5 Health Myths Which Can Hurt Your Family

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At this point, most of us understand that preventative care is the absolute best choice you can make for your family. Besides exercising and drinking plenty of water, there are important food and supplement choices we must make as well. Below are a few common myths which have been disproven by rigorous medical studies conducted worldwide and at our top universities, yet they are still spread among people who have not taken the time to research the truth.

Myth 1: THERE IS NO WAY TO PREVENT SICKNESS. Actually, it is surprisingly simple to prevent most sickness and disease. Making an effort to increase your vegetable and fruit intake, and supplement what you cannot take in naturally, is one surefire way to improve your health. If you couple this up with some form of regular exercise and water intake, you can probably expect to live a long and healthy life. There is plenty of research which prove that through proper education, and good health choices, there is no reason why one should be prone to sickness and/or disease.

Myth 2: MEDICINE ONLY COMES FROM DOCTORS. Actually, good food is the ultimate medicine. If you get your daily intake of proper foods, nutrients, minerals, enzymes, and fibers - which can be obtained by eating an ample supply of fresh fruits and vegetables each day - you may never have to visit a doctor at all. Fruits and vegetables contain many important nutrients which are essential for our immune system, our body's natural defense from sickness and disease.

Myth 3: JUICE IS THE BEST DRINK FOR MY FAMILY. Many people have switched from soda to juice as their primary drink throughout the day. The best drink for your family is actually water. Juice contains many beneficial vitamins, although most can be found in good quantities only in juice which is labeled "100% juice" and does not contain an excessive amount of extra sugar. Sugar has been proven to weaken the immune system, which is counterproductive to your family's good health.

Myth 4: THERE IS LITTLE NOTABLE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PRODUCE GROWN IN YOUR HOME COUNTRY, AND THAT OF PRODUCE FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY. If your objective is optimum health, it is important to make sure you eat fruits and vegetables which have been freshly picked. If the vegetables on your table were grown in another country, and you live in the United States, chances are that your produce was picked prematurely, in order to allow the fruit to ripen while in transit. This does not allow for optimal nutritional benefit.

Myth 5: THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VITAMINS AND WHOLE FOOD. There is a world of difference between vitamins and whole food supplements. Vitamins are what is commonly offered in drugstores and vitamin stores; however, they often contain dangerously high amounts of one vitamin and not enough of others. Whole food supplements contain just the right amounts of minerals, vitamins and enzymes which work synergistically together, as they do in natural food. There are many different whole food companies on the market. It is worth it to do some research and pick a good one, so that your family can supplement their diets well.

JENNIFER SMITH is an expert in health. She is a health researcher, writer and mother of 2. HEALTH AND WELLNESS EDUCATION NETWORK. To find out more about NATURAL HEALTH OPTIONS, visit her WEBSITE.

Side Effects Of Coffee On Health Revealed

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When it comes to the popular morning beverage... there's more good news than bad news. A German study that included over 40,000 subjects and lasted almost a decade has found that the side effects of coffee produce no more risk of chronic illnesses (heart disease, cancer) plus coffee drinkers are also less likely to be diagnosed with troublesome type 2 diabetes than non coffee drinkers.

These new findings come after many earlier studies have brought conflicting reports - some suggesting coffee drinking brought a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and more.

To address this challenge, the German study looked at all different chronic diseases during the same time period to see the effect on health of drinking coffee.

The researchers collected data on people's coffee drinking habits, as well as diet, exercise and overall health from over 42,000 adults who were taking part in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study and were free of any chronic health problems at the start of the project.

Over the following nine years, researchers followed up on participants to see if they'd been diagnosed with any health problems. The team was particularly interested in reports of heart disease, occurrences of stroke, heart attacks, diabetes or cancer.

They saw that both coffee drinkers and those who were not had the same risks of getting one of these diseases. For example, just over 10% of both coffee (over than four cups per day) and non-coffee drinkers ended up developing a chronic disease.

On the type 2 diabetes front the researchers also saw that coffee drinkers had a lesser chance of being diagnosed with this chronic illness than non-drinkers.

Among the four cup a day coffee drinkers, 3.2% later told researchers they'd been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, while 3.6% of those who did not drink coffee were diagnosed with the same disease. Even after accounting for things that could affect diabetes risk (being overweight and smoking), the team saw that who drank coffee were 23% less likely to be diagnosed with diabetes - supporting findings from earlier studies.

The researchers point out that the results of the current research suggest that drinking coffee is not harmful to a healthy adult. But they don't mean people should rely on coffee for preventing type 2 diabetes or other chronic illnesses. All experts can say at present is that animal studies have shown that some compounds in coffee can affect metabolism.

If you're not a coffee drinker, this research isn't telling you to start enjoying the delicious beverage in order to stay healthy. But if you don't have any specific health reasons (mental illness, insomnia, anxiety) to avoid coffee, and you like it, this study suggests you have no need to cut as the side effects of coffee don't lead to chronic conditions.

Your best bet to stay healthy, sharp and disease free as the years pass is to live an overall healthy lifestyle - do not smoke, eat a balanced diet, be sure you get regular exercise, make sleep a priority and manage stress are all smart steps you can take to make this more likely.

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