Seven or more eggs a week raises risk of death

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Middle-aged men who ate seven or more eggs a week had a higher risk of earlier death, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

 

Men with diabetes who ate any eggs at all raised their risk of death during a 20-year period studied, according to the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study adds to an ever-growing body of evidence, much of it contradictory, about how safe eggs are to eat. It did not examine what about the eggs might affect the risk of death.

Men without diabetes could eat up to six eggs a week with no extra risk of death, Dr. Luc Djousse and Dr. J. Michael Gaziano of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School found.

“Whereas egg consumption of up to six eggs a week was not associated with the risk of all-cause mortality, consumption of (seven or more) eggs a week was associated with a 23 percent greater risk of death,” they wrote.

“However, among male physicians with diabetes, any egg consumption is associated with a greater risk of all-cause mortality, and there was suggestive evidence for a greater risk of MI (heart attack) and stroke.”

They urged more study in the general population.

Eggs are rich in cholesterol, which in high amounts can clog arteries and raise the risk of heart attack and stroke.

One expert on nutrition and heart disease said the study suggests middle-aged men, at least, should watch how many eggs they eat.

“More egg on our faces? It’s really hard to say at this point, but it still seems, if you’re a middle-aged male physician and enjoy eggs more than once a day, that having some of the egg left on your face may be better than having it go down your gullet,” said Dr. Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado and a former president of the American Heart Association.

“But, remember: eggs are like all other foods — they are neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad,’ and they can be part of an overall heart-healthy diet,” Eckel wrote in a commentary.

The Harvard team studied 21,327 men taking part in the much larger Physicians’ Health Study, which has been watching doctors since 1981 who have agreed to report regularly on their health and lifestyle habits.

Over 20 years, 1,550 of the men had heart attacks, 1,342 had strokes, and more than 5,000 died.

“Egg consumption was not associated with (heart attack) or stroke,” the researchers wrote.

But the men who ate seven eggs a week or more were 23 percent more likely to have died during the 20-year period.

Diabetic men who ate any eggs at all were twice as likely to die in the 20 years.

Men who ate the most eggs also were older, fatter, ate more vegetables but less breakfast cereal, and were more likely to drink alcohol, smoke and less likely to exercise — all factors that can affect the risk of heart attack and death.

Astronomers discover our ‘twin’ solar system

Astronomers have discovered a distant “twin” solar system which looks very similar to our own.

 

 

 

So far researchers have identified two planets very similar to Jupiter and Saturn, which orbit a star about half the size of the Sun around 5,000 light-years away.

 

 

But they believe this could be just the start of an exciting time of discovery which will eventually lead to astronomers finding new planets which could support life.

 

 

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Breakthrough: Astronomers say the discovery of a new solar system backs up their belief they will soon discover other habitable planets

Martin Dominik, from St Andrews University, said: “”We found a system with two planets that take the roles of Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system.

“These two planets have a similar mass ratio and similar orbital radius and a similar orbital period.

“It looks like this may have formed in a similar way to our solar system. And if this is the case, it looks like our solar system cannot be unique in the Universe.

“There should be other similar systems out there which could host terrestrial planets.”

Dr Dominik presented his new findings to the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.

 

So far astronomers have found nearly 300 planets beyond our own solar system.

 

 

 

The new system orbits the star OGLE-2006-BLG-109L which is about 5,000 light-years away.

 

 

Researchers say it is unusual as it has more than one planet, a characteristic of only ten per cent of systems found to date.

 

 

 

But according to Dr Dominik, astronomers’ investigations are currently hampered by limited techniques.

 

 

However, he claimed the technology was improving rapidly – and said that he expected habitable planets would be found in the next few years.

 

 

He added: “I think it will happen quite soon. In the next few years, we will see something really exciting.”

According to Dr Dominik, it is unlikely his team will be able to detect planets similar to Earth in OGLE-2006-BLG-109L as it is too far away for current technology.

7 Simple Ways To Burst Out of Bed Each Morning

Way before the sun peeks over the horizon, a few chosen people awaken from their slumber and dive head first into their day. These chosen few accomplish a ton before the rest of us would ever consider rising from our nice warm beds.

Who are these juggernauts that have command over the morning hours?

In theory, your productivity level shouldn’t differ if you rise at 4am or 11am. What matters is the quality of sleep that’s giving your mind and body sufficient time to recover.

