Orange Juice - Immunity

Orange Juice and the Immune System Cycle

Knowing how your immune system works is key to understanding how you can help fight disease and infection. During cold and flu season, your immune system is at greater risk. Yet, you can take steps to support your health by making nutritious choices and by including important lifestyle additions. Exercising regularly, consuming nutrient-rich foods and beverages from all the basic food groups, receiving a flu shot, and getting plenty of sleep, all help support a healthy immune system.

Nutrient-rich foods can help support a healthy immune system and unhealthy foods may weaken it by promoting inflammation or resulting in a shortfall of nutrients that the immune system needs on an ongoing basis to stay healthy. That's why it is important to choose healthy foods: doing so may increase the likelihood of short-term benefits, including helping the body fight colds and flu, and long-term benefits, potentially helping in the fight against diseases like cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's.

A healthy lifestyle, starting with diet, is one of the best ways to help the body fight colds and certain diseases. These eight steps will help support the immune system to promote good health throughout cold and flu season and a lifetime of better health.

1. Choose nutrient-rich foods: Drinking one glass of 100 percent orange juice, as part of a well-balanced diet, will provide your body with several essential nutrients including folate, vitamin C, potassium and thiamin, as well as naturally-occurring flavonoids which can help provide health benefits.

Folate: Folate is needed to make new cells. Since the immune system needs a constant supply of new cells, folate is essential for a healthy immune system. Folate may help lower homocysteine levels in the blood. Homocysteine may contribute to inflammation and some studies suggest it may be related to coronary heart disease and cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer's disease, when high levels exist 1. Also, lower intake of folate as an adult has been associated with a higher risk for certain types of cancer 1.

Vitamin C: One of the most powerful antioxidants, vitamin C is a key nutrient to help the body maintain a healthy immune system and has been associated with modestly reducing the severity or duration of a cold when taken before the onset of illness. Vitamin C also may help neutralize free radicals that can cause cell and tissue damage that could lead to diseases, including cancer and heart disease. Fruits and vegetables, especially citrus fruits, are primary contributors of vitamin C in the diet. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables may help reduce the risk of various types of cancer, such as esophageal cancer.

Vitamin B6: The immune system needs vitamin B6 to function effectively. It helps maintain the health of lymphoid organs that make white blood cells, which fight infections. Orange juice provides 7% of the Daily Value for vitamin B6.
Carotenoids: Some carotenoids are precursors to vitamin A, which is important for making new cells and is therefore essential in the maintenance of immune function. Carotenoids also may have anti-inflammatory activities.
Potassium and Magnesium: According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s High Blood Pressure Education Program, potassium plays an important role in our cardiovascular health. Higher potassium and magnesium intake has been associated with lower blood pressure. Diets containing foods that are a good source of potassium and that are low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke. Orange juice provides 14% of the Daily Value for potassium and 7% of the Daily Value for magnesium.
Flavonoids: Flavonoids are substances that occur in certain plant foods and developing research suggests that they may have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, or anti-cancer activities.

2. Get a shot: Visit your doctor or local pharmacy to discuss receiving a flu shot before cold and flu season begins.

3. Be active: It is important to get some fresh air because the body is more vulnerable to cold and flu viruses if constantly indoors. Also, regular exercise can contribute to overall good health making it more likely that your immune system stays healthy to stave off colds and flu.

4. Stay clean: Germs are everywhere, and once we come in contact, it only takes a moment for it to spread to the rest of the body. Offices and schools are breeding ground for infectious germs, so wash hands frequently and disinfect as often as possible.

5. Sleep well: Quality of sleep can affect what happens to the body once it comes into contact with the flu virus. Although the recommended daily amount is eight hours, most Americans get less.

6. Manage stress: Reduce stress by getting out of the situation, resting and relaxing. Stress may have negative effects on the health of the immune system which may increase the chance of getting infections.

7. Detect disease early: When disease is detected in its beginning stages through check-ups and exams, the body stands a greater chance of survival.

Chocolate has all but been elevated to superfood status. And the good news keeps rolling in.
So here are three more reasons why you may not want to be too quick to break that chocolate habit. (As long as you're hitting the dark stuff.)
Chocolate makes you smarter. Ample research suggests that the flavonols in dark chocolate increase cerebral blood flow, which in turn may trigger the creation of new blood vessels and brain cells. And a new study showed that older adults performed better on cognitive tests after eating small portions of the sweet stuff. Talk about a nourished noggin! (Here's why opting for semisweet or unsweetened chocolate may be even better for your brain.)
Chocolate weakens heart attacks. Although more research is needed to confirm this one, a new study showed that regular chocolate eaters who had heart disease were less likely to die following a heart attack compared with the people who didn't treat themselves to the dark and dreamy stuff. (Here's more on chocolate's heart-smart qualities.)
Chocolate has a cavity-fighting compound. Okay, so you don't necessarily want to trade in your toothbrush for a chocolate bar. But some interesting new research shows a compound in chocolate -- theobromine -- may be just as good as fluoride at hardening tooth enamel. So the compound could find its way into toothpastes and mouthwashes one day. Until then, keep in mind that most commercially prepared chocolate has lots of sugar in it. Get healthier teeth and gums with these three easy dental tricks.
Don't Go OverboardDespite chocolate's benefits, you don't want to o.d. on it lest you do your waist and blood sugar more harm than good. Learn why just one Hershey's Kiss worth of chocolate may be all you need to lower your blood pressure.

