Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency

G6PD = enzyme for proper functioning of red blood cell (RBC) & for oxidising processes

G6PD deficiency, also called favism, is a hereditary abnormality
-it causes destruction of RBC, leading to hemolytic anemia

Symptoms:
- sudden rise of body temperature
- jaundice in newborn
- dark, yellow-orange urine
- fatigue
- shortness of breath- rapid heart beat

It can be triggered by infections, certain food, medicine (certain antibiotics) and chemicals

Food to Avoid:
1. Broad bean / fava bean / kacang parang 蚕豆
2. Legumes 豆类
eg: beans, peas, lentils 扁豆

3. Soy / soya

4. Peanuts / kacang tanah 花生
5. Menthol, menthol-flavoured candies,food 薄荷味的糖果
- can be found in candies, mouthwash, toothpaste, gums
6. Certain herbs

7. Also avoid the use of moth balls 臭丸as repellent in closet

Mama Milk

Been sampling different maternal milk today and the conclusion:

1. Mamil Mama taste best!

it's vanilla flavour
nice vanilla taste

2. Enfamama

also a vanilla flavour
but it has a strange, a bit metallic-like taste
not as strong vanilla taste as Mamil Mama

3. Friso Gold Mum

hmm..new maternal milk

taste sweet...but..it's a weird-taste sweetness..
a little like kid's medicine..

4. S26 Mama, previously Wyeth Mama

ergh!..cant accept this taste..
it's vanilla flavour too..but doesnt has vanilla taste at all
very weird, a little fishy-smell taste

well, ironically, the very popular Anmum havent been tried yet

heard abbott is coming out with a mama milk too!
we'll see how it taste...

The Basics of Constipation

Almost everyone gets constipated at some time. It occurs when bowel movements become difficult that you have to strain hard, feel the abdominal pain for some people, stools become hard like pebble and the frequency become less. Usually after 3 days, stools become harder and more difficult to pass.

causes:

• Inadequate water intake.
• Inadequate fiber in the diet.
• A disruption of regular diet or routine; traveling.
• Inadequate activity or exercise or immobility.
• Eating large amounts of dairy products.
• Stress.
• Resisting the urge to have a bowel movement
• Overuse of laxatives (stool softeners) which, over time, weaken the bowel muscles.
• Antacid medicines containing calcium or aluminum.
• Hypothyroidism
  
• Medicines (especially strong pain medicines, such as narcoticsor iron pills).
• Depression.
• Eating disorders.
• Pregnancy.
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Colon cancer
  

prevention:

• Eat a well-balanced diet with plenty of fiber. Good sources of fiber are fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole-grain bread and cereal (especially bran). Fiber and water help the colon pass stool.
• Drink sufficient of water and other fluids. Liquids that contain caffeine, such as coffee and soft drinks, seem to have a dehydrating effect and may need to be avoided until your bowel habits return to normal.
  
• Exercise regularly.
• Move your bowels when you feel the urge.

If you are constipated:

• Drink two to four extra glasses of water a day (unless fluid restricted).
• Try warm liquids, especially in the morning.
• Add fruits and vegetables to your diet.
• Eat prunes and/or bran cereal.
• If needed, use a very mild stool softener or laxative. Do not use laxatives for more than two weeks without calling your doctor, as laxative overuse can aggravate your symptoms.

Calcium supplements may raise risk of heart attack‏?

Supplement is just an addition to compensate for a deficiency condition. Dont become too dependent on it but instead, change our diet and try to incorporate more calcium in your diet. Recent studies found that Ca supplement may increase the risk of heart disease! Read on to find out why!

"People regard calcium supplements as natural but they are really not natural at all," Ian Reid, professor of medicine at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, said.

Reid and colleagues in Britain and the United States conducted a meta-analysis encompassing 11 studies that tracked nearly 12,000 elderly people over four years.

Half of them were given calcium supplements and the other half placebo or dummy pills with no therapeutic content. The results were published in the British Medical Journal.

