Can I be allergic to alcohol? Although a true alcohol allergy is rare, and the reaction can be severe, most allergic reactions to alcohol are due to an ingredient in alcohol. Every person’s body chemistry and make-up is different, so a person’s response to alcohol can vary greatly. A true alcohol allergy tends to be inherited.

Often, a true alcohol allergy is termed alcohol intolerance. Although research is limited, people with a true allergy to alcohol should avoid drinking. Research indicates that the enzyme, aldehyde dehydrongenase, metabolizes alcohol in the liver into acetic acid (vinegar). A person who has an allergy to vinegar can then have a severe reaction to the alcohol. Others can have a polymorphism in the ALDH gene, which renders aldehyde dehydrongenase inactive and makes it impossible to convert alcohol to acetic acid. The second type of intolerance or allergy is more common among the Asian population, and symptoms may include flushing, nausea, and rapid heartbeat.READ MORE

As cigarette smoking rates fall, more people are smoking tobacco from hookahs–communal pipes that enable users to draw tobacco smoke through water. A new meta-analysis led by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine shows that hookah smokers are inhaling a large load of toxicants.

Study Finds Hookah Delivers 25 Times More Tar Than A Cigarette

Q.  How accurate are the calorie counts on nutrition facts labels? What about the nutrition information at restaurants? Is anyone checking them for accuracy?

A.  Consumers are often surprised–and dismayed–to learn that the information on nutrition facts labels is not nearly as accurate or reliable as they imagined.   Part of this is built into the system.   The FDA allows manufacturers and packagers a surprisingly wide margin of error–the information can be off  by 20% in either direction and still be in compliance.   For example, if the nutrition facts label says that a food contains 300 calories, it may actually contain anywhere from 240 to 360 calories.And, of course, sometimes the labels are out of compliance.  Although it would technically be up to the FDA (in the case of packaged foods) and the states (in the case of restaurants) to enforce the laws, you can imagine that the budget for spot-checking the accuracy of this information is fairly small.  When errors come to light, it’s usually due to independent investigations.READ MORE

Bone Density Program George Kessler DO PC,

As people reach old age, osteoporosis is a major determining factor in quality of life. In Healing Moves, Dr. Mitchell and Carol Krucoff write, “Age-related declines in muscle and bone mass … can lead to frailty and fracture — the primary reason older adults wind up in nursing homes.” If you don’t want to spend your later years resting in a nursing home, losing your independence and draining your or your family’s financial resources, you need to do something to remain independent. According to numerous studies and aging manuals, that “something” is strength training, an activity known to increase bone mass and thus decrease the possibility of osteoporosis.
Postmenopausal women are especially prone to osteoporosis because they lack estrogen. Most women know this and begin to take calcium supplements to ward off the debilitating disease. Calcium supplements are important, but according to Kathy Keeton’s book, Longevity, they are not enough. Not only does your body need magnesium and other nutrients to assimilate calcium into your bones

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By EMMA HAAK PREVENTION
Meditation sounds so easy: Just sit still for as long as it takes to let your mind go blank, and feelings of negativity or distress will drift away. But who has such limitless time? And can one generic exercise really relieve all the ways we get overwhelmed? We asked three meditation gurus to confront these nagging questions. The result: 8 simple meditations to change 8 common, troublesome mind-sets in just 10 minutes. Get ready to solve the problems in front of you, one breath at a time.
Your Issue: “I feel stressed from the minute I get to the office until the minute I leave.”
Your Meditation: A traditional Tibetan technique called sky-gazing meditation. Look out the window, relax your whole body, and let your gaze expand into the spaciousness of the sky. Repeat the ahhh sound silently—it’s the most open sound you can make, and it amplifies the feeling. Let your attention go, and sit for a few minutes. If you’re not near a window (or worry people will think you’re daydreaming), sub your computer screen for the sky and rest your attention on the perimeter of your monitor instead. —Dean Sluyter, natural meditation expert and author of the new book Natural Meditation: A Guide to Effortless Meditative CONTINUE READING

This guest post is from Science News chemistry and environment writer Beth Mole.

The news and Internet are lush with worrisome reports about synthetic turf: Your child’s playground might be teeming with toxic chemicals. The city park could expose her to noxious dust. And if her soccer team plays on the fake fields, she could get cancer.

Largely absent from many of those popular reports, however, is data. For years, scientists have been digging into artificial turf, which swaps blades of grass for plastic and soil for rubber crumbs to make a low-maintenance green space. So far, most studies have found that artificial fields pose little to no health risk.

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