Italian court rules mobile phone use caused brain tumour

An Italian court has ruled that excessive, work-related use of a mobile phone caused an executive to develop a benign brain tumour.

In what could become a landmark ruling, the court in the northern town of Ivrea awarded the plaintiff a state-funded pension.

The judgment, which was handed own on 11 April but only made public on Thursday, is subject to a possible appeal.

Roberto Romeo, 57, had testified that his work duties obliged him to use his mobile for three to four hours of each working day for 15 years.

“For the first time in the world, a court has recognised a causal link between inappropriate use of a mobile phone and a brain tumour,” his lawyers, Stefano Bertone and Renato Ambrosio said in a statement.

Romeo said he did not want to demonise mobiles, “but I believe we have to be more aware about how to use them.

“I had no choice but to use my mobile to talk to colleagues and organise work – for 15 years I was calling all the time, from home, in the car.

“I started to have the feeling of my right ear being blocked all the time and the tumour was diagnosed in 2010. Happily, it was benign but I can no longer hear anything because they had to remove my acoustic nerve.”

A medical expert estimated the damage to Romeo at 23% of his bodily function, prompting the judge to make a compensation award of €500 per month to be paid by INAIL, a national insurance scheme covering workplace accidents.

Scientific studies of the potential health risks of mobile phones have mostly concluded that they pose no serious risk to human health at the level of most people’s use.

Heavier use may pose some risk, other studies have found, and many experts say it is too early to do a proper assessment of what is a relatively new technology.

Italian court rules mobile phone use caused brain tumour

Stuttgart residents sue mayor for "bodily harm" caused by air pollution

On a frosty Friday evening at the end of January, after her usual walk around her central Stuttgart neighbourhood, Susanne Jallow felt an unusual cough and irritation in her throat.

Jallow, 54, lives in Neckartor, an area chock-a-block with residential buildings hugged by a busy road, B14, which handles around 100,000 vehicles a day.

Neckartor is a hotspot for air pollution, not just in Stuttgart but in the whole of Germany. PM10 values (coarse dust particles between 10 and 2.5 micrometres in diameter) recorded on sensors installed in the busy intersection of B14 often hit around 200 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³). EU standards set the top limit of safe PM10 levels at 50µg/m³.

On this particular evening, however, Jallow came home and checked the readings on a sensor hanging from her balcony, provided to her as part of an open data citizen initiative called Luftdaten (“air data”), and found that it had recorded 300µg/m³.

Keen to draw attention to the scale of Stuttgart’s problem, Jallow and her neighbour Peter Erben – both members of local citizens’ forum BI Initiative – lodged a criminal complaint on 23 January against the city’s mayor, Fritz Kuhn, and the district president, Wolfgang Reimer. The complaint accuses the officials on two counts: bodily injury with death as a consequence (due to air pollution), and lack of assistance.

Susanne Jallow and Peter Erben. Photograph: Prathap Nair for the Guardian

The issue was immediately picked up by local media. “We wanted to highlight the bureaucratic apathy of the city administration. There is a pressing need for more proactive measures to combat air pollution. The existing ones are inadequate,” says Erben.

He suspects other neighbourhoods in Stuttgart are just as in danger of air pollution from PM10 and nitrogen dioxide as Neckartor is. “Right now, the official explanation is that only Neckartor suffers from bad air in all of Stuttgart. I don’t necessarily think that is true.”

Popular resistance to air pollution in Stuttgart has been ongoing for more than a decade. In the autumn of 2004, two of its citizens approached the court seeking redressal from air pollution and fine particulate matter. The government reacted by introducing a truck transit ban that did little to control PM levels. In 2008, a Neckartor resident filed another lawsuit – and the court, in its ruling, noted that no effective measures had been taken to address the city’s poor air quality.

The concept of Feinstaubalarm (“fine particulate matter alarm”) was introduced in January 2016 to mark the days when the city’s air pollution exceeds EU limits. On these days, the city administration urges residents to stop using their wood-fired chimneys and utilise public transportation rather than cars – tickets are reduced to half price as an incentive.

