Women Health and Care Tips- Neutralize LDL with This Party Snack

Cholesterol. You know it's bad for your heart and arteries. But you could make it less bad with this crunchy party snack: almonds.

Turns out almonds not only improve cholesterol levels but also help make LDL -- the bad cholesterol -- less likely to oxidize. Which is great, because LDL can do scary things when it's oxidized, like block arteries and cut blood flow to the heart

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Almond Joy
Because oxidized LDL is even more likely to gunk-up your arteries than the unoxidized kind, recent study results on almonds and LDL oxidation helped secure the nut's position in a heart-healthy diet. When older adults with high cholesterol ate a daily handful of almonds as part of a 4-week cholesterol-friendly diet, not only did the nut eaters suffer less bad-for-the-arteries LDL oxidation, but their LDL levels took a nosedive as well

Dance of the Antioxidants
Other good news for the almond eaters: The study subjects' healthy (HDL) cholesterol rose. How do almonds do it? Researchers suspect that the vast array of flavonoids and phenols in the skins play a role -- so be sure to buy whole almonds with the skins on. Those skin-based nutrients may react synergistically with other antioxidants in your body to produce the cholesterol-controlling effects. Shield your heart and arteries with these other disease-busting strategies, too:

• See the humor. A little laughter can do a whole lot for your heart and arteries.
• Enjoy the quiet. A bit of silence now and then may help keep your blood pressure in check.
• Go fishing. Regular fish eaters may be less likely to experience heart arrhythmias.

Source:RealAge

Women Health and Care Tips-Can you take supplement when having cancer?

Many oncologists believe that you have cancer that you should not be taking nutritional supplements. This is a theoretical concern that these supplements may improve the antioxidant defense system of the cancer cells. Since their chemo and radiation therapy uses free radicals and oxidative stress in an attempt to destroy these cells, they do have a concern. However, when you look at the medical research that studied patients who took high-quality, complete and balanced nutritional supplements while receiving their chemo or radiation therapy, the patients did better than those who did not take supplements.

Dr. Kedar Prashad, a radiation therapist from the University of Colorado Medical School, actually reviewed over 90 of these studies. He found that those patients who took nutritional supplements while taking either their chemo or radiation therapy not only tolerated their treatments better, but also responded to them better. He concluded that antioxidant supplements improved the normal cells antioxidant defense system; however, they made the cancer cells more vulnerable to cell death. This is win-win situation for cancer patients. In fact, this has led some major cancer treatment centers like the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa, OK and Chicago, IL to give all of their cancer patients antioxidant supplements while receiving their treatments.

-source: Ray D. Strand M.D, Specialist in Nutritional Medicine