These early rising juggernauts, these unstoppable agents of productivity, they see things differently. They see these early hours as their chance to lay claim to their share of the day. They rise with purpose, act with determination, and achieve ruthlessly.

The sun has not caught me in bed in fifty years. - Thomas Jefferson

The world is in awe of these special people, so let’s take a look at what pops them out of bed like a toaster strudel and what gets them up, sometimes before the alarm!

1. Appointment With Waking: The harsh truth about the human body is that we’re creatures of habit. In some ways this can be extremely inconvenient when trying to take on new things. However, if we allow ourselves to live within the rules of our body’s natural cycle, which is a 24-hour circadian rhythm, we will be pleased with the body’s functionality.

   This means that when you find a waking hour that will work best for you each day of the week, you should stick to it. This will allow your body to want to support you in your endeavor of waking up, and rise you out of bed feeling fresh as a daisy.

2. The King and The Pauper Way Of Eating: The way our bodies function optimally is if we eat like a king in the morning and a pauper in the evening. This means that it’s best to eat heavier, bigger portions in the morning because these meals will give us high energy throughout the day and then burn off.

   Eating like a pauper, meaning small light meals, in the evening allows us to go to sleep on an empty stomach. If your body is functioning normally, and you don’t have stomach ulcers, going to sleep on a mostly empty stomach will allow you to sleep better. This nightly fast allows your body to take it’s focus away from digestion and put it towards repair and rejuvenation of the body’s cells.

3. Living With Purpose: Young children will do anything to avoid going to sleep at night. These same children are also the ones that can’t wait to get out of bed first thing in the world. The simple reason for this non-lazy behavior is that they don’t want to miss a thing.

   As adults we may need more persuasion than ‘not wanting to miss a thing’. This is why we take extra steps in creating fun, life changing goals, and scheduling specific ways of how we’ll get a step closer to these goals during this coming day. What we all need is not necessary a cause we’re willing to die for, but at least a cause we’re willing to LIVE for.

4. Plan Your Day: We can say we’re going to live with purpose, but unless we plan, we can tell ourselves that we’ll start living with purpose next week, or the week after that. Planning is one of the fundamental ways to maximize your mind to achieve your goals, and as such it plays a critical role in allowing us to have an awesome day, everyday. We need not do more than take 15 minutes the night before to succinctly organize the next days schedule.

   A schedule complete with waking time, most important things of the day, eating and recreational allowances. Having a tight schedule allows me to live out my day with definitive purpose, while getting more done, having more fun, and not wasting precious moments of my life.

   “Happy people plan actions, they don’t plan results” – Dennis Wholey
   

5. The Water Hack: A bit of water before bed and half a liter as soon as you get up. The water before bed will serve in the rejuvenation process we mentioned above. While you sleep all your cells will fill up with this fresh water and create an over all well being within your body.

   The water in the morning does two things. One is it provides your first dose of water to get your mind and body going. Another function, as told to me by my endocrinology teacher (a very qualified person to say this), is that a dose of water in the morning triggers a cascade of physiological functions that engages your digestive system and causes you to excrete feces. You’ll feel nice and light first thing in the morning!

6. Work That Body: In number 1 above I mentioned that our bodies adapt around a 24-hour circadian rhythm. This works for sleep, eating, exercise, and many other bodily functions. We’re a pretty efficient physiological machine when you think about it. This is why getting a dose of exercise is optimal in the morning. It gets the blood flowing and stimulates you to function on a higher level.

   “Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” - Edward Stanley

   Once you’re used to this routine, your body will prepare by providing you with high energy before you start to work out. As you can see, if you wake up with this high energy, you’re going to just pop out of bed.

7. Have ‘Me’ Time: No morning is completely satisfying unless you’ve scheduled in some ‘Me’ time. Whether you enjoy meditating to clear you mind and give you laser sharp focus, or reading to gain some new knowledge about the world, make sure you schedule in this time.

   There may very a variety of things you enjoy doing, so this will be custom tailored to the individual. The point is that when you have something you REALLY enjoy doing right when you get up, you won’t be able to wait until that alarm goes off till you jump out of bed and get to it!

See, that’s all it takes! Try it for a couple weeks, get used to it, and soon you’ll be relishing sunrises like this: