Diary of Adam Smith

Can I last longer?

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:29:42 +0530

I am a 32-year-old married man. I got married two years back. Since
marriage, I have been using condom during sex and the intercourse lasts
only for 4-5 minutes. But, recently I have given up condoms and having
intercourse without condom. The problem is I am getting extremely hot
and ejaculating within a minute. Is it something called premature ejaculation? My wife says that she is satisfied. But, I feel she is
telling this just to make me happy. Can't our intercourse last longer.
Please suggest.
sp

Reply From Dr. Prem Lata Chawla:
From medical point of view your sexual performance is within normal
limits as your erection is long enough to penetrate and manage
ejaculation within vagina. Medical science does not interfere with
normal physiological functions and only deals with diseases or
malfunctions.

Source: http://httabloid.com/

Herbal or Conventional medicine?: Man wants cure

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:31:39 +0530

The protracted war of supremacy between conventional health providers andtheir traditional counterparts doesn't augur well for the common man
bearing in mind that human beings entirely depend on their all
important services for survival.

This historical bad blood that has existed over the years between these two
groups, particularly in Kenya has impacted negatively on the health
sector.

Instead of joining efforts and building on the competence of each other to
fight diseases that threaten human life with extinction, the two branch
of medicine continuously engage in war of words to an extend that they
put into question each others' capacity and mandate of providing
quality healthcare.

Doctors believe that most herbalists are quacks who are out to make quick
financial gain from unsuspecting patients on the pretext of healing
them using natural therapies.

On the other hand, traditional health practitioners say that doctors have
gone overboard and are now working in cohort with rich multinational
pharmaceutical companies to obstruct research, information and use of
natural therapies in an attempt to make the world believe that
synthetic drugs are the answer to human diseases.

Although most people in the world depend on traditional and alternative
healthcare due to its accessibility, affordability and sometimes
efficacy, most countries have not invested sufficiently in this vital
sub-sector.

For instance, there is no clear framework guiding natural therapies.
Instead it is merely classified as falling under the Department of
Culture in the Ministry of Gender, Sports and Culture.

But this ministry lacks the capacity and expertise to promote traditional
medicine estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to beused by
80% of Kenyans.

While critics continue to paint herbalists in bad light as witchcrafts, WHO
however continues to not only promote research and development by
scientists in collaboration with traditional health practitioners on
medicinal plants to validate claims made on their safety, efficacy and
quality but also provides an enabling economic,
regulatory and political environment for local production of natural
therapies through development of industries that produce standardized
traditional remedies in order to increase access to herbal medicine.

Further, there is the issue of dissemination of appropriate information to the
general public and consumers, which most analysts feel is not
sufficient to empower the general population with knowledge and skills
for the promotion and proper use of herbal medicine.

Proponents of natural treatment are of the opinion that it is better and more efficient compared to the conventional one.

This is because pharmaceutical companies being in business just like any
other investment enterprise will not produce drugs that completely
prevent or eradicate diseases which provide a market place for the
continued use of drugs as this will send them out of business.

One such person is Dr. Matthias Rath, a conventional medical doctor who
turned into an herbalist after discovering that most of the
pharmaceutical drugs currently in the world market have no proven
efficacy but merely help alleviate symptoms.

As a result of this, today's most common diseases such as cardiovascular,
cancer, high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke are not contained
but rather continue to spread despite the fact that effective,
non-patentable alternatives are available.

In his book, Why Animals Don't Get Heart Attacks But People Do,
Dr. Rath blames the pharmaceutical industry for what he terms as doing
business with diseases which has led to premature death of millions of
people worldwide.

The controversial author goes on to say that although biology and
biochemistry students around the world learn about the role of
micronutrients for optimum functions of the cells, the influence of the
pharmaceutical cartel on medical education has such a tight grip that,
so far, these scientific effects have not been applied to solve medical
problems.

The German-born researcher who is currently a United States citizen
discovered that animals don't get heart attack because unlike human
beings, they produce their own Vitamin C in their bodies which is
required to produce the reinforcement molecules in the body and its
blood vessel called collagen.