Last year, Stuttgart breached the EU’s daily permitted PM10 levels on 63 days – almost double the allowed 35 days.

“Combustion residues, mainly from diesel engines, as well as the abrasion of brakes and tyres, are the main reasons for these high PM10 values,” says Dr Ulrich Vogt, head of the Department of Air Quality Control at Stuttgart University.

A foggy view of Stuttgart. The city’s dense population contributes to the air pollution. Photograph: Alamy

One reason for Stuttgart’s heavy traffic is that it doesn’t possess any ring roads, so much of the traffic passes straight through the city. In contrast, Munich has three ring roads.

“Another reason we have such a high concentration [of air pollution] is that everything is very, very densely populated,” Vogt says. “Stuttgart west has the highest population density in Europe. There are no broad avenues here, only narrow street canyons.”

But the problem is also geographical: Stuttgart’s city centre is located in a basin, surrounded by mountains on three sides. “We do not have good ventilation and hence no way of diluting the air pollutants,” Vogt adds.

Winter brings further weather-related issues: “We are now experiencing a phenomenon called temperature inversion. It acts like a lid, trapping cold air in the ground without allowing for exchange,” explains Dr Ulrich Reuter, an environment counsellor with Stuttgart’s Office of Environmental Protection.

From Reuter’s office window on a late January afternoon, the city’s landmark Fernsehturm (TV tower) is shrouded in thick smog. “I hope it will be possible to bring down the pollution levels,” he says. “But I’m afraid it’s not possible without restrictions.”

“The politicians are satisfied with Feinstaubalarm without considering any other action,” says Jallow. “Why can’t we have a ban on vehicular traffic on pollution days, like Paris and Madrid?”

Protests against air pollution in Stuttgart in 2016. Photograph: DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy

But such a ban would be controversial in the industrial city home to major manufacturers including Porsche, Daimler and NeoPlan (the maker of Man buses and trucks).

“I think it would be fatal,” Thomas Bareiss, the commissioner for energy policy, told a local newspaper. “Even the discussion about driving bans will lead to the destruction of [Stuttgart]. There are more intelligent ways to tackle the fine dust problem.”

But according to Julia Pieper, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport for the state of Baden Württemberg, of which Stuttgart is the capital, traffic restrictions are being considered for next year.

“In the eventuality that the 2017 limit values are not met, traffic restrictions on individual days are planned for the year 2018,” Pieper told the Guardian. “In doing so, the affected area is kept as small as possible.”

In the month of January alone, the city experienced around 25 of the acceptable 35 Feinstaubalarm days – so restrictions look certain to be introduced next year.

No threshold

The grubby, soot-laden walls of the grand old houses that sit along B14 in Neckartor bear the tell-tale signs of air pollution.

“You can only imagine what the lungs of people who live inside those houses look like,” says Erben, rubbing his fingers across the soot. An acrid smell hangs heavily in the air, resulting from the emissions let out by the cars hurtling past the busy intersection.

Experts such as Vogt and Reuter agree a reduction in car traffic is the most effective measure for improvement of air quality. “Every microgram per cubic metre of PM10 is unhealthy,” Vogt says. “So there is no threshold value or lower limit [of acceptability].”

There is certainly growing awareness of the issue among Stuttgart residents. Luftdaten is in the process of installing low cost, crowdfunded sensors across the city to measure PM levels, much like the one on Jallow’s balcony.

“I wanted to build cost-effective sensors, given the less than reliable government data and coverage regarding air pollution,” explains Jan Lutz, a social entrepreneur who runs Luftdaten’s website.

“But I think in five years Stuttgart will be like Detroit or something, because there is simply no innovation,” he adds. “The automobile industry continues to produce more cars, which is basically two tonnes of steel transporting a 70kg human. It’s an overkill, and not sustainable in the long run.”

Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter and Facebook to join the discussion and explore our special series on air pollution

Stuttgart residents sue mayor for "bodily harm" caused by air pollution

10 Harmful Health Effects Caused by Excessive Sugar Consumption

Foods taste sweet because they contain sugars which can be naturally occurring or added. What’s the main difference between the two?

Naturally occurring sugars are the sugars found in whole foods, for instance, fruit, milk, vegetables, and some grains. Fructose and lactose in fruit and milk products, respectively, are naturally occurring sugars. On the other hand, sugars and syrups added to foods during preparation or processing, or added at the table are known as added sugars.

Added sugars function to enhance the flavor and texture of foods, to increase shelf life, and to make the foods palatable.

Americans consume at the average of 22 teaspoons of added sugars every day which is equivalent to 88 g of sugar or nearly 352 calories. The major sources of added sugars are regular sodas, cakes, candy, pies, cookies, energy drinks, and fruit drinks (fruit ade and fruit punch); dairy desserts and milk products (ice cream, sweetened milk and yogurt); and other grains (cinnamon toast, granola bar, and honey-nut waffles).

No matter what types of sugars are used, whether they are the natural sweetener like honey or raw sugar, a refined product like table sugar, or manufactured sugar like high-fructose corn syrup, all added sugars can pose health risks. Added sugar, especially taken in excess, can have harmful effects on metabolism and contribute to the development of many diseases.

The followings are 10 disturbing reasons why added sugars are considered detrimental to health.

Empty Calories and Tooth Decay

As you have probably heard many times before, added sugars like sucrose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) only provide you calories without the essential nutrients, for which they are called empty calories.  They are purely energy source and lacking proteins, essential fats, vitamin or minerals.

Eating sugars that make up 10-20 percent of calories or more can pose health issues besides contributing to nutrient deficiencies.

Acting as digestible energy sources that help to feed harmful bacteria in the mouth, sugars cause tooth decay.

Overloads You Liver

In order to understand why excessive added sugar intakes are harmful, it would be better for you to understand what they are made of.

Sugars are composed of equal parts of glucose and fructose. In the digestive tract, sugars are broken down into two simple sugars, glucose and fructose, before entering the bloodstream.

Glucose is found in and metabolized by every cell in your body. Conversely, fructose is only available for the body from your diet and solely metabolized by the liver.

Eating moderate amounts of fructose such as from fruit in a healthy person or you just finished an exercise won’t pose harmful effects as it will be turned into glycogen and subsequently stored in your liver. By contrast, eating a lot of fructose will overload the liver if the liver is full of glycogen, forcing the organ to turn the fructose into fat.

When large amounts of sugar taken repeatedly, this process will eventually lead to fatty liver and metabolic syndrome.

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Taking excess fructose can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which in the end can lodge in the liver. After turned into fat in the liver, fructose is shipped out as VLDL cholesterol particles. However, some of the fats stay behind and can lodge in the liver.

This eventually leads to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is strongly associated with metabolic diseases. Studies have found that people with fatty liver consume up to 2-3 times as much fructose as the average person.

Insulin Resistance

Insulin, a very important hormone in the body, through a cascade of reactions that allows glucose (blood sugar) to enter cells from the bloodstream by the help of GLUT4 transporters and tells the cells to start burning glucose instead of fat.

However, taking too much sugar may overload the blood with glucose over time which is highly toxic and can cause complications in diabetes, including neuropathy and blindness.

The higher glucose in the blood the higher insulin are produced and secreted by the pancreas. As cells only allow the entrance certain amount of glucose for its optimal energy generating activities, too much insulin will eventually make the cells resist the docking of extra insulin to their receptors. This leads to, insulin resistance, meaning cells (insulin receptors) repel insulin.

Many studies have found that high sugar consumption is associated with insulin resistance which is thought to be a leading cause of many diseases, including metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type II diabetes.

