Cancer-Proof Your Body
We all know someone or know of someone who has faced a battle with cancer. It’s a struggle that no one wants to face, so it’s important for us to take the right steps to avoid the battle! Here are some tips to help increase your chances of preventing the disease that has affected so many!
Drink pomegranate juice
Some say this luscious, lusty red fruit is Eve’s original apple, but what the pomegranate truly banishes is cancer risk. The fruit’s deep red juice contains polyphenols, isoflavones, and ellagic acid, elements researchers believe make up a potent anticancer combo. It’s been shown to delay the growth of prostate cancer in mice, and it stabilizes PSA levels in men who’ve been treated for prostate cancer. And now University of Wisconsin at Madison researchers have learned that pomegranate may also inhibit lung-cancer growth. If you currently smoke, have smoked in the past, or hang around in smoky places (Cleveland, for instance), the juice of the fruit could bolster your defenses.
Use it: The mice in the Wisconsin study received the human equivalent of 16 ounces of juice per day, so quaff accordingly.
Eat blueberries
Got pterostilbene? Rutgers University researchers say this compound — found in blueberries — has colon cancer–fighting properties. When rats with colon cancer were fed a diet supplemented with pterostilbene, they had 57 percent fewer precancerous lesions after 8 weeks than rats not given the compound did. Eat blueberries and you’ll also benefit from a big dose of vitamin C (14 milligrams per cup). In a study of 42,340 men, New England Research Institute scientists discovered that men with the highest dietary vitamin C intake (as opposed to supplements) were 50 percent less likely to develop premalignant oral lesions than men with the lowest intake were.
Use it: “About two servings daily is the human equivalent of what we fed the rats,” says Bandaru Reddy, M.D., Ph.D., a chemical-biology professor at Rutgers. Load up at breakfast: A cup and a half of blueberries over cereal, plus 8 ounces of juice and half a grapefruit (for extra vitamin C), will do the trick. If that’s too much to stomach at dawn, spread it out over the course of the day.
Relax a little
Purdue University researchers tracked 1,600 men over 12 years and found that half of those with increasing levels of worry died during the study period. Talk about flunking the exam. Only 20 percent of the optimists died before the 12-year study was completed. More anxiety-producing news: Thirty-four percent of the neurotic men died of some type of cancer. How neurotic are we talking? “Think of the biggest worrier you know — someone who stresses out over everything,” says psychologist Daniel Mroczek, Ph.D., who conducted the study. “That man is probably above the 95th percentile in neuroticism. Then think of the most cool, calm, collected man you know. He’s probably below the fifth percentile.”
Use it: To develop that critical, casual Jeff Spicoli vibe, learn to slow down your fast times: “The more time you spend in the present moment, the more relaxed you’ll be, because most mental anguish occurs over stuff that’s already happened or that may or may not happen in the future,” says Claire Wheeler, M.D., Ph.D., the author of “10 Simple Solutions to Stress.” “For the most part, right now is pretty damn good. If you practice being present while shaving, for example, eventually you’ll also be more present when eating, making love, and working.”
Pop selenium
Selenium has long been thought of as a cancer fighter, but you can have too much of a good thing, says David J. Waters, Ph.D., D.V.M., director of the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation, in West Lafayette, Indiana. A study of almost 1,000 men, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that when those with the lowest initial levels of selenium in their bodies received a daily supplement over a 4 1/2- year period, they cut their prostate-cancer risk by an impressive 92 percent. But men who started out with high selenium were rewarded with an 88 percent increase in total cancer risk when they took the supplements. Moral: It pays to get your selenium level right.
Use it: Selenium in the body is measured through toenail clippings. Send yours to the Murphy Foundation, and for less than $100 (price varies by state), they’ll ship them to a lab and then inform you of your level 2 weeks later. If yours is out of range, the foundation will explain how to adjust your intake of Brazil nuts, tuna, meats, grains, and selenium supplements. Learn more at www.seleniumhealthtest.com.
Order sushi
As mentioned, Gary Stoner is using seaweed to fight the Big C. When he fed the polyphenols from brown seaweed to mice that had been bombarded with UV rays, their incidence of skin tumors dropped 60 percent. And the polyphenols shrank existing tumors by 43 percent. Better still, the doses that produced these effects were the equivalent of only 1 or 2 tablespoons in a human being. “Seaweed is low in calories and fat, yet it provides heart-helping fiber, bone-building calcium and iron,” says nutrition consultant Molly Morgan, R.D., C.D.N., owner of Creative Nutrition Solutions, in Vestal, New York. “Dried, roasted seaweed sheets used in making sushi also provide vitamins A and C.”