The more Vitamin C, the more collagen, the more stability for the body
vessel walls and the less chances of suffering from heart attacks.

According to him, heart attack, just like hypertension, heart failure, irregular
heart beat, diabetic circulatory problems and stroke could be prevented
by taking enough vitamins, minerals, certain amino acids and trace
elements.

Research also shows that all viruses can be partially or completely blocked by
natural therapies. Vitamin C decreases the multiplication of viruses.

A study published in the USA's National Academy of Sciences shows that
vitamin C in amounts that can be taken by people on a daily basis could
block the replication of the HIV virus by more than 99.9%.

Another substance being touted to block the spreading of viruses is the amino
acid lysine. The rationale here is that since all viruses spread by
digesting the surrounding tissue with the help of enzymes, neutralizing
these enzymes will decrease or prevent the spreading of the virus.

More over, vitamins A and other essential nutrients have been documented to
enhance the immune system and thereby contribute to the effective
prevention and treatment of AIDS.

If the current global trends of everything ranging from food, medicine,
cosmetics and even tooth paste going herbal is anything to go by then
there is dire need for both conventional doctors and herbalists to work
together to salvage humanity from the ever increasing ailments.

While the pharmaceutical industry assert that vitamins have side effects,
natural therapists maintain that vitamins, minerals and amino acids are
the building blocks of life and the body can eliminate any surplus of
them without any problems unlike synthetic drugs which are strange to
the body.

According to the American Medical Association, numerous deadly side effects of
pharmaceutical drugs have become the fourth leading cause of death in
the industrialized world.

Source: http://africasciencenews.org/

Is baldness in your DNA?

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:15:00 +0530

NEW GENE TEST | Company says men with one genetic variant have 60 percent chance of going bald by age 40

It used to be that checking out the hairlines of other men in the family was the usual way to predict whether a man might expect to lose his hair one day.
Now, there"s a DNA test.The test, called Hair DX, looks for a genetic variant found in most bald men.

Men who test positive for the variant have a 60 percent chance of going bald by
age 40, according to the company that offers it, also called Hair DX, which
says the test also identifies a less-common variant of the same gene that, if
present, means a man has an 85 percent chance of not going bald.

Scientists haven"t identified all of the genes that contribute to male-pattern baldness. But Hair DX says the DNA test is the first to analyze a gene known to be strongly associated with the condition: the androgen receptor.

No independent research has been done on the accuracy of the Hair DX test itself, which has been offered since January, though studies have shown that men who have certain variants of the androgen receptor gene are at higher risk for male-pattern baldness.

"It"s not 100 percent . . . [but] this is a great marker," said
Andy Goren, Hair DX"s chief executive.

The test costs $149. It involves taking a swab of cells from inside the cheek and sending it to Hair DX headquarters in Irvine,Calif. The company says results come back in three to four weeks.

Bosley Medical, one of the nation"s big hair-restoration businesses, began
offering the test at its Chicago office on Michigan Avenue last month.

"Lots of people use fancy soaps and lotions to prevent hair loss, but, if it"s not really in the cards for them, they can bypass this," said Dr.William Yates, a Bosley Medical Chicago physician who started going bald in his 20s.

Men who test positive for the hair-loss gene variant can start exploring their treatment options early, which can lead to better results, Yates said.

Those options include medications such as Rogaine and Propecia, which slow or
stop hair loss, and surgical hair transplants.

Dr. Kevin Pinski, a Chicago dermatologist, said that medication works better when it"s used early -- to prevent hair loss rather than to try to regrow lost hair.

Still, Pinski said: "Even if you have this 60 percent chance of baldness or thinning, we don"t know what degree that"s going to amount to. To me, it"s tough to make the argument to put someone on treatment for the rest of their life, with some expense and very minimal side effects, without knowing they"re going to continue to progress."

A month"s supply of Rogaine, sold generically as minoxidil, costs about $30.

Propecia, whose generic name is finasteride, is more costly and, for a small
percentage of men, can affect sexual function.

Critics also have questioned the reliability of a test that only looks for one of what could be several genes linked to hair loss.

