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Every sweet-tooth has their favorite fix when it comes to sugar, but it turns out we aren’t the only ones who favor one kind of sweetener over another: recent research reveals that cancer cells thrive most off of fructose.

Scientists at the University of California Los Angeles found that fructose-fed pancreatic cancer cells divided and proliferated with much greater intensity than their glucose-fed counterparts. This discovery, published in the journal Cancer Research, offers and explanation to the link other studies have found between pancreatic cancer and fructose intake.

While science has long recognized the connection between sugar consumption and cancer growth, this new finding reveals that not all sweeteners are made equal. Unfortunately, cancer’s favorite sweetener is also our own.

Fructose makes the majority of its appearances as high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener used in candy, soft drinks, breads, cereals, and a variety of other foods. Health experts have warned consumers against high fructose corn syrup for quite some time, and even politicians and health regulators have expressed concern over the sweetener’s role Americans’ increasing health and obesity issues.

While sugar of all types has been linked to weight gain, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, U.S. high fructose corn syrup consumption increased 1,000% between 1970 and 1990—and has only continued to escalate—making it the most common sweetener in food products today.

In order to help pay for programs addressing the obesity-related diseases resultant from high fructose-rich soft drinks, states such as New York and California have levied a tax on sweetened soda. Attempts were made to establish a Federal soda tax, but opposition from the American Beverage association (whose members include Coca-Cola and Kraft Food) squelched the initiative.

Nonetheless, the researchers at University of California Los Angeles hope their findings will encourage governmental action towards diminishing high fructose corn syrup use, paving the way for a healthier future for our nation.

Dandasana, or staff pose, is a great core strengthening yoga poses, which for the most part doesn't get the billing it deserves. Done correctly, Dandasana greatly strengthens all the major core muscles, improves posture and back health, and increases strength and stamina. Li ke so many yoga postures, Dandasana may appear simple, however, unless you already have great core strength, you'll find that it quickly becomes a very demanding yoga pose!

For people with tight hamstrings, this can be a particularly challenging pose, as the hamstrings will tend to pull your pelvis under, rounding the lower back. To avoid this, sit on the forward edge of a cushion, so that you have a full curve in the lumbar spine while doing the pose.

Dandasana Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Sit on your mat with your legs extended out in front of you. Use your hands to pull the flesh of the buttocks back and away from the sitz bones, so you feel yourself sitting more directly on the sitz bones.

2. Take a strap and bring it around the ball of your foot. Holding on to each end of the strap with each of your hands, flex your feet and gently pull back the strap till it tightens. Use the strap to pull your chest gently forward and elongate the spine. Keep your elbows close to your torso, don't let them jot out.

3. Firm your thighs and rotate them gently toward each other, keeping the feet flexed. Keep elongating the spine. Mentally press the sitzbones into the floor as you keep lengthening the spine, visualizing a pull upward from the crown of your head, and a grounding downward through your sitz bones.

4. Draw your shoulder blades gently together in the back, further lifting your heart center. Breathe deeply and calmly as you hold the posture, ideally for 3 to 5 minutes. Then release and relax.                                     

Never Flatten or Round the Lower Back in Dandasana

As you get stronger, begin to do the pose without using the strap. Don't let go of the strap too early, though, as losing the full lumbar curve in the lower back will be counter-productive and could hurt your back rather than strengthen it. As illustrated in the picture to the right, it is easy to lose correct alignment, even a flat lower back (as opposed to the full lumbar curve in the photo above) will not give you the benefit of this pose. Like for many yoga poses, this is a pose where it's critical to honestly assess where your body is at and not trying to push beyond that.

Dandasana can be great as part of a regular yoga practice. If you're looking to do core strengthening outside your practice, this can be a great pose to sit in while you're watching TV, listening to music, and so on. Naturally, you'll get the most benefits from the pose if you don't have an external focus while practicing Dandasana, but simply allow your mind to stay present with your body.

