What Your Blood Type Reveals About Your Health

If you’re wondering whether you’re at a higher-than-average risk for heart disease, your answer may very well be a pinprick away. A new Harvard study published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology shows that your blood type can actually predict your risk for heart disease. Additional current research shows that certain blood types are associated with other dangerous disorders as well. Which blood type puts people at highest risk for heart disease? The study investigated whether certain blood types were associated with the risk of coronary heart disease, by looking at information from two large observational studies, the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. These two studies followed a combined 89,501 American men and women over a 24 to 26 year period. Participants with the blood type AB had the highest risk of coronary heart disease, the Harvard researchers found. In fact, people with AB blood type were 23 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease. People who were blood type B had a 15 percent increased risk, and those with blood type A had a 6 percent increased risk compared to the O blood group. Why would blood type affect the risk of coronary heart disease? The studies did not explain the exact link between blood type and heart disease. “Blood type is very complicated, so there could be multiple mechanisms at play,” study author Lu Qi said in a news release. However, blood type A has been linked to elevated levels of cholesterol, as well as high levels of LDL, or “bad” cholesterol. People with blood type O have been found to bleed more, which makes them less likely to have blood clots. Since clots which block blood flow through coronary arteries lead to heart attacks, this theory may very well explain the low risk for cardiovascular issues among people with blood type O. What’s the link between blood type and other diseases? There have been earlier studies showing links between blood type and risks of infections or diseases. Here are some examples. •Both men and women with blood type AB, and women with blood type B, are more likely to suffer from strokes than people with O blood type. •The gut pathogen Rotavirus, which causes diarrhea and vomiting, has certain strains which are more likely to infect people with blood type A. (Infants can get vaccinated against rotavirus, and frequent handwashing is a good preventative measure for older children and adults.) •People with type B blood have a 72 percent increased risk of pancreatic cancer, and the risk is also elevated for AB blood types (51 percent) and those with blood type A (32 percent) compared to people with blood type O, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. •It’s not all bad news for A and AB blood types, at least not for women seeking fertility treatments—research shows they have more eggs in their ovaries than women with type O blood, who are more likely to have difficulty with fertility treatments. •Certain types of cancers seem to be more prevalent in specific blood types, according to information compiled from 2640 male and female cancer patients in India. •People with type A blood appeared to have higher incidences of breast cancer and lung cancer, blood types B and O were more likely to suffer from gastrointestinal cancer, and people with type B and A blood had higher incidents of oral cancer. In general, those with blood type A seemed to have an increases probability of getting cancer, and those with blood type O had a significantly lower risk. Reducing Heart Attack Risk Taking steps to improve your cardiovascular health can save your life, no matter what your blood type is. Avoiding tobacco use, maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising for a half hour or more five days a week will reduce your risk of coronary heart disease. Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, including fish twice a week, and limiting sodium, alcohol and sugary drinks is also recommended.

Drunk people cameras??? Where is the liberty?

A picture of your face could reveal that you're drunk. But it won't be the droopy eyes and drool that give you away. A new study reports that a thermal camera could detect drunkenness in the temperature of the face. Researchers at the University of Patras in Greece had 20 healthy participants down an 11-ounce (330-milliliter) glass of beer every 20 minutes. In total, they had four drinks, and after each, the researchers took a sequence of infrared pictures of their faces. Twenty minutes after the last beer, another series of pictures was taken. The researchers showed that two different approaches could be used to spot a drunk. In the first method, an algorithm was used to compare the photos to a database of facial pictures of drunk and sober people. The model could pick out inebriated participants based on certain hotspots on the face that are signatures of drunkenness. The researchers said similar technology has been used to determine whether a person was infected with a virus, such as SARS. In the second approach, another algorithm analyzed the temperature differences on certain points in an individual's face. For drunk people, the nose and mouth regions are generally hotter compared with the forehead. The researchers, led by Georgia Koukiou and Vassilis Anastassopoulos, said such technology could be used to scan people before they buy more alcohol or enter airports and other public spaces. Their work was published in the latest edition of the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics.

McDonald to go vegetarian ?????

US fast food giant McDonald's, famed for its beef-based Big Mac burgers, on Tuesday said it will open its first ever vegetarian-only restaurant in the world in India next year. The world's second-biggest restaurant chain after Subway already tailors its menus to suit local tastes -- which in India means no beef to avoid offending Hindus and no pork to cater for Muslim requirements. It will open its first vegetarian outlet in the middle of next year near the Golden Temple in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in northern India, where religious authorities forbid consumption of meat at the shrine. "It will be the first time we have opened a vegetarian restaurant in the world," a spokesman for McDonald's in northern India, Rajesh Kumar Maini, told AFP. After the opening in Amritsar, the US chain plans to launch another vegetarian outlet at Katra near the Vaishno Devi cave shrine in Indian Kashmir -- a revered Hindu pilgrimage site that draws hundreds of thousands of worshippers a year. It sees the potential for many more vegetarian restaurants across the country. McDonald's in India already has a menu that is 50 percent vegetarian. Its McAloo Tikki burger at 28 rupees or 50 cents -- which uses a spicy fried potato-based patty -- is the top seller, accounting for a quarter of total sales. Among the chicken-only meat offerings, the Maharaja Mac is also a favourite. Currently India, with its population of 1.2 billion, is still a "very small market for McDonald's", said Maini. "We have just 271 restaurants in India and across the world we have nearly 33,000," Maini said. The chain serves half a million customers a day in India, out of 50 million people it serves daily in over 100 countries. "When you look at the potential of the country, it's one of the top priority countries and we're laying the groundwork for capturing the market," said Maini. "We plan to nearly double the number of outlets to 500 plus within the next three years," he said. McDonald's realised soon after it entered the country that it had to rework its international menu to Indian tastes. "The reasons were very compelling -- cow slaughter is not allowed because of religious reasons and we couldn't do pork either," Maini explained. Hindus, who account for 80 percent of India's population, regard cows as sacred. For Muslims, the consumption of pork is prohibited in the Koran. "It was the whole idea of going local and creating flavours that would create acceptance for us," Maini said. "We had to look at the whole market innovatively and we realised only chicken-based and vegetarian food would work." McDonald's is not alone in "Indianising" its offerings. Domino's Pizza, another leading fast food chain in India, has created pizzas with extra spicy toppings. But growing consumption of food high in fat is spurring concern that India is importing the Western disease of obesity, creating a ticking public health timebomb.

Lots of things to cover soon

There is a lot to cover soon. I have been busy on my other site http://freestocksadvice.blogspot.com/