Provillus solution was designed to grow hair with the only FDA approved ingredient on the market and stop hair loss with our revolutionary dihydrotestosterone (DHT), hormone
blocker. Provillus blocks DHT (dihydrotestostrone) from getting to your body,
which is one of the major causes of hair loss.

The Breakthrough formula of Provillus was designed to
block DHT and supply the proper nutrients to your body
specifically tailored to prevent hair loss and to help you regrow hair
naturally. Strong, healthy hair begins with the proper nutritional building
blocks. You don"t have to wait until there"s a problem to prevent it! Provillus
supplements your body"s natural supply of these nutrients and lets the tiny
follicles beneath your scalp receive exactly what they need to create
beautiful, full-bodied hair.

Source: http://www.suntimes.com/

Make your breasts look bigger! Enhance your cleavage with makeup

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:13:14 +0530

We all know how much a push-up bra
can do to enhance cleavage. But did you know you can give yourself a
breast lift with makeup, too? Think of it as the quick and painless way
to get bigger (looking) boobs.

With all the implants in Hollywood these days, this trick is not as
widely used as it once was. However, it's still used on occasion
(especially for movie premieres and award shows ) to make a flat-chested look like she has bigger breasts.

Get bigger breasts without surgery

It's not that difficult to create cleavage with makeup. You just need some bronzer or a dark shade of powder and another lighter shade of powder to get started.

1) Put on your bra (a
push-up is great for this situation) and, if possible, get dressed.
Protect the top edge of your shirt or dress by tucking in a facial
tissue or even a little toilet paper.

2) Apply the darker
color (bronzer or powder) in the area down the middle of your chest,
between your breasts. Blend the color upward and outward, creating a
V-shape and along the natural curve of the breast.

3) Take a lighter color of face powder or eye shadow, such as white or light gold, and put on the top half of
your breasts. Don't use too much, and avoid powders that are too
shimmery. Blend well with a makeup sponge.

4) Check in the mirror and see if your breasts look ample enough. If
not, add more dark color in the center to build and deepen the color.
However, when in doubt, go with less makeup enhancement rather than
more.

You'll be surprised at how easy this is to accomplish.
Next time you are going out and wearing a low-cut dress or top, you can
give yourself instant cleavage!
(This trick is also popular among drag
queens. Hey, if it works on a guy...)

Source: http://www.sheknows.com/

A Plan for Living a Long and Healthy Life

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:31:24 +0530

Life is a gamble, and right now, chances are that the odds are very
much stacked against you. The contamination in the air you breathe, the
water you drink, and the highly processed and additive-filled foods you
eat all combine to work against you. Add to that the likelihood of
years of lack of proper diet and exercise, lack of proper sleep, the
side-effects from taking too many medications, the failure of modern
medicine to properly treat and cure disease, and perhaps even your
heredity, and the odds can appear to be very long indeed. The good news is that you can turn those odds back in your favor no matter how old
you are, no matter what your physical condition is, no matter what your
heredity is and no matter how many years you have neglected to live a
healthy life.

As anybody knows, nothing is 100%, and life is no
exception. However, it is pretty easy to see that the odds are pretty
strong that you will ultimately face ill health and live a shorter life
than otherwise might be the case if you continue to let an unhealthy
lifestyle keep stacking the deck against you. On the other hand, if you
follow the advice in this simple series of articles, you can turn the
odds very much in favor of living a much longer, healthier and happier
life.

Before we look at how you can give yourself the best
chances for good health and a long life, it would be a good idea to
understand just what we have done, and what has been done to us, to
cheat us out of the healthy and happy years we could have. My own
education was an eye-opener and hopefully will also be one for you.

