Daily servings of pomegrnates may enhance your health

8 Ounces a Day of POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice may slow progression of Carotid Intima-Media Thickness

8 Ounces a Day of POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice may slow progression of Carotid Intima-Media Thickness (CIMT) in patients with elevated cardiovascular disease risk factors, study finds.According to a clinical study released in The American Journal of Cardiology, a daily serving of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice may decrease the progression of arterial plaque in patients with elevated cardiovascular disease risk factors.

The study was intended to see if POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice may slow the progression of intima-media thickness of the carotid artery (CIMT) in patients with moderate coronary heart disease risk. At 18 months, there was no reduction in the progression of CIMT in the group as a whole. However, further analysis revealed an indication that the rate of CIMT progression slowed in nearly one third of patients, those with elevated cardiovascular disease risk factors.

This study was funded by POM Wonderful.

Conducted at Radiant Research in Chicago, IL, and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX, this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial involved 289 subjects at varying degrees of moderate heart disease risk who consumed 8 ounces per day of either POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice or a placebo beverage. The trial's endpoint was the increase in CIMT, a measurement which includes both the artery wall itself as well as accumulated plaque. CIMT measurements were recorded at both 12 and 18 months after the treatment began.

The composite measurement of CIMT showed a significantly smaller value at 12 months in the pomegranate juice group compared to the control group (0.79 vs 0.81 mm, p = 0.022), although this difference was no longer significant at the end of the treatment period (0.79 vs 0.80 mm, p = 0.168). The results from post hoc exploratory analyses, which should be interpreted with caution, suggest that rate of CIMT progression may have been slowed in high-risk subgroups. Specifically, the authors found statistically lower CIMT values within several subgroups of patients with elevated cardiovascular risk factors, including high total triglycerides as well as low HDL cholesterol as compared to total cholesterol and triglycerides.

"This study was initiated based on the compelling results from pre-clinical studies and an initial clinical trial," said lead researcher Michael H. Davidson, MD. "We are excited with the outcome of this larger study because while we did not see a reduction in the group as a whole, there is an indication that the rate of CIMT progression slowed in subgroups of patients characterized by more rapid CIMT progression."In conclusion, the authors call for these preliminary findings to be investigated in future studies, because "consumption of pomegranate juice is very safe; thus demonstration of a benefit on atherosclerotic disease progression, even in a subset of the population, would have important public health implications."The publication of this study is the most recent in series of studies evaluating the potential benefits of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice on human health. In 1998 POM Wonderful initiated a world class medical research program to investigate the Wonderful variety pomegranate.

To date, POM Wonderful has funded $32 million in research, which has involved a number of top scientists from leading universities around the world, including a Nobel Laureate. So far, 48 total studies have been published in peer-review journals. Primary research areas have included the prostate and cardiovascular, among others.Source Cited:M. Davidson et al., Effects of Consumption of Pomegranate Juice on Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Men and Women at Moderate Risk for Coronary Heart Disease, American Journal of Cardiology (2009)

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Pomegranates for anti aging and younger looking skin

It seems as if there's more evidence every day regarding the health benefits of the pomegranate fruit. This ancient fruit has been found to have a variety of beneficial health effects secondary to its high level of antioxidants which can help to prevent cell damage. The many health benefits of the amazing pomegranate fruit include a role in preventing heart disease and slowing down the growth of prostate cancer. Now you can add positive effects on skin aging to the list of pomegranate's amazing properties.

What are pomegranate's skin benefits purported to be? Several recent studies have shown pomegranate's ability to improve wound healing, resulting in faster repair of skin cuts and scrapes. It also appears to play a positive role in the repair of skin damaged due to sun exposure and aging. Extracts of pomegranate are thought to exert their positive effects on skin aging by extending the life of fibroblasts, the cells responsible for producing collagen and elastin. Collagen and elastin are the components that give strength and support to the skin. When collagen and elastin fibers break down, the skin develops laxity, resulting in the appearance of wrinkles and jowls. Fortunately, pomegranate's skin benefits may help to retard this process.

One recent study showed that pomegranate seed oil stimulated the production of collagen, resulting in a mild thickening of the epidermis and dermis of the skin. It also appeared to prevent the breakdown of collagen fibers which are the harbingers of skin aging. This suggests that pomegranate oil may boost the ability of skin to repair itself by regenerating the supporting collagen structure of the skin.

Other studies have shown that pomegranate seed extract applied to the skin may reduce the formation of some forms of skin cancer, suggesting that its antioxidant capabilities may be responsible for some of pomegranate's skin benefits.