Type II Diabetes

Chronically high blood glucose (hyperglycemia) and insulin resistance cause the pancreas to produce higher levels of insulin that result in high insulin levels in your blood (hyperinsulinemia).

As insulin resistance becomes progressively worse, the pancreas that produces insulin at high capacity eventually becomes exhausted which cause the pancreas to produce less insulin, thus make the blood glucose levels remains high. This condition is diagnosed with type II diabetes.

Given that excess sugar intake can cause insulin resistant, it is no big wonder to see that people who excessively drink sugar-sweetened beverages have a higher risk of Type II diabetes.

Cancer

Scientists believe that insulin and IGF-1 play some roles as important growth factors, via a cascade of reactions that enhance tumor cell proliferation. By that, they also believe that hyperinsulinemia (constantly elevated insulin levels, a consequent of excess sugar consumption) can contribute to cancer.

Moreover, the metabolic issues associated with excess sugar consumption are a known factor of inflammation which is due to elevated free radical levels, another potential cause of cancer. Many studies have shown that people who consume a lot of sugar are at a much higher risk of cancer.

Although fructose and glucose have the same calorific value, in the body, the two sugars are metabolized differently. Fructose is thought to cause seven times as much cell damage as does glucose because it binds to cellular proteins seven times faster. In addition, it releases 100 times the number of reactive oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide, which kills everything in sight.

Fat-Promoting Effects

Not all foods are created equal as different foods can have different effects on our brains and the hormones that control food intake.

Studies show that fructose doesn’t have the similar satiety effect as glucose. In one study, participants were asked to drink either a fructose-sweetened drink or a glucose-sweetened drink. Afterward, the fructose drinkers were found to have much less activity in the satiety centers of the brain and felt hungrier.

Another study has shown that fructose didn’t lower the hunger hormone ghrelin nearly as much as glucose did. As the calories from fructose in HFCS aren’t as fulfilling, this can translate into an increased sugar intake, thus increased calorie intake.

Highly Addictive

Similar to street drugs, sugar causes a release of dopamine in the reward center of the brain. Therefore, many people are susceptible to its addictive potential.

Exposures to sugar and many junk foods can cause massive dopamine release, much more than we compared to that of foods found in nature, thereby people who are susceptible to addiction can become strongly addicted to sugar and other junk foods.

The best advice for those addicted to sugary foods is not ‘take them in moderation’, as the workable solution to addiction is abstinence.

Obesity

The way sugar affects hormones and the brain is a recipe for disastrous fat gain that leads to decreased satiety and can get people addicted that results in you losing control over food consumption.

Many studies have shown a strong statistical association between sugar consumption and obesity. This applies to all age groups.

Raises Cholesterol (Oxysterol)

There is mounting evidence that sugar, not fat, can be one of the leading causes of heart disease via the harmful effects of fructose that lead to metabolic problems.

Excessive fructose intake (consuming fructose-sweetened, not glucose-sweetened, beverages) is associated with all major risk factors for heart disease, including raised triglycerides, small, dense LDL and oxidized LDL (due to oxidized cholesterol, also known as oxysterol, which is caused by elevated free radical levels), raise blood glucose and insulin levels and increased abdominal obesity that can happen as little as 10 weeks.

Furthermore, many observational studies have shown a strong statistical association between sugar consumption and the risk of heart disease.

10 Harmful Health Effects Caused by Excessive Sugar Consumption

DNA study lays bare devastating damage caused by smoking

The devastating impact of cigarette smoke on the body’s DNA has been laid bare by the first comprehensive study into the damage tobacco inflicts on human cells.

People who smoke a pack of cigarettes each day for a year develop on average 150 extra mutations in every lung cell, and nearly 100 more mutations than usual in each cell of the voice box, researchers found. More still build up in the mouth, bladder, liver and other organs.

While chemicals in tobacco smoke have long been known to raise the risk of at least 17 forms of cancer, the precise molecular mechanisms through which they mutate DNA and give rise to tumours in different tissues have never been clear.

