This Ingredient Might Make Coconut Oil Obsolete

Photo: Getty Images

There is nothing more exciting than discovering a new and life-changing product. In this case, I use the term new quite loosely as Monoï oil (translated to “scented oil”) has technically been part of Polynesian culture for centuries, and the benefits of the elixir have been passed on from generation to generation. The clear, amber-colored liquid is traditionally employed for natural medicinal remedies, beauty treatments, and even during sacred ceremonies. But it’s new for me just the same.

NARS Monoï Body Glow II ($59, narscosmetics.com)

According to the Monoï Institute, “Monoï de Tahiti is the result obtained from Tiare blossoms soaked in refined coconut oil that is extracted from ripe coconuts grown in the coral-rich soil of French Polynesia.” In fact, only the coconuts from a specific species (cocos nucifera) and the buds of the Gardenia Tahitensis (Tiare blossoms) are used in the preparation of this particular product. Chic, no?

What’s more, is that these age-old claims have been scientifically substantiated in recent research. Tiare blossoms can “cure earaches, certain types of eczema, or simply prevent insect bites.” Which, definitely sounds like a step up from the cancer-causing deet products that we’ve all come to tolerate. It heals dry, itchy, sunburned skin, as well as improves the appearance of stretch marks. More glamorously, though,Monoï de Tahiti oil acts as a sexier version of coconut oil—moisturizing, protecting, and strengthening everything from your skin, to your hair, to your precious mug—all the while adding a sophisticated look to your vanity. (Which, of course, your Insta followers are bound to appreciate). The lightweight oil begets glowing, hydrated, and naturally fragrant skin, without a drop of synthetic ingredients.

I spoke to Rachel Nazarian of Schweiger Dermatology Group to get a dermatologist’s perspective. Of course I love the product, but is it really capable of doing all the magical things it promises? Nazarian explained, “Monoï oil is essentially a fragrant, perfume-infused coconut oil. We all know the benefits of coconut oil: It’s naturally antifungal and antibacterial—and its a wonderful natural moisturizer.” She added, “The addition of flower extracts to the coconut oil certainly make it smell more luxurious, but I’d advise caution to any of my sensitive skin patients. Patients with conditions like atopic dermatitis or eczema are at risk for irritation. Remember, skin is a delicate organ! The best bet for those with sensitive skin is to limit their use to hair, using Manoi Oil as a intense conditioner. Scalp skin is more resilient than skin on the body, and is less likely to have an adverse reaction. The oil can really penetrate and smooth the hair shaft, and the added perfume is a bonus.”

Monoi Tiare Tahiti Scented Coconut Oil ($7.29, vitacost.com)

So, those with sensitive skin beware. Perhaps try the oil out on just a small patch of skin to make sure your skin doesn’t become irritated. But, because I’ve tried the product and haven’t noticed any adverse affects, I’m hooked. Now that summer has come and gone and the beach is a distant memory, it’s time to invest in what I’m deeming the VIP of vacation. What’s better than de-frizzed curls, soothed skin, and the faint, but ever-present scent of flowers? I’ll tell you: Nothing.

This article originally appeared on MIMIchatter.com.

More from MIMI:

I Used Activated Charcoal All Over My Face and Body to Change the Way I Look

I Stuck 260 Tiny Needles Into My Face for the Sake of Beauty

How to Have a Workweek Hookup Like an Adult

This Changed My Life: The Workout For People Who Hate Working Out

I Tried Kim Kardashian’s Hair Routine for a Week

MIMI Chatter is an endless stream of beauty content. We bring together the must-knows and the how-tos from your favorite sites, beauty influencers, our editors, and YOU.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1jCRB3D

Study Says Radiation Often Overused in Late-Stage Lung Cancer

FRIDAY, Oct. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Late-stage lung cancer patients in the United States often receive more radiation therapy than recommended, a new study finds.

While radiation therapy can reduce pain and improve quality of life, unnecessary treatments increase costs and hospital visits, and can lead to radiation toxicity and difficulty swallowing, the researchers noted.

