Health Blogs - Health Insight

LIPOPROTEIN a – Lp(a)

June 18, 2024

Inheritance from one’s parents refers to the assets they leave to their offspring after they die. It doesn’t matter whether you inherit a fortune or very little material assets, the one thing you will definitely inherit are the particular genetic characteristics or qualities which your family and ancestors had and which you were born with. In biology, inheritance refers to the transmission of genes from parents to their offspring. While your parent’s wealth may determine your inherited wealth, your parent’s health may also determine your inherited health. Sometimes just a single genetic flaw can have a large effect on your health, such as the way your body deals with fat from your diet. A relatively unknown in the cholesterol family,

ZINC

May 16, 2024

Zinc has been known for its medicinal qualities over the ages, as ancient Greek medical texts mentioned that zinc oxide was used in ointments to heal wounds. Zinc oxide is still today a common over-the-counter skin treatment. Historically, it was reported in 1869 that zinc was essential for the growth of microorganisms, in 1926 zinc was recognized as a growth factor for plants, and in 1958 zinc was shown to be essential for the growth of poultry. It was only in 1963 that human studies established for the first time that dietary zinc is essential for human health. Zinc is one of the trace minerals that forms part of the micronutrients that our bodies need from our food to stay

ONIONS

May 14, 2024

“Life is like an onion. You peel it off one layer at a time. And sometimes you weep.” This piece of wisdom comes from the American poet Carl Sandburg. There is however much more to an onion than having layers and bringing tears to your eyes. Apart from adding abundant flavor to a wide variety of food and being low in calories with no fat or cholesterol, onions contain important nutrients and claimed to provide many health benefits. Characteristics of onions: Onions have been around since ancient times and are not often in the spotlight as a trendy “superfood”, due to its pungent odour and taste, not to mention the after effect of “onion breath”. (Eating parsley helps to get

MICROPLASTICS

April 23, 2024

Plastics have become an inseparable part of human life. Offering many benefits, plastics have over time made our lives so much easier. Contributing to some of the greatest advancements in modern technology, plastics are low cost, durable, and rapidly produced in a wide variety of products and have largely replaced wood, glass, and metal. Being used worldwide, the global annual output of plastic products reached a staggering 400,3 million metric tons in 2022. China has emerged as the leading producer of plastics, accounting for 32% of global plastic materials, with the rest of Asia accounting for an additional 19%. North America accounted for another 17% of global plastic production, about the same as Europe. The booming plastic production has also

FOOD PYRAMID 2023

April 12, 2024

The idea of showing food groups in the form of a pyramid paints a clear picture – eat more of the foods listed at the widest part at the bottom of the pyramid and eat less of the foods listed at the narrow top apex. The food pyramid is a visual guide that represents dietary recommendations. It originated in the USA in 1992 as a helpful guide by the Department of Agriculture to be used by parents, teachers, and dietitians to ensure that the illustrated six food groups result in proper and balanced diets, as viewed at the time. When the original food pyramid was published, the dietary thinking then was low fat and high carbohydrates. Foods such as bread,

FASTING

March 22, 2024

Ancient man’s lifestyle of walking long distances daily in search of food and shelter, typified by opportunistic eating and either fasting or feasting, also meant that they had to go for long periods of time without food when none was readily available. It makes you wonder if the human body was originally designed to have three square meals a day, with snacking on demand. The bodies of our ancestors must have been able to function without food for irregular and extended periods of time. The body fortunately still has biological survival mechanisms that gets activated when deprived of food for extended periods. Modern man practices fasting for health reasons or for cultural or religious beliefs, such as the Ramadan fast

CHOLESTEROL INSIGHTS

March 5, 2024

Cholesterol is a fatty substance that occurs naturally in the body. It is essential for the creation of every cell in the body, as cholesterol is an essential component of cell membranes, where it provides fluidity to allow transporters, such as those for glucose and hormones, to transverse cell membranes. Cholesterol is a precursor for the making of the most important steroid hormones in the body, such as cortisol, oestrogen, testosterone, and many others. Cholesterol is also essential for making bile acids, which help with the digestion of food. Where does cholesterol come from? The cholesterol in our bodies comes from two different sources, it is either made “afresh” in the cells, a process referred to in biological terms as

THE HUMAN VIROME

February 12, 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the devastating effect a virus can have on the world’s population. Other familiar viruses that affect people are the influenza virus, the Ebola virus, and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The human body is no stranger to viruses and there is indeed a viper’s nest of viruses in and on the body! Not only viruses, but there are also other microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and archaea (primitive single-celled organisms) present and in such large numbers that they are viewed as one of the organs of the body. The bacteria and these other microbes make up what is known as the microbiome, which means “small living community”. The viruses in the human body are collectively

ALCOHOL INTAKE AND THE RISK FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

February 12, 2024

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading global cause of death. Controversy has surrounded the role that the consumption of alcohol plays in the risk for cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have indicated that excess alcohol consumption increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, but low alcohol intake is regarded as beneficial to cardiovascular health. What is not clear from these studies is whether these health benefits are due to the low intake of alcohol, or whether these apparent benefits are due to other (healthy) lifestyle factors usually associated with people who drink very little alcohol. An in-depth UK study, published in the journal JAMA Cardiology in 2022, shed new light on the risk of different levels of habitual alcohol intake on cardiovascular disease.

All Our Latest Health Blogs

LIPOPROTEIN a – Lp(a)

ZINC

ONIONS

MICROPLASTICS

FOOD PYRAMID 2023

FASTING

CHOLESTEROL INSIGHTS

THE HUMAN VIROME

ALCOHOL INTAKE AND THE RISK FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

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