Although you can buy creams that have pomegranate extract in them, they tend to be rather expensive. A cheaper alternative would be to use a blender to make a thick paste from the seeds of the pomegranate which could be applied to the face. This would allow you to get pomegranate's skin benefits at a high concentration without purchasing an overpriced cream that probably has very small levels of the active ingredient. You can also use a cotton ball to apply pomegranate juice to your face after cleansing. Pomegranate juice and the whole fruit can be purchased at many organic and natural food markets.

Could pomegranate be a panacea for aging? Further studies will be needed to know how much of a role this fruit will play in maintaining younger looking skin, but preliminary studies look compelling.

POMEGA5 sells omega 5 based products which could be helpful for anti aging and younger looking skin

Nutrition facts and the omega 5 oil benefit of pomega5

Pomegranates and antioxidants

DOES IT WORK?

Pomegranate - and its juice - are a most useful source of antioxidants in a proper, varied diet

POMEGRANATE JUICE has received much attention in the past couple of years, although the fruit remains relatively unfamiliar in much of the west. The fruit grows on a small tree, Punica granatum , that is native to Iran, Afghanistan, the Himalayas and parts of the Mediterranean.
Grenadine was originally made from the fruit, giving it its blood-red colour, though other fruits and flavourings are now used.

The name pomegranate comes from the Latin term for seeded apple. The fruit looks like an apple with a crown where the flower once blossomed. When opened, hundreds of shiny ruby-shaped seeds spill forth in the midst of an intense red juice.

For this reason, pomegranates have long been seen as a symbol of human fertility. Currently, interest is focused on the potential benefits of pomegranate juice in preventing heart disease and cancer.

Evidence from studies

Pomegranate juice contains several compounds belonging to the class called polyphenols. These are important antioxidants. Oxidation is a chemical reaction by which the body breaks down food to release energy.

But if too much oxidation occurs, cells and tissues can be damaged. The body uses a variety of antioxidants to keep things in balance, including a range of antioxidants from the diet. People who don't eat enough fruits and vegetables often get insufficient dietary antioxidants.

A large amount of evidence has shown that people with lower amounts of antioxidants in their diets are at higher risk of heart disease and some cancers. This finding has been part of the reason why much emphasis is being placed on increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables that people eat.

Analyses of pomegranate juice have found that it has a higher antioxidant potency than any other commonly recommended antioxidant drinks. A study released earlier this year found that the order of potency was pomegranate juice, red wine, grape juice, blueberry juice and black cherry juice. Green tea, another commonly recommended antioxidant, was ninth on the list, with black tea tenth.

Different tests are used to calculate this potency, with some of them finding pomegranate juice more than twice as powerful as the second-ranked red wine.

Such findings have triggered a lot of research into whether the antioxidants lead to better health in those drinking pomegranate juice. A small number of studies have shown that people drinking pomegranate juice daily have reduced oxidative levels in their blood.

This is a good sign that their risk of developing some types of heart disease may be reduced. A very small study (with only 19 patients) found that after three months those drinking the juice daily had less narrowing of their arteries compared to those consuming a placebo drink. A few other studies have shown beneficial effects on blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Interest has also developed into whether pomegranate juice might lower cancer risk, with some early positive findings with prostate cancer. Research is at the earliest stages, but such benefits would be in keeping with pomegranate's high level of antioxidants.

Problematic aspects

Studies have not revealed any problems with the juice, although very few people have been involved in studies so far. Allergies to the juice and seeds have been recorded. Concerns have also been expressed about anyone with liver problems consuming large quantities of the juice.
Some studies found benefits when people drank 50ml of juice daily, while others recommended drinking 240ml per day. Anyone being treated for any heart condition should talk to his or her doctor before starting to take pomegranate juice regularly.

Recommendations

The importance of having sufficient antioxidants in one's diet is well established. Pomegranate juice is an excellent source of antioxidants. Being new to the dietary supplement scene, little clinical research has been conducted on the juice. As part of a diet that includes a variety of plants and vegetables, pomegranate juice appears to be a healthy option.

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omega 5 oil products

Finding beauty with Pomega5 ultra natural skin care

When people talk about where they find beauty and what is beautiful to them, they reveal whom they love and how they love, and what they love to do.

Listening as people recollect and offer their own beauty stories, I am in awe of the ways that beauty moves in our lives. Everyone who has a family, or loves an animal or a place or a piece of music, has a beauty story to tell. A man reflects on the challenge of keeping Eros alive in a long marriage, a woman speaks of what it was like to grow up with a mother who was a model, another comments on learning how to appreciate her own beauty when compared to a classically gorgeous sister.