“This study uncovered that there’s a lot of treatment of late-stage lung cancer with palliative radiation that goes beyond what is recommended by several national guidelines and multiple clinical trials,” said study author Dr. Matthew Koshy, a radiation oncologist at the University of Illinois Hospital.

The researchers analyzed data from 47,000 advanced-lung cancer patients who received palliative radiation therapy — intended to ease their symptoms but not cure them — between 2004 and 2012. One in five also received chemotherapy at the same time, even though guidelines recommend against such dual treatment, the researchers said.

The researchers also found that nearly one-third of the patients received more than 25 radiation treatments, which is 10 more than the recommended maximum number.

Privately insured patients were 40 percent more likely than other patients to receive more than the recommended 15 radiation treatments. Overtreatment with radiation was also higher among patients treated in community cancer centers, which are clinics with no links to academic institutions, the study found.

“More education is needed for radiation oncologists, to prevent overtreatment — which has not been proven to further improve symptoms or quality of life, and can have some significant side effects,” Koshy said in a university news release.

The findings were published online Sept. 30 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about radiation therapy.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1LnOTLN

For Teens, Late Bedtime May Lead to Weight Gain

FRIDAY, Oct. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Teens may have a new reason to take their parents’ advice and go to bed early. Staying up late on weeknights may increase a teen’s risk of becoming overweight over time, a new study says.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 3,300 American teens and found that each extra hour of late bedtime was associated with a more than two-point increase in body mass index (BMI). BMI is an estimate of body fat based on weight and height.

The link between late bedtimes and BMI increase was not significantly affected by total sleep time, amount of exercise, or time spent in front of computers or televisions, the investigators found.

“The results are important because they highlight adolescent bedtimes, not just total sleep time, as a potential target for weight management concurrently and in the transition to adulthood,” first author Lauren Asarnow, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

The study, published in the October issue of the journal Sleep, doesn’t prove that night owls are destined to be overweight, however. The findings only show an association between bedtime and weight, not a cause-and-effect relationship.

Teens need a little more than nine hours of sleep a night, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

More information

The National Sleep Foundation has more about teens and sleep.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1Go2L1a

Do You Blame a Higher Power When You Get Sick?

THURSDAY, Oct. 1 2015 (HealthDay News) — Feeling abandoned or persecuted by a higher power could be bad for your health, new research suggests.

Counseling people to overcome such negative spiritual beliefs could help decrease pain in some and improve their overall health, according to the study authors.

“In general, the more religious or spiritual you are, the healthier you are, which makes sense,” author Brick Johnstone, a neuropsychologist and professor of health psychology at the University of Missouri, said in a university news release.

“But for some individuals, even if they have even the smallest degree of negative spirituality — basically, when individuals believe they’re ill because they’ve done something wrong and God is punishing them — their health is worse,” he added.

The study included nearly 200 people who had health problems such as cancer, chronic pain or traumatic brain injury, and others who were healthy. Those who felt abandoned or punished by a higher power had more pain and worse physical and mental health than those with positive spirituality, the investigators found.

The study was published recently in the Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health.

“Previous research has shown that about 10 percent of people have negative spiritual beliefs; for example, believing that if they don’t do something right, God won’t love them,” Johnstone said.

“That’s a negative aspect of religion when people believe, ‘God is not supportive of me. What kind of hope do I have?’ However, when people firmly believe God loves and forgives them despite their shortcomings, they had significantly better mental health,” he concluded.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about spirituality and health.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1RiY6nB

‘Tennis Elbow’ Usually Heals Without Therapy, Study Finds

By Emily Willingham
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Oct. 1, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Most people with tennis elbow recover without physical therapy and steroid injections, according to a study by researchers in Norway.

“I’m not surprised because that’s really been the classic teaching,” said Dr. Joshua Dines, an orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. “The number that’s often cited is that 90 percent of tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, will get better by the end of the year no matter what you do.”

Study first author Dr. Morten Olaussen, a specialist in family medicine at the University of Oslo, agreed that the finding was expected. But, he added, “it is interesting to note that after one year, as much as one-third of the patients still reported considerable discomfort.”

What was surprising, said Olaussen, was that physical therapy was not effective. “It has been shown to be effective in earlier research but then on more chronic conditions,” he said.