Receiving a disease diagnosis places a tremendous psychological and emotional weight on one’s shoulders. And, if stress of a serious illness alone wasn’t enough, surgeries, medications, all the vast and often confusing treatment options, and trying to maintain a normal life on top of it all can build a burden that is almost too much to bear.

In a sad irony, science has shown that not only does this stress take away from our already strained emotional well-being, it impacts our immune function as well—compounding whatever condition we suffer from.

Since 1962, researchers have measured the negative effects of stress on the physiology and found that prolonged stress inhibits the body’s natural ability to fight of disease, heal itself, and maintain health. For example, research conducted in 1999 by psychobiologist Shamgar Ben-Eliyahu and colleagues revealed that stresses lead to an increase in both the size and number of tumors in lab rats. 

Another study, conducted by Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser and colleagues, found that the blood chemistry of students around exam time revealed an immune suppression unseen in blood samples taken one month previously. In other words, even test-anxiety can weaken the body’s ability to care for itself.

 Biologically speaking, the body’s stress response developed to protect the physiology from temporary threats, such as physical attacks. The stress-hormone fluctuations that occur when we experience threats increase muscular tension, speed up heart rate, and flood our system with adrenaline in preparation for “fight or flight.” However, when this stress is drawn out over a long period of time, such as days, weeks, or even months and years, the body experiences negative side effects from sustaining an almost constant state of tension. Headaches, fatigue, and irritability develop, along with more serious conditions that can include heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer.

For those suffering from cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses, this stress is only compounded by the threat of their disease.

Fortunately, just as stress weakens the immune system, the release of stress can bolster it. A 1989 study conducted by Stanford psychiatrist David Spiegel found that women with metastatic breast cancer who participated in a support group lived longer than those who did not. The study found that group support could protect against or lessen stress.

Similarly, the practice of yoga for breast cancer patients can bring much needed relief from stress, bringing calm and ease to the mind and enhancing the body’s immune function.

Even the American Cancer Society acknowledges that yoga for cancer can "reduce levels of stress and bring about feelings of relaxation and well-being...[and] enhance quality of life for some patients with cancer." By releasing tension and relaxing the body and mind, yogatherapy for cancer patients and cancer survivors can revitalize immune function and restore the body’s ability to heal itself.

Studies have demonstrated yoga’s ability to reduce stress hormone levels and relieve acute tension. Many yogatherapy practitioners report a greater state of calm from their practice, as well as improved mood and overall sense of health. In one study, researchers found that yoga for breast cancer patients reduced stress levels and improved well-being. Another study, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, found that yoga breathing for cancer combined with asanas improved sleep quality, energy levels during the day, and quality of life.

By relaxing tension and restoring healthy immune function, yoga offers cancer patients and survivors, as well those suffering other serious conditions, a chance to go from a place of surviving to a place where they can once again begin to thrive.

Food that is “nuked” may cause hearts to fluke: a recent study reveals that microwave ovens, often shunned by the health-conscious for their negative effects on the nutritional value of food, also negatively impact our hearts.

According to Mercola.com, a study conducted by Dr. Magda Havas of Trent University found that the levels of microwave frequency radiation we see in home kitchens is significant enough to affect both heart rate and heart rate variability.  The study found that 2.4 GHz radiation (the frequency produced by WiFi routers and microwave ovens) emitted at levels well within federal safety guidelines can effect “immediate and dramatic changes” in both heart rate and heart rate variability.

In other words, even though laws have been put in place to try to ensure the safety of microwave ovens, damage is being done. Anyone experiencing an irregular or rapid heartbeat and/or chest pain may wish to unplug their microwave oven discontinue use.

New research also indicates that microwave radiation from kitchen microwave ovens can lead to blood sugar spikes connected with diabetes in susceptible individuals. 

If you wish to continue using your microwave, Mercola suggests stepping away from the device when in use and checking it routinely to ensure no significant frequency “leakage” (such as through an improperly sealed door, etc.) is occurring. While federally approved levels of microwave emission can be harmful, the sky-high levels of frequencies radiated from an un-sealed microwave can be critically dangerous. 

