Americans Ignoring Serious Hypertension Problem, Experts Warn – AOL News

Americans Ignoring Serious Hypertension Problem, Experts Warn – AOL News.

Eat your Fruits and Veggies!

From the Science Based Health Monthly Newsletter:

A Daily Dose of Color for Good Health

Color Counts When it Comes to Produce

When the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans were released in 2005, the recommendation for daily fruit and vegetable consumption was increased from 5-9 to 5-13 servings per day for adults. Despite the known health benefits of eating enough fruits and vegetables, many of us find it hard to meet these recommended intakes.

While eating a wide variety of produce is a worthwhile goal, eating a variety of different colors of fruits and vegetables is a new way of thinking about meeting that goal. Color can be just as important – maybe even more so – than quantity when it comes to fruits and veggies. That’s because colorful produce contains phytonutrients – unique plant-derived nutrients that contribute to good health.

Phytonutrient Gap

About 80% of Americans fail to eat a diet rich in specific colorful fruits and veggies according to a new study entitled America’s Phytonutrient Report. While scientists continue to identify plant-based nutrients, this report focused on 14 select phytonutrients that were grouped into color categories.

The five color categories included:

• Yellow/orange (carotenoids such as alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin and lutein/zeaxanthin, as well as hesperidin);
• Blue/purple (flavonoids such as anthocyanidins and trans-resveratrol);
• White (compounds such as allicin from garlic and quercetin plentiful in onions);
• Green (lutein/zeaxanthin, EGCG, isothiocyanate and isoflavones);
• Red (phenolics such as ellagic acid and lycopene).

Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, the US Department of Agriculture and other published surveys, the authors calculated the phytonutrient gap by comparing intakes of the 14 phytonutrients among the sub-group of Americans who do meet the daily fruit and veggie recommendations with intakes of average Americans. Based on this analysis, Americans are falling short in virtually every color category of phytonutrients:

• 69% fall short in green
• 78% fall short in red
• 86% fall short in white
• 88% fall short in purple/blue
• 79% fall short in yellow/orange

Phytonutrient Index Could Prove Helpful

Researchers from the University of Florida developed a phytonutrient index that ranks the amount of calories consumed from plant-based foods with overall daily calorie intake. In their study, they broke young adult volunteers into normal weight and overweight/obese groups and calculated their “index”. Normal weight adults had a higher phytonutrient index (23.5), almost twice that of the overweight group (13.2).

Although both groups ate about the same amount of calories, the overweight and obese adults consumed fewer plant based foods and therefore less protective trace minerals and phytonutrients – and more saturated fats. The overweight group also had higher levels of oxidative stress and inflammation. According to the researchers, the phytonutrient index could prove to be a useful tool to optimize diets for disease prevention.

Sample the Spectrum

To help you choose richer and more vibrantly colored foods whenever possible, here are just a few examples of foods from different color categories:

• Yellow/Orange: Butternut squash, cantaloupe, carrots, lemons, mangoes, oranges, papayas, peaches and sweet corn;
• Blue/Purple: Blackberries, bilberries, blueberries, eggplant, figs, plums, prunes, purple grapes and raisins;
• White: Bananas, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, jicama, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, potatoes and turnips.
• Green: Asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, green beans, green apples, kale, kiwi, green pepper soy and spinach;
• Red: Cherries, cranberries, pink grapefruit, pomegranates, raspberries, red grapes, strawberries, tomatoes and watermelon.

Reference:
Vincent HK, et al. Relationship of the dietary phytochemical index to weight gain, oxidative stress, and inflammation in overweight young adults. J of Human Nutr Dietetics [Epub ahead of print, September, 2009]

Why are your eyes red?

View this informative video for answers to questions about red eyes….