"What we found was a 30 percent increase in heart attacks in the people who were randomised to take calcium," Reid said.

"If you have 1,000 people taking calcium for five years, we will expect to find 14 more heart attacks, 10 more strokes and 13 more deaths in the people given calcium than they would have had if they hadn't been treated with calcium," Reid said.

"That is 37 more adverse events and we expect 26 fractures being prevented. So calcium is associated with more bad things happening than with bad things prevented."

While experts are not certain about the biological mechanism by which calcium supplements may damage the body, studies in the past have linked high levels of blood calcium to more heart attacks and damage to blood vessels, Reid said.

"When you take calcium supplements, your blood calcium level goes up over the following four to six hours and goes up to the top end of the normal range," he said.

"That doesn't happen when you have calcium to eat in your diet because the calcium from food is very slowly absorbed and so the blood calcium level hardly changes at all."

Higher blood calcium may lead to the formation of plaques in blood vessels, which can lead to heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases, Reid explained.

"People have always focused on fat levels in the blood as driving that process (plaque formation) but there is increasing evidence now that calcium levels in the blood might drive that as well," he added

skim or whole? Good fat, bad fat? butter or margarine?

good or bad fat? saturated fat?
there are few types of fats and many people have been wondering which types of fat should be taken. Here's some interesting fact taken from Yahoo Health to share with everybody

Olive or canola oil?
While canola has been touted in recent years as superior to olive oil, both have high proportions of polyunsaturated and monosaturated fatty acids (good fats) and are heart healthy when consumed in moderation. "Although both are relatively low in saturated (bad) fat, the debate arose when olive oil was found to contain a slightly higher amount," says Karen Congro, a registered dietician and director of the Wellness for Life Program at Brooklyn Hospital Center. While Congro prefers olive oil for everyday use because of its higher level of monounsaturates, it does have a distinctive flavor and is significantly more expensive than canola.

Butter or margarine?
Congro : "It's made from animal fat, [so it] contains cholesterol and very high levels of saturated fat," Margarine is made from vegetable oils, and plant products contain no cholesterol. It's also higher in "good" fats than butter. But some kinds of margarine may be even worse than butter because of their content of trans fats, a particular heart risk. In general, the more solid the margarine, the higher the proportion of trans fat. Steer clear of stick margarine, advises Congro: "Go for the tubs of heart-healthy margarine made with omega-3 oil," such as Promise or Smart Balance.

Low-fat or skim milk?
Let's face it—the higher the fat content, the better the taste, but skim and 1 percent are clearly better nutritional choices, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, a dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. How much better, though? "The higher you climb in percentage of milk fat, the bigger the bite you're taking out of your daily recommended value of saturated fat," says Blatner. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the maximum recommended daily intake of saturated fat for the average active adult is 20 grams. One serving of skim milk can have no more than .4 of a gram of saturated fat, with 1 percent weighing in at 1.5 grams and 2 percent at 3 grams. "If you have two glasses of 2 percent milk, you've already consumed almost a third of your daily saturated fat," says Blatner. "Stick to skim and 1 percent." Or go for the 2 percent but keep the saturated fat content in mind.

Fresh or frozen veggies?
"Fresh sounds better," says Lona Sandon, a nutritionist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, "and if you picked them out of your garden or at a farmer's market that sells locally grown produce, you can be assured they haven't lost nutrients in transit." But keep in mind that "if." Research at Pennsylvania State University found that a bag of spinach stored at slightly below 40 degrees Fahrenheit for eight days lost half its folate, which prevents birth defects, and carotenoids, compounds that fight heart disease. Higher temperatures accelerated the breakdown. At 50 degrees, half of the compounds were gone after six days. It took just four days at 68 degrees to drop by half. On an 80- or 90-degree day at an outdoor farm stand, the process clicks up several notches. "Frozen fruits and vegetables are processed at their peak ripeness, a time when—as a general rule—they are most nutrient-packed," says Sandon. "When you buy frozen, you know exactly what you're getting."