In the Beginning An Eye-Opening Journey

Somewhere
around the time I reached my mid-forties I finally began to come face
to face with the reality of my own mortality. All of my friends were
getting older, many of them were bothered by various health problems
and several were beginning to carry around quite a little satchel
filled with bottles of medications that they took daily. As for myself, I know that I seemed to look the
same every day in the mirror (except for certain Mondays after I had
spent the weekend acting like I still was young and immortal), but when
I looked at pictures taken a decade or so ago, the difference was
pretty obvious. And I knew that I wasn't quite as fast and lively as I
was in my 20's and 30's. So, I reluctantly had to admit that chances
were pretty good that I wasn't going to stay young and live forever,
and when I thought about all the bad habits in such areas as lifestyle,
diet, exercise and sleep, I really began to be concerned about what I
might be able to do to live as long and as healthy of a life as I
could. I began to research health and aging,
looking for ways to have more energy and vitality, live longer, and
avoid or conquer the diseases and physical conditions that are common
in our later years.

When I began my journey and started looking
into subjects like anti-aging and disease prevention, I expected to
find most of the answers I sought in modern science and medicine.
Although I had a certain amount of respect for folk medicine and the
tradition of natural cures,
I was pretty much one of those "real drugs for real cures" kind of
people who thought that the answer to any health problem was best found
in modern medical facilities and on the shelves of modern pharmacies. I
thought that for the most part, folk cures and natural remedies were
pretty much superstition and unsupported myth. If I became ill enough
to seek help, my first and only thought was to go see a licensed modern
medical doctor and get the latest wonder drug for my illness. As for
so-called alternative medicines, whether it was called naturopathic,
homeopathic, folk or Chinese medicine, well, I gave that about as much
consideration as I would snake oil or the eye of a newt, or tongue of a
toad - no witches brew or old wives tales medicine for me! I found out
that I was terribly mistaken!

First, the bad news: our medicine has fooled us & our government has failed us.

The more I checked into modern medicine, the world pharmaceutical giants and regulatory agencies like the FDA, the more worried and disillusioned I became. I wondered why the death rate of cancer and heart disease was virtually unchanged for several decades, why so many drugs were being recalled because of serious, even fatal, side effects.
And I kept reading about natural remedies that seemed to be much more
effective without serious side effects for many forms of cancers and
other diseases when all modern medicine had to offer was long term
treatments with little odds of success and horrible, debilitating side
effects. Then one day I came upon the following statement from former
FDA Commissioner Dr. Herbert Ley:

"The thing that bugs me is
that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn't. What the FDA is
doing and what the public thinks it's doing are as different as night
and day."

As if that wasn't disturbing enough, I then read the
results from one of the FDA's own studies released in December 2004
(only after a freedom of information request resulted in the study
finally being released two years after it was completed). According to
the study, fully two-thirds of the very scientists that the FDA used to
determine if drugs were safe stated that they lacked faith in the FDA's
ability to determine drug safety. And one out of five of them admitted
that they had been pressured to approve drugs that they felt were
unsafe. What was going on here?

The more I read and researched, the less willing I became with
unquestionably trusting modern medicine and modern drugs. At the same
time, I became more and more impressed with what I discovered about natural healing,
herbs and supplements. In hundreds of articles, testimonials, and
medical studies, I found that there are thousands of people all over
the world avoiding diseases, living longer and successfully beating
diseases through natural healing and alternative medicines with far
fewer side effects than conventional medicine. Why, I wondered, had
modern medicine not embraced this fact? Why did more people not know
about this? It seemed like to me that someone should be shouting from
the rooftops: "Cancer! AIDS! Hepatitis-C! Heart Disease! High
cholesterol! Stress! Stroke! Prostate disease! Kidney disease! You
don't have to die! You don't have to suffer! And you don't have to
spend an arm and a let!"

Soon, the answer became all too apparent: The largest single source of funding for medical schools is the trillion dollar world pharmaceutical industry.
Does anyone think that it is a coincidence that since early in the
twentieth century, modern medicine has taught our physicians to treat
disease by prescribing synthetic drugs drugs made by the same people
who funded their medical schools? For years, modern medicine has been
taught to ignore natural cures and treatments, or else taught that
these such things don't work. The FDA has been co-opted into an agency
that serves primarily to protect the marketplace of the pharmaceutical
industry and suppress natural competition. Diet and natural herbs and supplements were not only ignored, they were suppressed, for the very simple reason that there was no profit in it!