Use it: “Eat more sushi rolls,” says Stoner. “It’s not quite the same seaweed, but it has some of the same compounds.” As a bonus, sushi itself is a great muscle food. A typical spicy tuna roll has only 290 calories but packs 24 grams of protein. Also, look for a Korean-made, seaweed-fortified drink called EntroPower (entropower.com), which should be hitting U.S. health-food stores soon.
Spend more time outside
Scientists have viewed vitamin D as a potent cancer fighter for decades, but there’s never been a gold-standard trial — until now. A Creighton University study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who supplemented their diets with 1,000 international units of vitamin D every day had a 60 percent to 77 percent lower incidence of cancer over a 4-year period than did women taking a placebo. “I don’t think the effect is limited to women,” says Joan Lappe, Ph.D., the lead study author. “Vitamin D is necessary for the best functioning of the immune system — it causes early death of cancer cells.”
Use it: Nature intended us to make vitamin D from the sun, but depending on where you live, the time of year, and how much of an agoraphobe you are, you may not reach the optimal level of 80 nanomoles per liter of blood that way. A blood test can give you a baseline. From there, Lappe recommends supplementing with 1,100 to 2,000 IU of vitamin D in a stand-alone pill every day. Vitamin D is also in sardines, salmon, shiitake mushrooms, and reindeer meat — which may explain Santa’s longevity, despite the odd hours and jelly belly.
Clear your air
Secondhand smoke may be even worse for you than we thought. A recent American Journal of Public Health study reveals that nonsmokers working in smoky places had three times the amount of NNK, a carcinogen, in their urine than nonsmoking workers in smoke-free joints had. And their levels of NNK rose 6 percent for every hour worked. “There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, and the greater the exposure, the higher the risk,” says the study’s lead author, Michael Stark, Ph.D., principal investigator for the Multnomah County Health Department in Portland, Oregon.
Use it: Nine states have banned smoking in all workplaces, bars, and restaurants: Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Washington. So change locations, change professions, or change the laws. As you sip your pomegranate juice, sign up with Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights at no-smoke.org.
Invest a little sweat equity
Study after study has pointed to the cancer-beating power of exercise. Now research from Norway has found that even a tiny dose of exercise has big benefits. A study of 29,110 men published last year in the International Journal of Cancer shows that men who exercised just once a week had a 30 percent lower risk of metastatic prostate cancer than did men who didn’t work out at all. Increasing the frequency, duration, and intensity of the exercise correlated with a further, gradual reduction in risk.
Use it: Just one bout of weekend warriorism — a company softball game, pickup basketball, racquetball with your crusty uncle — might qualify you for inclusion in the cancer-free 30 percent.
Tips courtesy of MSNBC.com.
We Appreciate You!
Being a part of an industry that has shifted its ways of doing business to a “virtual” arena, we constantly strive to not only offer the must current and competitive products, but the best customer service and relationships one can find.
The downside of being an internet company is that our primary form of health insurance business is done via email and over the phone. While that streamlines business and makes things more efficient, our company never has the opportunity to build face to face relationships with our many clients.
This is why we work hard, with every individual that we assist through the health insurance process, to let them know that we genuinely care about helping them to find the perfect product for their needs.
We know we have been successful at this whenever we receive an email or a letter about how we’ve been there for someone, and made this aspect of their lives much easier. We are proud when we receive such compliments and we’d like to share them!
Shelli in Carlsbad, CA says:
Thanks again for all of your help! I have been recommending your company to everyone I talk to who is paying too much for, or unsatisfied with their health insurance. It has been a pleasure working with your! Your customer service has been OUTSTANDING!
——————————————————
Shurie in Los Angeles, CA said:
Thank you for making everything so easy!
——————————————————
Thad in Pasadena, CA told us:
Thanks again so much for the help! I have already received an approval! Once again, I can’t thank you enough for all of the help you have given me and my daughter!
——————————————————
Mark in Los Angeles, CA let us know this:
TheHealthQuote.com has been great for my health insurance needs! If anybody ever asks me about insurance, I’ll be sure to send them your way!
——————————————————
Finally, Michael in Houston, TX let us know his true feelings:
Everything was good while working with you. Every time I called, my questions were answered. Good job! If only insurance didn’t cost so much, but that’s not up to you!
——————————————————
These are just some of the wonderful feedback that we’ve received. We’re always here to help everyone with their health insurance needs, whatever their situation.