For everyone who has ever wondered: does yoga help prevent osteoporosis—and if so, how? There's finally a book out that definitively answers the question.

Co-authored by Loren Fishman, MD and Ellen Saltonstall, Yoga for Osteoporosis not only explains how yoga prevents—and can reverse--osteoporosis, but also provides readers with instructions and over 400 illustrations on how to practice poses to increase bone density, muscular strength, and balance.

With a thorough overview of the pathology, prevention, and treatment of osteoporosis, the book lays a solid foundation for the reader to understand how yoga provides relief.

Furthermore, in a two-year study, author Fishman demonstrated that a mere 10 minutes of yoga a day added more than 3/4ths of a point to the T scale of participants’ spine bone-density tests, and 4/5ths of a point for their hip bone-density. In other words, patients who scored half-way between osteoporosis and osteopenia improved enough to re-enter the normal bone density range. Moreover, some patients with full blown osteoporosis regained enough bone-density to return to an osteopenia classification.

Ultimately, the explanation behind yoga’s beneficial effects on osteoporosis is simple: study after study has shown that the best treatment for the condition is low-impact, bone-strengthening exercises. Such exercise should ideally provide weight-bearing but not put cartilage or joints at risk; it should include isometric exercise and stretch the patient’s range of motion, and it should be modifiable for a patient’s specific needs and limitations. Yoga stands apart from other forms of exercise by fitting this bill perfectly.

In the pages of Yoga for Osteoporosis, the authors cover which yoga poses are best for safely preventing or reversing bone loss and give detailed instructions on how to perform them. The poses in the book come with three difficulty levels: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. Contraindications and modifications are also given.

Every year, forty-four million Americans suffer from low bone density, and osteoporosis is the culprit behind over 1.5 million fractures annually. For anyone looking to reverse, stave off, or prevent osteoporosis, Yoga for Osteoporosis provides a comprehensive, user-friendly guide to a medically-effective yoga program.

In addition to aiding with osteoporosis, yoga has been shown to be an effective treatment for back pain and other structural aches.

We’ve all been there: the class when the teacher tells you to move into Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, and all you can think is: “what?”

Well now, thanks to the people at Drishti Yoga, there’s a new, fun way to learn all the names of yoga poses, so that you won’t have to look around the room at the other students in order to know which posture to move into next.

Drishti’s news iPhone app, Yoga Quiz Cards, combines beautiful images and both the Sanskrit and English names of 120 fundamental yoga poses to help the aspiring student (or teacher) develop their knowledge of the practice.

The app uses a customizable quiz that allows users to test their recall and also gives students the option to study at level 1 or level 2 poses. Sanskrit names are given with translations, and the app comes with a search option for quick reference.

The app is available for download through iTunes for $1.99, and those interested can also enter a quick, simple contest through YogaDork to win a free copy: just comment on the blog post, and you’re automatically entered to win!

Anyone who has gone to see their doctor for back pain can testify to the fact that nine times out of ten, pain killers and/or steroids are the resulting prescription. The other time: back surgery. Because of this, it’s no surprise that more and more Americans are turning to complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM), including yoga, for back pain and other structural health concerns.

A report released by the Center for Disease Control revealed that 38% of adults turned to CAM for health care during a given year, and that nearly half of those who had used alternative health solutions had done so for back pain.

These figures aren’t surprising when one considers modern medicines limited ability to treat back pain, neck pain, and other joint aches. Most of the time, conventional medicine can only apply a “band-aid” or side-effect-eliminating treatment, without addressing the underlying root of the structural issue.

However, CAM such as yoga addresses back pain at its root by stretching and strengthening the core postural muscles that support the spine. But working on the level of the body’s own structure, yoga relieves back pain without invasive surgery or prescription drug side-effects.

And, for anyone whose back pain requires inflammation-reducing steroids or pain-reducing medication, CAM methods such as yoga provide a safe and effective means to aid recovery without interfering with medications. 