In their study, published recently in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, Olaussen and his colleagues looked at outcomes for 177 Norwegian patients with a recent onset of tennis elbow pain.

Symptoms of tennis elbow include a weak grip and pain from damage to tendons in the forearm. Often, this happens from repetitive use, such as with tennis, golf or carpentry.

The patients in this study had experienced their symptoms for up to three months. Each was randomly assigned to one of three groups: either no treatment except for drugs such as naproxen (Aleve); physical therapy for 12 sessions along with two corticosteroid injections to reduce inflammation; or 12 sessions of physical therapy and two placebo injections.

Patients underwent the therapies for six weeks, and they were tracked for one year. At the end of that time, 157 people had completed the study.

Overall, improvement with physical therapy plus placebo injection or steroid injection was about the same as with no treatment at all. For three-fourths of the patients, the elbow pain had disappeared at one year, regardless of which group they were in.

But at least one-quarter still had symptoms at one year.

Olausson and his colleagues found that at the six-week point, physical therapy combined with steroid injections was helpful compared to placebo injections with physical therapy. But for most outcomes, physical therapy with steroid injections was linked to worsening at 12 weeks and 26 weeks after initial reports of improvement.

The study authors wrote that the steroid might have reduced pain temporarily but delayed tendon repair. So patients felt better around the time of injections but then felt worse several months later.

Dines, who is also an assistant physician for the New York Mets baseball team, said research indicates that “if you get through about six months and haven’t gotten better with some sort of conservative treatment, that’s the group that’s going to go on to need surgery.”

Some people will still wait a year, he said, because they keep trying one of the “million different” nonsurgical treatment options for tennis elbow. According to Dines, these treatments can include Botox injections, massage, physical therapy and shock wave treatment.

If persistent pain brings a patient in for consultation, Dines said that the first thing a physician can do is “give some structure with regards to returning to their activity.”

After waiting until they feel no pain with most activities, for example, a patient could try tennis again for five minutes, take a break, and do another five minutes, he suggested. “Then shut it down and take a day off, build up slowly, and as long as they can continue to improve without pain, then we consider it a successful treatment.”

If that approach is unsuccessful, then surgery is the next step, he said.

Unfortunately, said Dines, no one can look at a patient’s elbow problem and tell right away if surgery will be the final outcome. “If I could answer that, I’d be able to retire,” he said, “because being able to predict who’s going to get better and who’s not would allow me to save some people a year of their lives.”

More information

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has more about tennis elbow.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1RiY3YI

Height May Be Linked to Increased Cancer Risk, Study Contends

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Oct. 1, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A study of more than 5 million Swedish men and women suggests that the taller you are, the greater your risk of cancer.

For every 4 additional inches of adult height, the study found that cancer risk was linked to an 18 percent increased cancer risk in women and 11 percent in men. Taller women had a 20 percent greater risk of developing breast cancer, the study reported. And for both men and women, the risk of developing melanoma increased by about 30 percent for every 4 inches of height, the researchers said.

“This study confirms what other studies have shown,” said the American Cancer Society’s Susan Gapstur, who was not involved in the study. She added that previous research has also found a link between height and colon cancer.

But Gapstur, who is vice president of epidemiology at the society, cautioned that these findings only show an association between height and cancer risk. They do not prove that being tall causes cancer.

She stressed that height alone is not destiny. “Being tall doesn’t mean that you will develop cancer,” she said.

So how might height and cancer risk be related?

Gapstur said that height may be a sign of cancer risk. “Height may be a reflection of early age exposures. This study may provide a window to understand some early life exposures, since adult height is a reflection of genetics and what you are exposed to while you are growing up,” she said.

The results of the study were scheduled to be presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology in Barcelona, Spain. Findings presented at meetings are typically viewed as preliminary until they’ve been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

For the study, researchers reviewed information on 5.5 million people born in Sweden between 1938 and 1991. Their health was tracked beginning in 1958, or from when they were 20 (for those born in later years), until the end of 2011. Adult heights ranged from about 3 feet 3 inches to slightly more than 7 feet, the research revealed.