“This is about running down the root cause of cancers,” said David Phillips, a professor of environmental carcinogenesis at King’s College London and a co-author on the study. “By identifying the root causes, we gain the sort of knowledge we need to think more seriously about cancer prevention.”

More than 70 of the 7,000 chemicals found in tobacco smoke are known to cause cancer. Some damage DNA directly, but others ramp up mutations in more subtle ways, often by disrupting the way cells function. The more mutations a cell acquires, the more likely it is to turn cancerous.

The reason why some people can smoke for years without getting cancer, while others develop the disease, is down to the way mutations arise. When a person smokes, the chemicals they inhale create mutations at random points in the genome. Many of these changes will be harmless, but others not so benign. The more smoke a person is exposed to, the greater the chance that the accumulating mutations will hit specific spots in the DNA that turn cells cancerous.

“You can really think of it as playing Russian roulette,” said Ludmil Alexandrov, a theoretical biologist at Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico and the first author of the study. “You can miss the right genes. But if you smoke you still play the game. It’s a very strong message for people not to start smoking. If you smoke even a little bit you’ll erode the genetic material of most of the cells in your body.” Smoking is the most preventable cause of cancer in the world and accounts for more than 1 in 4 UK cancer deaths.

With researchers at the Wellcome Trust’s Sanger Institute near Cambridge and others, Alexandrov analysed the DNA of more than 5,000 cancers. The team then turned to pattern recognition software to tease apart the various mutational signatures found in tumours from smokers versus non-smokers. To find the signatures – the patterns of mutations present in cancer cells – researchers performed the genetic equivalent of recording the chatter at a party and then extracting individual conversations from the hubbub.

The scientists spotted more than 20 mutational signatures in 13 types of cancer linked to tobacco smoking. But only five of these were more common in smokers’ tumours. One pattern of mutations, dubbed signature four, was found to be a major driver for lung cancer. It is thought to be caused by benzopyrene, a chemical found in tobacco smoke.

More intriguing was how tobacco caused mutations in tissues that are not directly exposed to smoke, such as the bladder, kidneys and pancreas. The study found that chemicals from tobacco smoke found their way to different organs and tissues and then sped up the molecular clocks in the cells. This ramped up the natural rate at which mutations built up in the tissues.

“We knew there was direct damage from smoking in the lungs. What we didn’t expect was to see smoking speed up the molecular clocks inside cells,” said Alexandrov, whose study appears in the journal Science. “In bladder cancer, the only thing that causes the extra mutations in smokers is the speeding up of the clock, and that will be very dependent on the intensity of smoking. For every pack of cigarettes you smoke per year, you accumulate 18 mutations in all of your bladder cells,” he added.

Scientists hope that by understanding how the individual ingredients of tobacco smoke raise the risk of various cancers, they can develop new ways to prevent the disease. The same techniques used in the latest study will now be used to tease apart how alcohol, obesity and other factors also increase a person’s cancer risk.

“There is a message here for people who are occasional or social smokers who think it doesn’t do anything,” said Alexandrov. “If you smoke four to five packs of cigarettes in your lifetime it doesn’t sound that much, but you still get several mutations in every cell in your lungs and these are permanent, they do not go away. There are a lot of things that do revert back when you stop smoking, and this shouldn’t discourage people from giving up, but the specific mutations in the lung cells are like scars. If you stop smoking, they’ll still be there.”

DNA study lays bare devastating damage caused by smoking

Hospital overcrowding caused by "political maladministration", say MPs

Hospitals have become dangerously full and discharge patients too soon as a direct result of “political maladministration” by successive governments, according to a committee of MPs.

The failure to join health and social care services means that one in five patients are at risk of either getting stuck in hospital or being released before they are fit to go, according to a report by the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs select committee (PACAC).

So-called bedblocking costs the NHS in England about £820m a year, according to National Audit Office estimates.