Probiotics for Weight Loss?

Believe it or not, the human body contains more bacteria living inside than individual cells: 100 trillion microorganisms live in our gastrointestinal tract as compared with a "mere" 10 trillion human cells in our body. And one of the best kinds of microorganisms we can have flourishing inside our bodies are the probiotics, the healthy bacteria that live in our intestines or gut. Now, new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Hospital and Clinics suggests probiotics might even enhance weight-loss programs.
The Stanford researchers first noticed the beneficial effects of probiotics on weight when working with extremely obese patients who've had gastric-bypass surgery. But studies are showing that the benefits of probiotics are not limited to those who've had this medical procedure.
So why are probiotics assisting with weight loss? Several studies have suggested that the guts of normal-weight people contain a different mix or balance of the types and amounts of bacteria that are found in the intestines of overweight folks. One study even found these same imbalances among the microorganisms in 7-year-old kids who were overweight.
Could it be that bad bacteria are causing at least some of our weight issues? Is it possible that one day we'll just ingest a dollop of "weight-friendly" bacteria to bring our body size under control?
It's too soon to know exactly where this discovery will lead, so here are my recommendations:
Be sure to include foods in your diet that contain probiotics, such as yogurt.
Avoid brands of yogurt that have the "fruit" at the bottom and instead go with low-fat, low-sugar varieties that contain plenty of protein and calcium. A cup of yogurt is a great snack to hold you over in between meals or after a workout. Greek yogurts are especially high in protein.
Make prebiotics part of your regular diet as well. Prebiotics--tiny fibers found in some fruits and vegetables--just happen to be what probiotics and other good bacteria eat. Good sources of prebiotics include wheat, bananas, onions, garlic, and leeks. (Europeans eat far more prebiotics than do people in the U.S--might this explain part of the weight discrepancy between the U.S. and European populations?)
If you have digestive issues, be sure to talk with your doctor or dietitian about "pharmaceutical-grade" probiotics, which are the equivalent of prescription-strength good bacteria.
Last, a caveat: Don't even think about starting to load up on probiotics so that you can slack off on exercise or ignore your healthy eating plan. There is no miracle probiotic cure in the pipeline!

Quick! Tell Us What KUTGW Means

By STEPHANIE RAPOSO

Kate Washburn didn’t know what to make of the email a friend sent to her office with the abbreviation “NSFW” written at the bottom. Then she clicked through the attached sideshow, titled “Awkward Family Photos.” It included shots of a family in furry “nude” suits and of another family alongside a male walrus in a revealing pose.
After looking up NSFW on NetLingo.com—a Web site that provides definitions of Internet and texting terms—she discovered what it stood for: “Not safe for work.”
Ellen Weinstein
Say What?
A sampling of some popular shorthand texting terms.

These are few abbreviations in PAS:
PAPP . . . . . . . . . Pejabat Agung PAS Pusat
JRL . . . . . . . . . . . Jalan Raja Laut
ISA . . . . . . . . . . . Ikut Suka Aku
KBSM . . . . . . . . . . Kahwin Bersalin Sakit Mati
MOSWA . . . . . . . . Miskin OKU Sakit Warga Emas Armalah

UG2BK . . . . . . . You got to be kidding
GBTW. . . . . . . . Get back to work
NMP . . . . . . . . . Not my problem
PIR . . . . . . . . . . Parent in room
GFTD. . . . . . . . . Gone for the day
FYEO. . . . . . . . . For your eyes only
BI5 . . . . . . . . . . Back in five minutes
DEGT . . . . . . . . Don’t even go there
BIL . . . . . Boss is listening
PAW. . . . Parents are watching
99 . . . . . . Parents are no longer watching
PCM . . . . Please call me
IMS. . . . . I am sorry
TOY. . . . . Thinking of you
KUTGW. . Keep up the good work
CID . . . . . Consider it done
FWIW. . . For what it’s worth
HAND . . . Have a nice day
IAT . . . . . I am tired
NRN . . . . No response necessary
4COL. . . . For crying out loud
WRUD. . . What are you doing
LMIRL. . . Let’s meet in real life
^5 . . . . . . High five
“If I would have known it wasn’t safe for work, I wouldn’t have taken the chance of being inappropriate,” says Ms. Washburn, 37 years old, a media consultant in Grand Rapids, Mich.
As text-messaging shorthand becomes increasingly widespread in emails, text messages and Tweets, people like Ms. Washburn are scrambling to decode it. In many offices, a working knowledge of text-speak is becoming de rigueur. And at home, parents need to know the lingo in order to keep up with—and sometimes police—their children.
One reason for the surge in texting abbreviations—more than 2,000 and counting, according to NetLingo—is the boom in social-media sites like Twitter, where messages are limited to 140 characters. Text messages, too, are limited in length, so users have developed an alphabet soup of shorthand abbreviations to save time, and their thumbs.
Taking time to learn the jargon may seem like a WOMBAT (“Waste of money, brains and time”). But with over one trillion text messages sent and received in the U.S. last year, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association, an industry trade group, you run the risk of feeling out of it if you don’t.
“If a CEO does not appear to be tech-savvy, people may start to wonder, ‘Is the company not plugged into today’s technologies also?’” says Stephanie Grayson, a corporate speech and media trainer based in New York.
Translation Sites
The confusion has given rise to a number of resources that provide English translations for terms like WRUD (“What are you doing?”) and TTYL (“Talk to you later”)—among them independent Web sites like NetLingo.com and