With this in mind, it’s little surprise that more and more Americans are seeking out CAM including yoga for back pain to gain true and lasting relief from structural health concerns.

Most people who practice yoga know what a great therapy it is for emotional well-being. A new study shows that that may be good therapy for your heart as well. 

According to a recent report published in the February publication of the European Heart Journal, feelings of happiness, contentment, joy, and other pleasurable emotions are directly correlated with a decreased risk of heart disease.

Conducted by lead researcher Karina Davidson, director of Columbia's Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, the study examined 1,739 men and women over the course of 10 years. All participants were assessed for heart disease risk at the beginning of the study. Simultaneously, researchers examined the presence of depression, hostility, and anxiety versus positive emotions, such as happiness, enthusiasm, and joy.

Over the course of the 10-year study, the researchers found that the happier a participant was, the less likely he or she was to develop heart disease—and by a significant amount: for every point on the study’s five-point positivity scale, the participant’s likelihood of developing heart disease dropped a full 22%.

On the flipside, those suffering from unhappiness and negative emotional states were significantly more likely to experience heart attack or chronic chest pain.

According to the scientists, the findings suggest that those who are happier have healthier hearts.

This news indicates that along with yoga’s known physical benefits, such as weight reduction, increased strength and flexibility, and better physical tone, the practice’s more psychological benefits may have positive physical outcomes as well.

Many people have practiced yoga for anxiety and depression and found relief from the tension and unhappiness that weighed them down. Through developing a more positive mood with yoga for depression, practitioners are not just taking care of their emotional health—they are improving their physical health as well.

Yoga for heart disease can provide those at risk with benefits on all levels, including establishing a healthier, happier state of being.

Although researchers acknowledge that the exact means through which our emotions influence our physical well-being is still unknown, one thing is for sure: yoga therapy is good for the heart—in more ways than one.

By Malinda Gosvig

Every month, it appears, brings news of more studies demonstrating the health benefits of yoga. Most recently, some of the studies we have reported on here at YogaTherapyweb.com show yoga to bring relief for people suffering from heart failure, diabetes, and more.

Naturally, however, if you have the choice, it’s a lot smarter to use yoga to stay healthy, rather than to turn to yoga as therapy after a disease condition has developed. And, here’s the good news: yoga is for every body, not just for the young and flexible. So, to help you stay healthy in 2010, here are some tips for beginning yoga.

1. Throw out the idea that yoga is only for people of a certain age. While calendars and DVD covers may show us pictures of the young and the beautiful entwined in pretzel-asanas, the truth is that yoga is not about the physical expression, but the internal process of transformation. Any yoga pose, no matter how simple, if done with mindfulness and awareness will offer benefits.

For example, senior adults can often find relief from stiffness, arthritis aches, and lower back pain through a simple yoga therapy routine targeted to seniors. There are many stories of people, 65+ and above, who have transitioned from a place of “barely able to get out of bed in the morning” to a place of limberness that leaves them feeling like they’ve turned back the clock. And yoga’s beneficial effects on blood pressure, sleep patterns, and weight add to the mix as well. As many yoga teachers have noticed, senior students who practice yoga often look younger than their age.

2. Forget about having to look thin and fit. For people struggling with obesity or being overweight, yoga not only provides physical conditioning to help shed pounds, it also cultivates a level of awareness that serves as a foundation for better dietary and lifestyle habits over the long-run. However, there’s no reason to think you already have to be in shape in order to get in shape—that’s just nonsense.

People of all weights can enjoy weight-control and other health benefits of yoga by modifying poses to accommodate their level of ability. With regular practice, yoga students will find they are developing a greater degree of strength and flexibility, as well as shedding unwanted pounds. Also, those who cope with excess weight shouldn’t feel shy enrolling in a yoga class: classes are designed to be self-referral, so that students remained focused on their own bodies alone. For students who nonetheless prefer to practice at home, a wide variety of yoga DVDs are available.