The cross-party committee is highly critical of governments down the years for allowing two public services that need to work closely together to remain separate. “At a structural level, the historic split between health and social care means that interdependent services are being managed and funded separately. We consider this to be political maladministration,” the committee says in a report about unsafe patient discharges from hospital.

The MPs blame the split for creating a situation in which many hospitals become overcrowded and send patients home before they are fit to leave, in order to free up beds. “Pressures on resources and capacity within hospitals are leading to worrying and unsafe discharge practices,” the report says.

“Hospital staff seem to feel pressured to discharge patients before it is safe to do so,” said Bernard Jenkin, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee. “Hospital leadership must reassure their staff that organisational pressures never take priority over person-centred care.”

NHS staff worried that patients are being let go too quickly should report their concerns without fearing consequences from their employer, he added.

The committee also criticises the NHS for having made too little progress on unsafe discharges since reports by Healthwatch England, the National Audit Office and Commons public accounts committee highlighted the problem. “Despite increased attention to the issue, it remains a persistent problem,” the report added.

The committee was responding to earlier revelations by Dame Julie Mellor, the NHS ombudsman, that patients sent home too soon are at risk of being readmitted as emergencies and even of dying, and that inadequate social care is often behind fit patients’ departure being delayed.

Mellor said: “These shocking failures will continue to happen unless the government tackles the heart of the problem – the chronic underfunding of social care which is piling excruciating pressure on the NHS, leaving vulnerable patients without a lifeline.”

A Department of Health spokeswoman insisted that the current government was spending large sums integrating health and social care. “Patients should only be discharged from hospital when it’s clinically appropriate and safe for them and their families, and the best way to ensure that is to meaningfully integrate health and social care. We are investing billions to do so over the course of this parliament to improve the experience of patients, many of whom will be vulnerable.”

Meanwhile NHS data shows that the number of GPs in England rose by just 108 last year despite the government’s high-profile pledge to expand the family doctor workforce by 5,000 by 2020. There were 41,985 of them earlier this month, compared with 41,877 in September 2015.

“These figures show that there has been woefully inadequate progress towards recruiting more GPs to cope with rising patient demand. The government is simply not on course to recruit the extra 5,000 GPs it promised at the last election,” said Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s GPs committee.

New figures from NHS Digital also showed that GPs in England may still be being paid for treating as many as 3 milion “ghost patients” – people who have died, moved home or emigrated.

While 57.3 million patients were registered with GP surgeries in March, population estimates suggest that there were just 54.3 million people living in England at the time. GP practices receive £136 for every patient on their list.

Hospital overcrowding caused by "political maladministration", say MPs

New Study Provides First Evidence That Natural Essential Oils Counteract Inflammation Caused By Polluted Air

Certain ingredients in essential oils made from plants could provide a natural treatment of liver and lung conditions caused by air pollution.  They may also help in counteracting inflammation.

This recent study evaluated the value of using specific essential oil compounds — like fennel, anise, ylang ylang, and cloves — to treat inflammation caused by the fine particles found in hazy, polluted air known to be carcinogenic.

This new study is the first of its kind.

Different Organic Compounds in Essential Oils

Plants naturally contain a variety of essential oils that consist of different compounds. Some of these compounds have antioxidant value.  They may also be able to fight inflammation.

The essential oils in some plants have a group of organic compounds called phenylpropanoids — possible anti-inflammatory substances.  A few of these substances are estragole (found in basil), eugenol (which occurs in clove bud oil), trans-anethole, (a flavor component of anise and fennel), and isoeugenol (contained in ylang ylang).

Laboratory Tests Discover Essential Oil

Lead author of this new study, Miriana Kfoury and her team of researchers, collected air pollutant samples containing fine particles.  Laboratory test samples were then introduced to human cell cultures of cancer derived hepatic cells and normal bronchial epithelial cells.

The fine particle matter induced inflammation in the cells.  They started to secrete the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 — substances that are secreted during infections and tissue damage. Cytokin levels normally increase when our body’s immune system fights specific infections.