Lead researcher Dr. Emelie Benyi is from the Karolinska Institute in Solna, Sweden. In a news release from the endocrinology society, she said, “To our knowledge, this is the largest study performed on linkage between height and cancer including both women and men.”

Benyi stressed that these findings do not mean that every tall man or women will develop cancer. “As the cause of cancer is multifactorial, it is difficult to predict what impact our results have on cancer risk at the individual level,” she said.

The researchers are planning another study to see if height affects the risk of dying from cancer. “Our studies show that taller individuals are more likely to develop cancer, but it is unclear so far if they also have a higher risk of dying from cancer or have an increased mortality overall,” Benyi said.

More information

For more on cancer and height, visit the Canadian Cancer Society.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1RiY6nv

The Easy, At-Home Oily Skin Mask That Mindy Kaling Swears By

 

Mindy Kaling, author, actress, and style icon, just revealed one of her best beauty secrets. Not the least bit self-conscious, she posted a picture of herself covered in the grey goopy mask to Instagram.

“Sometimes I put glop on my face for beauty reasons. This one was cheapo and fun to mix and really worked. I don’t get paid by them or anything!” she wrote in the caption to her 1.8 million followers.

The products pictured: apple cider vinegar, a jar of Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay, and a hot pink mixing bowl.  It was her “mega oily skin” and the advice of her trusty hair and makeup team that led her to this DIY concoction in the first place, she added.

RELATED: 8 Best Overnight Beauty Products to Wake Up Gorgeous

The “secret” ingredient in the mask is 100% bentonite clay, and in fact, it is great for deep cleaning pores and controlling sebum production. When mixed with Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV), the clay liquifies and develops into a creamy consistency, ideal for applying as a face mask. You can use water with the clay powder, but ACV is recommended for its anti-bacterial qualities that have the added benefit of helping to prevent acne breakouts.

Try Mindy’s Mask

You’ll need:

3 Tsp. Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay ($8, amazon.com)
2 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vineger ($6, amazon.com)
Non-metal bowl (Because of the negative charge in the bentonite clay, which is what pulls out dirt and oil, using a metal spoon or bowl can put a positive charge on it, making it ineffective.)

Mix the two ingredients together and apply allover your face, paying close attention to your problem areas. Leave it on for 15 to 20 minutes before rinsing. As the clay hardens, you will feel a slight tightening feeling, that’s good! That means that the impurities are being drawn out of your pores and you’ll be left with softer skin and a brighter complexion.

If you have combination skin, it’s best to apply the mask only to your greasy areas, typically the t-zone, so that you’re not stripping your skin. If oily skin is not a problem, or if your skin is more sensitive, you should stick to a less intense mask—this one may leave your skin too dry.

RELATED: 17 Best Beauty Products for Your Face

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1Vr5frQ

Yes, You Really Do Have a ‘Type,’ Science Says

Photo: Getty Images

Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder? A new study says yes, discovering that 50% of people’s preferences for faces is unique to them, and who we find attractive is most strongly influenced by our life experiences.

“If you were to rate faces [for attractiveness] and I were to rate the same faces, we would agree about 50% of the time,” says study author Jeremy Wilmer, an assistant professor of psychology at Wellesley College whose new research was published Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

The two-part study first had around 35,000 people rate faces for attractiveness on the website Testmybrain.org. Prior research has suggested that people generally agree that symmetrical faces are better-looking. That, and other factors, may account for the 50% consensus on beauty.

As for the other 50% of faces? That’s where the science really gets interesting.

In the second part of the study, the researchers studied the facial preferences of 547 pairs of identical twins and 214 pairs of fraternal twins. The hope was that by studying people who are genetically the same (or at least very similar) and who grew up and in the same environment, they would gain some insight into the nature or nurture effects of where the “eye of the beholder” variation in attractiveness perception comes from.

If something is really influenced by genes you would expect identical twins to be more similar to each other than the fraternal twins, Wilmer says. On the other hand, if family environment is highly influential, the researchers would expect fraternal twins to be quite similar to each other in preferences. But that’s not what they found.

“In our case, we found that even though identical twins share all of their genes and their family environment they were really, really different from each other in their facial aesthetic preferences,” says Wilmer.