California Optometric Association member Dr. Carl Hillier went on XETV San Diego’s CW to provide information about how allergies affect the eyes. He also warned viewers that sometimes what you think are eye allergy symptoms could in turn be an eye infection. Originally aired: July 6, 2009

Dr. Campagna’s Eye Exam Tips……

Ten Tips For Getting a Good Eye Examination

1. Arrive a few minutes early, having had a good night’s sleep.

2. Consider having someone come with you, especially if you have a condition that might require treatment, as ‘two sets of ears are better than one.’

3. Bring in your old glasses to the exam, even if they are broken.  If you wear contact lenses, we like to know what type and brand you have been wearing.

4. If possible, determine approximately when you last had an eye  examination, if it was at another doctor’s office.

5. Bring a list of your medications, including over-the-counter meds, and supplements.

6. Don’t sleep with your contact lenses in for 6 straight months before you come in.  Better not to sleep in them at all!

7. Don’t arrive drunk or intoxicated, that never has a good outcome. (It happens)

8. Don’t have onions or garlic on the way over.

9. Turn off, and put away your cell phones, texting devices, i-Pods, etc.

10. If you want the best exam, follow the above tips, and come to one of our offices for your next eye exam.

Green tea may help fight eye ailments | The Money Times

Green tea may help fight eye ailments | The Money Times.

Another Benefit of Green Tea?  Interesting Reading.

A different perspective on an eye exam!

Review of Optometry > How the Pharaohs Fought Ocular Infection

Review of Optometry > How the Pharaohs Fought Ocular Infection

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The Real effects of Age Related Macular Degeneration……

For true insight into the real effects of Age Related Macular Degeneration, read this copy of a great article published in the January issue of Optometric Management magazine……

THE HUMAN SIDE OF OPTOMETRY

Portraits of AMD

How do we see? Do we all see the same? And if not, how do others view the world?

ADAM HAHN, LONDON

When my grandmother passed away in 2006, I had already been investigating vision issues and I researched specifically age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which she had suffered towards the end of her life. This work eventually led to my series of portraits which were on display in New York in September, in conjunction with AMD Week, the AMD Alliance International and Lighthouse.

I was not aware at the time that AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the United Kingdom and yet so little is known or heard about it. The visual representations in the text-books, on the whole, presented AMD as a black/grey hole in the center of one’s field of vision and I wanted to challenge medical journals. They were all too scientific and lacked any human content. I wanted to investigate what it was that people with AMD actually saw. Was it a concentrated black mass, or something else?

I soon contacted Prof. Pete Coffey who heads The London Project at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, who gave me the scientific grounding necessary to understand the condition and what the sufferers of AMD actually see.

He introduced me to a patient who became the first of more than 20 sitters, Dennis Lewis.

A common trait with every person I met was how lonely and often isolated they felt. Not speaking to their families and loved ones as to what they could or could not see was common with every person I met – and was true also with my grandmother.

They do not wish to worry their families or admit that they can no longer do certain things, or recognize friends or family in the street. It was sometimes difficult to comprehend the lives people led, how their peripheral vision, that we take for granted, became their lifeline. I wanted the work to give my sitters a voice, a platform with an accurate portrayal of what it is like to have AMD.  On meeting each sitter I kept the lighting conditions and the distance between us as constant as possible throughout and asked what they saw of me. Asking for a detailed description of where information within their field of vision came into focus, or what was in the void is not something they were used to being asked and many sitters found it difficult to describe what they could see.

At each sitting I took a series of photographs and then manipulated a chosen photograph to the level of vision described by the sitter.

With all the information gained from each sitting and a manipulated photograph, I began the deductive process in painting each portrait. Each portrait is unique to the individual representing the level of sight experienced by each sitter.

The project would only have been possible due to the co-operation and belief of the sitters and it was their reaction to the work, when viewed at the first opening of the exhibition, that gave the portraits the necessary validation. Every sitter said I had accurately portrayed their vision. OM

Mr. Hahn is an award-winning portrait artist based in London

February is AMD Awareness Month…..

Become better informed about the effects of Age Related Macular Degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in adults over 50.  Click on the following link to visit Zeavision’s great new website…….

http://www.zeavision.com/patients.html