Sleep Habits Can Predict Teen Drinking, Marijuana Use

A study has found that sleep quality and sleep duration in late childhood can predict alcohol and drug use later in adolescence. The study, published Monday in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, was led by researchers from the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine and the Pitt Department of Psychology.
“Treating problems with drugs and alcohol once they exist and preventing them can be challenging, and we are always looking for modifiable risk factors,” lead author of the study Brant P. Hasler said in a statement. “Doing what we can to ensure sufficient sleep duration and improve sleep quality during late childhood may have benefits in terms of reducing the use of these substances later in life.”
Researchers studied 186 boys from western Pennsylvania. They analyzed the responses to the Child Sleep Questionnaire that the boys’ mothers completed, which is also part of a larger research that looks into the vulnerability and resilience of low-income boys.
The quality of sleep of the boys at the age of 11 years was determined using the responses to the questionnaire, and they were interviewed at the ages 20 and 22 years regarding their use of marijuana and alcohol.
A study found that sleep quality and sleep duration in late childhood can predict alcohol and drug use later in adolescence. MARCO DI LAURO/GETTY IMAGES
Researchers accounted for race, socioeconomic differences, neighborhood problems, self-regulation and other factors when they discovered the link between sleep quality and substance use. They found that boys who slept the least were more likely to report early use of alcohol or marijuana, intoxication and repeated substance use. The findings indicated a 20 percent acceleration to the first use of marijuana or alcohol associated with every hour of sleep lost during late childhood.
“After considering other possible influences, we were able to determine that sleep problems are preceding the substance use problems,” Hasler said. “Addressing sleep may now be something we can add into the package of our substance abuse prevention and treatment efforts.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people aged between 12 and 20 years consume 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the country. There were nearly 189,000 emergency room visits concerning issues related to underage drinking in 2010.

5 Recipes For Vegetable Leaves: Stop Missing Out On Health Benefits Of Broccoli And Carrot Tops

Broccoli is one of the healthiest foods you can eat, but what about the leaves of the vegetable we all tend to trim off and toss away? Don’t discard the nutritious greens that are growing on top of any of your veggies. Instead, put them aside and plan a healthy salad, sautéed pasta, or breakfast dish to get the most out of your produce.
Leafy greens supply ample amounts of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that can help lower the risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. These low-calorie alternative side dishes can add a ton of flavor into your dishes by offering their variety of sweet, bitter, earthy, and complex savory essences. Get in another serving of vegetables by using the entire plant in your recipes.
Vegetable leaves are versatile and can be used to replace kale and collard greens in many recipes.Photo courtesy of Pixabay, public domain

5 Vegetable Leaves You Can Cook:

1. Broccoli  

The leaves of this already nutrient-dense vegetable, known as “BroccoLeaf,” are packed with health benefits. The leaves cook very similarly to kale or collard greens, making them ideal for sautéed dishes with garlic and olive oil. The leaves have also been referred to as “pleasantly bitter” in a way reminiscent of broccoli rabe.
Trim your broccoli, set the vegetable aside, and create a healthy breakfast dish utilizing the leaves with this recipe for Egg White Frittata.

 

2. Radish

Unlike other vegetables, radish tops are delicate and serve up a pungent flavor that tastes like concentrated arugula. You can eat them raw, but allowing them to wilt and tossing them together with pasta or other cooked dishes is a healthful way to utilize its unique flavor.
Don’t toss your radish leaves. Instead, use the leaves to stir up this Rustic Radish Soup recipe.

 

 

 

3. Turnip

This is one of the vegetable leaves you might not want to eat raw. They have a bitter taste, but can be balanced with strong ingredients like onions, vinegar, or stock to cook out the hard flavor. The recipes are worth learning because turnip greens are an excellent source of vitamins K, A, and C, along with folate, copper, manganese, fiber, and calcium.
Take your turnip leaves and toss together this Spicy Skillet Turnip Greens recipe.

 

 

4. Carrots

The tops of carrots have a more herbal texture and earthy sweet taste, making them best cooked into side dishes or mixed in with a pesto recipe. Carrots are packed with vitamins A, B6, and K, folate, niacin, potassium, thiamin, and manganese, making them one of the healthiest items in the produce aisle.
Try Roasted Carrot and Black Bean Tacos with Cilantro and Carrot Green Chimichurri, a delicious recipe that utilizes both the carrot and green tops.

 

 

5. Beets

Beets have a texture and flavor similar to kale or Swiss chard, which is what makes them versatile in recipes. You could use them in a stir-fry or sliced very thinly and tossed in with a salad raw. Beet greens provide protein, phosphorus, zinc, antioxidants, and serve as a great source of fiber.
Mix together this flavorful salad recipe: Roasted Beet Salad with Beet Greens and Feta.






Source: Medical Daily

Cassava Plant Is A Potential Cure For Cancer And Infertility

Until now, this exotic plant has been used in making bread and drinks, but now studies have shown that it is a potential cancer and infertility treatment! Cassava, or manioc, also known by its scientific name of Mahinot esculenta, is a plant that is indigenous to the South American areas that belongs to the spurge family of plants.
Recent studies have shown that the cassava can be invaluable to our health thanks to the many health benefits it offers. The leaves of the plant are rich in proteins, lysine and beta-carotene, while the root is full of calcium and vitamin C. Eating the plant regularly will surely improve the bone strength and resistance. Scientists have also discovered that the plant can be used as a cure for infertility, headaches and arthritis.
Lankacnews.com reports that several studies have shown that the plant can be powerful treatment against tumors. Furthermore, tapioca, an extract of the cassava has been found to be very versatile and useful in treatment of various health conditions. It can prevent diabetes, birth defects, improve the circulation and the red blood cell count, maintain the fluid balance in the body, lower cholesterol, protect the bone mineral density, improve the digestion, prevent Alzheimer’s disease, protect the cardiovascular health and aid weight gain. Some people believe that tapioca can help cure bladder, colon and prostate cancer.

Preparing cassava for consumption

The cassava plant needs to be cooked finely before consumption, as it contains a small amount of cyanide that needs to be eliminated. First, you need to peel the plant. Then, cut it into pieces, and alternate them between hot and cold water. When they’re soaked, put them in the fridge and leave them for a couple of hours. Pour the liquid in which the cassava pieces have soaked in into another liquid like a fruit juice or water, and drink the solution before breakfast every morning.
The vitamin B17 content of the cassava is the reason behind its powerful anti-cancer properties. Knowing this, Dr. Cynthia Jayasuriya, an ear, nose and throat surgeon, started investigating foods high in this vitamin when she was diagnosed with transitional cell cancer. She was struggling with the diseases for nearly a decade, when she decided to try a natural therapy when she read about the cassava on WorldWithoutCancer.org.
Dr. Jayasuriya learned that the cassava is rich in this vitamin, so she started consuming for a month. She ate a total of 100 gr. of the plant three times a day. In the morning, she ate boiled cassava, while in the afternoon and evening she ate it as a curry. After a month, she did a cystoscopy which revealed no sign of the cancer!
Once the cassava plant enters the body, the vitamin B17 mixes with Rhodanese, an enzyme which breaks down the vitamin into three sugars. The cancer cell is an immature cell which has a different enzyme, beta-glucosidase, which breaks vitamin B17 into glucose, benzaldehyde and hydrocyanic acid. The acid acts as a LTTE cyanide capsule, effectively killing the cancer cell.
If the vitamin combines with the cancer cell enzyme, it breaks down to 1 sugar, 1 benzaldehyde and 1 hydrocyanic acid, which kills the cancer cell locally.
Source: http://www.healthiestuniverse.com/