Over time, regular yoga can help practitioners shed weight, gain strength and flexibility, and look and feel younger. But by no means are students expected to already display yoga’s benefits when they first sign up for classes!

3. Try an introductory class.  Many studios offer free first-time classes, so if you’re not sure what you think of yoga, you can try it risk-free. Even those who already have some level of physical conditioning may be surprised at the benefits they’ll experience from just one class. Athletes, for example, have found that yoga can improve their strength, flexibility, and balance. Several USM sports teams have seen greater success on the playing field due to yoga.

Even for those who have worked with a DVD before, trying a class with a live instructor can provide important benefits. It’s possible to practice poses incorrectly while working with a book or yoga video, but a certified yoga teacher will come around and help you find a level of the pose that holds your body in proper alignment.

4. Don’t strain. Many times, new yoga students will assume the approach of “more is better.” In yoga, this statement is only true if “more” applies to relaxation, balance, and awareness. It is important not to strain the body in yoga; the purpose of the practice is to learn how to work with your physiology, not against it. Accept your body’s limitations—gently stretch them, but don’t strain.  Pushing and rushing the practice can lead to injury. This is another reason why many students benefit best from working with an instructor who can help pace them, as opposed to working with a book or yoga DVD at home.

5. Shop around. Not all yoga classes are made equal, and even the most excellent classes will offer different benefits for different people. Take a few introductory classes with different studios to find out which class style best suits your personal needs. You may find one you love, or you may find a couple you enjoy switching between. Working with different instructors, even within the same style of yoga, can help develop different aspects of body awareness, since each yoga teacher has his or her own, unique method of approach.

6. Be safe. If you are pregnant or if you suffer from chronic health problems, it’s best to consult with your doctor before beginning any type of new exercise, including yoga. Also, it’s possible your doctor may know of yoga programs in the area that can help target certain health concerns you may have.

By Malinda Gosvig

According to a recent study published in the April issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise yoga therapy may help improve the health of heart failure patients, as indicated by several measures, including inflammatory markers, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, and overall quality of life.

Conducted by Paula R. Pullen, Ph.D., of Georgia State University in Atlanta, and colleagues, the study looked at 40 different patients (38 African American, 1 Asian, and 1 Caucasian) with systolic or diastolic heart failure. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: one that received 16 regular session of yoga therapy for heart disease patients over the course of eight to ten weeks and a control group that was instructed to follow a home walk program.

At the start of the study, all patients were measured for endurance, flexibility, inflammatory markers (including interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, and extracellular superoxide dismutase), and quality of life according to the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire.

At the end of the study, researchers again measured both groups and discovered significant improvements in the yoga therapy group —not just in one or a few areas, but across the board. The results reveal that yoga therapy can offer benefits to African Americans suffering from heart failure by improving flexibility, cardiovascular endurance, inflammatory markers, and overall quality of life.

For anyone suffering from heart failure or another kind of heart disease, the evidence that yoga offers natural therapy should be welcome news. So often in today’s society, conventional heart failure or heart disease “cures” isolate one specific aspect of our health, ignoring or even exacerbating other concerns. Yoga therapy, however, addresses underlying heart failure and heart disease causes and can bring improvement to all aspects of our health. Yoga therapy can also work alongside conventional treatments to help cure heart disease and heart failure and minimize side effects of medication.

Heart failure is tragically common: nearly 5 million Americans suffer from the serious cardiovascular disorder, and that number is rising. The outlook for patients is bleak: according to the Heart Failure Society of America, less than 50% of patients are living five years after their initial diagnosis, and after ten years, that number is halved again. Furthermore, the disease hits hard among African Americans, especially those who are at an economic disadvantage.

With heart failure rates accelerating alongside other cardiovascular diseases in our society, the need for a medically effective and cost-effective solution is more pressing than ever. Fortunately, in addition to its broad range of heart-related health benefits, yoga offers an inexpensive solution for those who may not be able to afford regular treatments for their condition. Once learned, yoga poses can be practiced at home. Patients who can’t attend a class can also practice with a yoga DVD.