Next, the researchers established that the trans-anethole, estragole, eugenol, and isoeugenol all have cytotoxicity — which means that they might cause cell death when exposed to comparatively high concentrations.

Evaluation of Oil Compound Properties

In their evaluation, the researchers were able to determine the level of cytotoxicity of these oil compounds. This was important in order to establish the maximum dose that should be selected in the next step — specifically, the assessment for anti-inflammatory properties.

In the second round of laboratory testing, the researchers introduced the four compounds to the combination of cell lines and air pollutants to see whether the natural essential oil compounds could protect lung and liver cells damaged by fine particles found in air pollution.

The researchers discovered that the essential oil compounds tested decrease the levels of the two types of cytokines in the samples. The levels of cytokine IL-6 decreased up to 96 percent, and the levels of cytokine IL-8 by 87 percent.

First Evidence of Essential Oils Counteracting Inflammation

Lead author Miriana Kfoury, of the Unité de Chimie Environnementale et Interactions sur le Vivant, Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale in France and the Lebanese University in Lebanon, offers a brief comment about this new study’s findings.

“The findings provide the first evidence that natural essential oil components counteract the inflammatory effects of particulate matter, such as that contained in polluted air.”

Kfoury and her colleagues published their recent study titled, “Essential oil components decrease pulmonary and hepatic cells inflammation induced by air pollution particulate matter,” in Springer’s journal Environmental Chemistry Letters

New Study Provides First Evidence That Natural Essential Oils Counteract Inflammation Caused By Polluted Air

4 Ingredients Tea- Suppress Pain Caused By Inflammation, Prevent Type-2 Diabetes & Fight Day-to-Day Illnesses

Turmeric is a herbaceous perennial plant in the ginger family. It has been around for thousands of years and known as the “king of spice.”

Turmeric tea is a natural medicine with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that can help improve our day to day illness. Make a turmeric tea is one of the easiest ways to consume turmeric.

Turmeric Tea Recipe

Ingredients:

-1/3 cup / 80 ml good, raw honey
-2 1/2 teaspoons dried turmeric
-Lemon
-Freshly ground black pepper

Ground pepper makes the turmeric compelling. Curcumin is the active compound in turmeric, and black pepper allows our bodies to absorb it more efficiently.

Directions:

Mix turmeric into the honey until it forms a paste.
You can store this mixture in a jar and keep it on hand whenever you want to make a mug of this tea.
For each cup of tea, place a heaping teaspoon of the turmeric paste in the bottom of a mug.
Pour hot water into the mug but make sure it isn’t boiling.
Stir well to dissolve the turmeric paste.
Squeeze juice from a lemon, and black pepper.
Stir again to incorporate everything and drink right away.

Turmeric Extract Prevents Type 2 Diabetes

Turmeric has an effect on blood sugar and insulin, it lower blood glucose levels and reverse insulin resistance. It has been found that turmeric extract was 100% successful at preventing prediabetic patients from becoming diabetic over the course of a 9-month intervention. Another study found that its blood sugar-lowering abilities are much stronger than a common antidiabetic drug.

Fights Inflammation

The powerful anti-inflammatory and antiseptic qualities of turmeric have made its a precious gift of nature! It found that curcumin is the most potent anti-inflammatory compared to aspirin and ibuprofen, the most prescribe painkiller worldwide.

Other Health Benefits of Turmeric Tea

-Detoxifies the body and liver
-Eases symptoms of coughs and colds
-Improves skin complexion
-Reduces bad cholesterol
-Boosts immunity by enhancing liver function and protects liver tissue
-Cleanses and purifies the blood

Sources:

–http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/turmeric-for-diabetes.html?t=HHL

–http://theonlinegrill.com/turmeric-tea-benefits/

–http://draxe.com/turmeric-health-benefits/

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4 Ingredients Tea- Suppress Pain Caused By Inflammation, Prevent Type-2 Diabetes & Fight Day-to-Day Illnesses