Perhaps the most striking proof is the fact that it has taken modern medicine and doctors fully 40 years to finally admit that vitamins are beneficial! Yes, for four decades, they denied the obvious and
dismissed the idea of adding vitamins to our diets as worthless! Today,
as nutrition and natural healing are finally gaining wider acceptance
among the medical profession, the big international pharmaceutical
companies are fighting back by resisting alternate cures on one hand
while on the other hand spending hundreds of millions of dollars on
efforts to limit public access to vitamins and supplements. Their
tactics are obvious, limit the competition from natural medicine for as
long as possible, and then co-opt natural alternative by restricting
public access and bringing the herbs and vitamins under their control
so that they can drive up the price and keep their profits growing!

As
it is, no herb or natural treatment or remedy can be labeled or even
advertised legally as a cure or treatment. Think in terms of cancer,
for example. If someone had an herbal supplement where 90% of the
patients who took it became disease free, it still cannot be labeled or
advertised as a cure or even as a treatment, while a synthetic
lab-created chemical that kills more people than it cures can take out
full page advertisements in national magazines. And that is how the
public interest is protected from all of those dangerous herbs, which
result in maybe 50 deaths a year compared to 106,000 deaths per year
for properly prescribed medications that can be advertised as cures and
treatments. Not to mention the 2,000,000 serious drug reactions from
properly prescribed medications.

We would like to think
otherwise, but the almighty dollar, pound, frank, deutschemark and
ruble have dictated otherwise. To the big drug companies and the doctors that prescribe their medicines, our body is their
marketplace. And the only way for an industry to grow is to increase
the market. That simply cannot happen if too many diseases are cured;
in fact, it means just the opposite diseases must increase! And that
is just what has happened: few cures and more side effects. Cure rates
for major diseases are virtually unchanged over the past 30 or more
years. Depending on the source, anywhere from 50-95% of modern drugs
have not only side effects, but serious side-effects.

Death from prescription drug side effects is now the fourth leading cause of death in the United States according to the medical industry itself (the AMA Journal) and that doesn't include deaths that are reported to be
caused by the original disease that really were the result of drug
side-effects, or of miss-prescribed medications that are not reported
by doctors leery of malpractice suits and malpractice insurance premium increases (one survey found
that only 1 in 24 doctors would voluntarily report themselves in the
event of a patient dying of miss-prescribed medications). When all
factors are taken into consideration, improper medical treatment and prescription drugs are considered by some authorities as actually being the second leading cause of death in our country.

Sadly, my friends, if the following applies to a treatment or medication,

1. It works,

2. It's inexpensive,

3. Few, if any, negative side effects,

4. It's not patentable,

-
Odds are it will stay on the black list because no one is going to
spend a dime to prove its effectiveness or to prescribe it. Medicine is
a business. Cancer and other diseases are part of that business. The
FDA serves and protects the drug companies and the AMA from anyone with
an inexpensive and effective treatment for money making diseases.

At
this point I should probably add that I am not one of the conspiracy
nuts who believes that all of our doctors and our governments and big
medicine have joined together in a grand scheme to keep us from being
healthy. In fact, I think that the big majority of doctors are
dedicated, well meaning and hard working individuals. The failure of
modern medicine lies in the ways that modern medicine has been taught
and practiced, the way that alternative treatments and supplements have
been regulated, and the way that an unhealthy amount of greed on the
part of the drug companies have combined to rob us of the good health
that we might otherwise have.

Then there is the environment. Ever since the industrial revolution began, we have been pouring an increasing number and amount of toxic chemicals and waste into our air, our water and our food. In the beginning, much of the fault was due to lack of
knowledge of the chemicals we used as solvents, pesticides, paints,
fuels and any number of other products and industrial processes. Today,
that is no longer an excuse.

Despite the advances in modern
science that have identified the damage that the toxic chemicals
industry and fuel burning have wreaked on our environment, the process
to clean up the environment is woefully slow and industry resists
costly expenses to clean up at every step of the way, while the
government is often all too willing to drag it's feet and backtrack in
enforcing or passing regulations to protect us. The well-heeled
propaganda machine that serves industry and the politicians their money
contributes generously to may paint environmentalist as "tree huggers"
and radicals, but the scientific evidence is indisputable: the progress
of industry has come at a huge cost to the public.