It’s likely personal experiences inform who we find attractive, and because they are so personal, we can greatly differ from someone who—on paper—is quite similar to us, the research suggests.

So what types of experiences influence who we find attractive? The researchers didn’t study this in their paper, but study author Laura Germine of Massachusetts General Hospital says that based on previous literature on this subject, they have some theories.

“[Prior research] has found things like, if you take a face and you pair it with positive information, that face then looks more attractive, and faces that are similar to it also look more attractive and vice versa,” she says. “So you can imagine as you go through life and you form relationships and have friends and people you have a more positive relationship with, you may come to find their face characteristics more attractive, and then other people who look similar to them are then more attractive to you.”

“Exposure to certain faces makes them seem more attractive,” she adds. That means a face that is very different from a face that you have never seen before tends to be judged as less attractive. It also means the kinds of faces you are exposed to in your work environment, in your relationships or even the face of your spouse could shift the kind of faces that you find attractive, she says.

Basically, who you find attractive may be less about where you grew up and where you went to school and more influenced by experiences that are very unique to you. More research is still needed, but the study suggests beauty really may be in the eye of the beholder.

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1Vr1qCJ

Do Taller Patients Fare Worse on Dialysis?

THURSDAY, Oct. 1, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Tallness may be linked with an increased risk for premature death in kidney failure patients on dialysis, a new study suggests.

While the researchers only found an association and not a cause-and-effect link, tall people on dialysis appeared to have higher rates of premature death than people in the general population. The risk was higher in men than in women, and among patients with shorter dialysis treatment times, the researchers said.

The researchers analyzed data from just over 1 million Americans who began dialysis between 1995 and 2008 and were followed for up to five years.

Being tall was associated with increased risk of premature death among dialysis patients who were American Indian/Alaska natives, Asians and whites, but this was not the case among black patients in the study. Tall black dialysis patients’ risk of premature death was the same as in the general population.

The higher risk of premature death among tall dialysis patients was not explained by the presence of other illnesses, differences in care or by socioeconomic status, the researchers said.

The findings, published online Oct. 1 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, could prove valuable for kidney specialists, the researchers contended.

“Dialysis patients have extremely high premature death rates that are between 10- and 100-fold higher than in the general population, and height exerts an important quantifiable effect on dialysis patient survival,” said study author Dr. Austin Stack in a journal news release.

“It is an easily measured physical trait and our study shows that it is an important prognostic marker for survival,” said Stack, who is foundation chair of medicine at the Graduate Entry Medical School at the University of Limerick, Ireland, and a consultant nephrologist at University Hospital Limerick.

Dr. John Daugirdas, a nephrologist and clinical professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, wrote in an accompanying editorial that the findings are intriguing but “at this point, it is not at all clear what the physiology of increased mortality risk associated with taller stature might be, nor how this new knowledge might affect clinical practice.”

More information

The National Kidney Foundation has more about dialysis.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1M4PFHR

Depression Adds to Burden of Alzheimer’s Caregivers, Study Finds

THURSDAY, Oct. 1, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Depression increases the mental strain on people caring for loved ones recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, a new study finds.

The study included spouses and other family caregivers of 236 people in Finland who were diagnosed with very mild or mild Alzheimer’s disease. The caregivers were followed for three years after their loved ones were diagnosed.

The highest levels of mental stress occurred in caregivers who had depression when their loved one was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the investigators found.

“The occurrence of even mild depressive symptoms predicted a psychological load on the family caregiver irrespective of, for example, the progression of the disease,” study author Tarja Valimaki said in a University of Eastern Finland news release. Valimaki is a clinical researcher in the university’s department of nursing science.

The researchers also found that spouses had higher levels of mental stress at the start of the study than other family caregivers, and that spouses’ stress increased during the three years of follow-up.

The study was published online recently in the Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology.

The findings suggest that the health of family caregivers requires attention when a loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the researchers said.

“A depression inquiry carried out by, for example, a . . . nurse would make it possible to recognize family caregivers who need enhanced support,” the study authors wrote.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about Alzheimer’s caregivers.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1N5Lodc