Giving For Health

Friday, December 2, 2011

Cancer Drives Families Into Debt- A Charity Report

According to a charity report parents of children with cancer borrow money to make ends meet driving them into debt.

A survey carried out by the Children's Cancer Charity found that the illness has a major impact on finances and loss of earnings.

The survey involved 245 families; 76% reported that it had a major impact on their finances and 2 in 3 parents reported a loss in earnings.

Parents also reported a substantial amount of money spent on cancer related expenses each month.


Read more on this report.

This report is about children with cancer, but adults with cancer are affected financially too. Loss of income as a result of disability is common.

When we give gifts for health we are also contributing to the financial needs that often accompany ill health.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Depression-Suicide Linked To Sexting


In a cross- sectional study involving 23,000 students researchers found a linked between sexting and psychological distress.

When compared with teens who didn't sext, twice as many teens who reported sexting had depressive symptoms.

In the study 'sexting' was defined as sending or posting sexually suggestive or explicit nude photos or videos.

Read more on this study and about the cautions given by experts.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Estrogen Use Linked To Urinary Incontinence

According to a recent study women who use estrogen for 5 or more years have increased risk of developing urinary incontinence.

The study involved post-menopausal women who had not reported urinary incontinence. The women were from an ethnically diverse community in Baltimore, USA and were followed for 10 years.

46 reported using hormone therapy containing estrogen and 14 reported using hormone therapy containing estrogen for more than 5 years.

In 2004 28.1% of the women reported new incidences of urinary incontinence and 18.6% reported incontinence with functional loss.

Researchers say that those who reported use of estrogen for more than 5 years were linked to incontinence with condition-specific functional loss.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Risk Of Depresssion Reduced With Caffeine

Researchers found that women who drink more than 2 cups of coffee per day had a lower risk for depression.

The study was a 10 year longitudinal study involving 50,739 women, a mean age of 63 years.

Researchers recorded the number of women who developed clinical depression and compared it with:


  1. Coffee ( 80% cafeine

  2. Tea (12% caffeine)

  3. Soft drinks of 5% caffeine
1-They found that those drank 2-3 cups of coffee per day had a 15% lower risk for depression.
2- Those who drank 4 cups or more had a 20% lower risk.

The results of the study support coffee as a protection against depression.

Read more info on this study.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Vitamin-A Pills Can Save The lives Of 1000's Children

One hundred and ninety million children under the age of 5 may have vitamin-A deficiency, this is according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Researchers believe by giving children vitamin-A pills 600.000 lives could be saved each year.

In the study involving 200,000 children, researchers found that deaths were reduced by 24 % if the children were given vitamin-A supplements.

The body needs vitamin-A for its immune system, the vitamin can prevent diseases such as diarrhoea and measels.

Vitamin-A is found in foods such as cheese, eggs, liver and fish.

Read about this report from the BBC news.
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