As we speak about our personal relationship to beauty and what is beautiful to us, we reveal our longings to be seen, our need for acceptance, the powerful influence of mothers and fathers, grandparents, older siblings, first loves and favorite cousins, our keen ability to remember what embarrassed, confused, and delighted us, our yearnings to stand out and to fit in, our desire to be loved. In our own stories we mark the distinction between looking beautiful and feeling beautiful — the part of us trapped by our culture and the part of us that knows our own value.

A nurse declares that her beauty secret is that the husband who adores her is nearsighted, so when she is close enough for him to see her, is seeing her with the eyes of love. A newspaper story describes how a young interracial blind couple got together when she became attracted to voice, reminding us that prejudice is born in dismissing people because look different, because we see them as exotic and frightening.

“Love is blind,” we say, but perhaps it is more accurate to say love sees with different eyes. Love sees beyond the surface. Love opens the door for beauty. When we see with the eye, we develop the ability to refine, to judge, to discriminate. When we see with the heart, we expand the view of what it is to be human, see the common dream, see the wisdom of friends and neighbours, and see there is no separation between that which is most beautiful and the everyday world. The eye of the heart sees with a wholeness that allows imperfections and idiosyncrasies to coexist with beauty. The eye of the heart knows surface and depth are not opposites. Beauty is a process, a revelation, not a finished state.

Beauty reveals itself over time in relationship. The people I love are beautiful to me. I’m not sure if my eyes are blinded by love or it is love that lets me see their beauty. Knowing them over time, my appreciation of who they are and how they appear increases. Their beauty comes from their liveliness and authentic sweetness, their intention to live lives that make some sense (and some nonsense), the spirited coherence of being who they are.

A teacher recalls sitting in on another teacher’s class and thinking, “Isn’t it strange how ordinary looking, how rather plain these kids are? My students are beautiful.” She sees her students as gorgeous because she knows them well. “When you sit with them or work with them and see them every day and know their moods, they become more amazing, not less so,”‘ she says. “And then, I realized that the kids in the other classroom look beautiful to their teacher, too.”

When a beautician notes, “All my clients are beautiful,” I hear how her awareness of and attention to beauty brings it out in others.

When we are most alive, we are beautiful. When we are in love, we are reminded that we are beautiful. And sometimes when we know we are beautiful, we find ourselves in love. “In love” usually means the romantic sense of being with one other person who in that moment we feel reflects us perfectly. In love, living in the field of love. Sometimes I have felt like I was in love, even when there was no one I was in love with. I couldn’t talk about my lover’s hands or eyes or voice. I couldn’t focus all this love on one other, and it was both confusing and revealing to realize how much we become places for each other to rest in. Alone and “in love” it is easy to feel like you’re making it up. Our songs and movies have told us such great sentimental stories about being “in love,” we forget that being in love can be a state of truth as well as an illusion.

Long-time friends witnessing a friend “falling in love” often caution the infatuated person that being in love is a dizzy, temporary state. I think of this territory not just as a delicious romantic dance, but as a field to which we can travel from many places. There is a way in which being in love with anything — a person, a place, a project — is crossing a border into a country where the ego does not rule, being in a state where essence is honoured. We are both inside and outside our everyday selves. It is always interesting to observe what happens when we return to the land of ordinary life. Can we live with more generosity and trust?

I never want to underestimate the capacity that being “in love” has to change our seeing, expand our vision, and remind us of both human beauty and human frailty. The search for the beloved is full of paradoxes. We want to be who we are when we are our best self, and sometimes because we have met that self when we are in love, we believe that self only exists in the presence of the other. So we hold on to the other and lose ourselves, forget that love is partly of this world and partly of some other place.

An old beau spoke of the danger of trying to make our lovers be God, insisting that we each need our own relationship to the Source. It sounded logical, but I rebelled at his analysis. In this world, one of the ways we glimpse God is when we are in love. Not that the beloved is God, but that God is the Beloved, a tradition as old as the Song of Songs and the ecstatic poems of wandering Indian mystics, the Sufis. One of the most beautiful and accessible ways to address God is as Love.

The Greeks gave us an image of Eros, the unpredictable archer before whom even the Gods trembled. Hindus tell their stories of the Gopi maidens seeking Krishna, the bewitchingly beautiful, blue-skinned god; Krishna with his soft glowing eyes, perfumed hair, Krishna drawing women to him, touching each in forgotten registers of being.