Today, the
National Toxicology Program (NTP), part of the National Institutes of
Health, lists 246 agents in our environment which are either known to
cause cancer or reasonably expected to cause cancer, and many feel that
the number is tremendously overstated. For example, the Health Science
Institute tells us that the average glass of water contains 2000
carcinogens. And no matter which side of the environmental fence you
may be on, no one who hasn't lived with their head in the sand, is not
aware of the lead, arsenic and mercury that has been pouring into our
environment for over a century now.

Next, we have to factor in
the fact that over-farming and widespread use of pesticides and
chemical fertilizers have made the food we eat today much less healthy
than it was only a couple of generations ago. The same is true for the
foods we buy off the shelf in our local grocers. Over-processing has
removed much of the nutrients while harmful ingredients have been added
to increase shelf life and enhance flavor and texture. Combined with
America's love for fast food, our diet can no longer be counted on to
come anywhere close to giving us all the vitamins and nutrients that we
evolved to require, much less the ones needed to offset the damages
caused by pollution, additives and the sheer stress of modern life.

With so much bad news, is there hope? Fortunately, that answer is a resounding yes!

And then the good news - it's never too late!

When
you look at someone and say, "Doesn't he or she look young for their
age?" Or you remark that someone "sure has a lot of energy for their
age", what you are really seeing is someone who looks, acts and feels a
lot closer to what they should for their age than you do. Whether they
were blessed with good genetics, or more likely, have taken better care
of themselves, the real question is: how do you acquire the kind of
health and vitality and become the kind of person that people say the
same things about? And, most importantly, is it too late?

The good news is that it is not
too late - no matter what your age may be. Recent studies have shown
conclusively that people in their 40's, 50's, and 60's can change their
diet and lifestyle and undo most of the damage that a lifetime of
neglect has caused. That's right, a person who is obese, sedentary, has
high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoker's lungs, and other health
problems can essentially reverse those problems if they take action now
and virtually catch up to the same health and vitality of a person who
has spent their entire life eating right, exercising and living a
healthy lifestyle! Even people in their 70's, 80's and beyond can add
quality years to their lives by changing their diets and exercise. The
key is, no matter what your age, you should take action now,
because a neglected body in poor shape is a ticking time bomb that you
want to defuse before it really is too late. So, with everything to
gain and nothing to lose, let's get started!

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/022971.html

Take herbal remedies with a dose of caution

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:16:44 +0530

With alternative medicine an increasingly popular choice today,
people often make self-prescribed choices based on catalogs, internet
sites and visits to health food stores.

But using herbal home remedies can be a gamble and even a risk. Herb
specialists in Chicago say that's where their advice can help.

Kirk Moulton, a licensed acupuncturist at the Healing Junction
Chicago, said that it's important that people just don't just grab some
herbs off of a shelf based on something they read on a blog.

"There truly needs to be somebody supervising it who has some
experience, to make sure you don't have allergies to something,"
Moulton said. "The appropriate herbal formula needs to be offered."

Moulton said it is important to know what you're taking, to
understand the full effect and what the possible downsides are. He
emphasized the importance of knowledge and forethought when making
decisions about herbal remedies.

People taking prescription medications should talk to their doctors
before taking herbs or even certain vitamins but even those who rarely
take a pill should seek advice before turning to herbs.

Karen Shaw, a Chicago herb specialist who started her own business
called All Your Herbs, agreed that it is best to get a consultation
before consuming any herbal remedies.

"One product is not going to help you, you need a program to work on," Shaw said. "You want to make sure it's safe."

Shaw also added that a lot of times people will go to a store and buy an herb without much information about it.

The University of Chicago Tang Center (UCTC) for Herbal Medicine
Research lists popular herbs on its Web site. Except, instead of only
advocating the positive health effects of the herbs, the potential
negative complications are also clearly noted.

Source: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=85335