What is done with love is done in beauty to celebrate the God that loves. More and more I believe the messengers of love, the envoys and the couriers of beauty are everywhere. And I wonder how something so clear can also be mysterious. The Indian poet Ghalib writes, “This earth, burnished by hearing the Name, is so certain of Love that the sky bends unceasingly down, to greet its own light.”

Paraben free sun screen by a reader of our blog

The July 8th article in Live Science "Most Sunscreens Fail to Protect <>" came as no surprise to me. In fact, it seems that most sunscreen companies have been keeping us all in the dark for far too long. Last March, while I was cooking dinner one night and watching my two kids fighting over a toy in the backyard, I got a phone call that would change my life.

It was my dermatologist. She told me that a mole I had removed a few weeks back was melanoma. I was in total shock. After a big chunk of my leg was removed and the lab determined that I was in Stage 1 cancer, the fear of never seeing my kids grow up finally began to dissipate.

I had faced my fear of death. But how was I going to live? I had to figure out a way to do that in our sun-obsessed, outdoor, year-around sunbathing California culture. This meant no more afternoon beach walks. No more family "Surf Sunday" trips. No more trips to Maui to visit friends. No more afternoons at the park with my kids. "Don't be in the sun between 10 and 4," the doctors told me. Well, my misery knew no limits.

Yes, I was going to live, but not in a bubble. I refused. The only answer to my constant question to every doctor I saw was the same - "use a Zinc Oxide SPF 30+ sunscreen, cover up and stay out of the sun." Ok, now I was on a quest. A quest to find the perfect sunscreen. A quest to get my old life back, or at least some sense of freedom. I was driven and determined and probably too obsessed by it, but I found out some pretty scary things along the way.

In my search for the amazing elixir that would banish all my pre-cancerous cells and stop the formation of any new ones, I bumped into some ugly things about our skin care industry. I knew that since I would have to wear sunscreen all over my body every day of the year I began to do some research on what is actually in it. It was pretty shocking. Almost every brand I found contained a preservative called Parabens (menthy, poly, etc.).

I also found out that recently scientists have found topical parabens in human breast cancer tumors. So basically anything with Parabens added to it to preserve the product's shelf life will be absorbed into your bloodstream and act as an estrogen mimicker. Then it will bind to estrogen receptors in your body and create a negative feedback system where estrogen-related tumors can flourish. These chemicals are the "Trans-Fats" of the cosmetic world and they are in everything! Even "all natural" products contain them because they are cheap for the manufacturers to use. For years Parabens have been added to our favorite shampoos, conditioners, lotions, moisturizers, makeup and lipsticks. So now I had to protect myself from skin cancer and end up with breast cancer instead. No thank you!

According to my research, more than 60% of your favorite skin care products are absorbed through your skin, which is the largest organ in your body. This means that chemical preservatives, fragrance, coloring agents, and stabilizers added to almost all skin care products are being introduced into your bloodstream every time you apply a cream or lotion. The thought of this can be staggering when you realize how many products most men and women use each day before 8 am.

I finally found a brand called Pomega5 which satisfies all my needs, the best skin care ever.

And there is Terrain (Vanicream is good too, but a bit thick and hard to apply) that is chemical free, Paraben free and uses 9% micronized Zinc-Oxide as a sun blocker (the best you can use for sun protection). And to my delight, they also made a sunscreen for my kids. It is perfect for the body, but I needed something more sensitive for my face. So I use Elta MD, paraben free and SPF 40 on my face and chest every day. But as for my other skin care products, it was really hard to find a natural substitute for my Dior Show mascara or Aveeno lotion. But it is really worth it. I love the Jane Iredale makeup, Alba lotion (only some are paraben- free, so always check labels), and Alba shaving lotion. And that is about it.

I have tried lots of things, but nothing else seems to fit my high standards and my needs. As for my kids, i am very protective (as you can imagine) about what is absorbed into their bloodstream. Kid's skin is much more porous that adults, so these toxic chemicals affect them quicker and can have more serious side effects. My favorite is still California Baby Shampoo Sensitive and Fragrance free. I use this for all washing (hair and body) and they use Tom's of Maine toothpaste. That's it for them. Kids don't need a lot of fuss or products. Just clean and simple. Another thing i have added to my diet is Calcium D-Glucarate. It bonds with any toxic estrogen (like parabens) in my body and helps to remove it so that it will not build up in my tissues where estrogen receptors are located (like breast tissue and ovarian tissue, just to name a few).

A great site I have found to check out the toxicity level of a skin care product is: www.cosmeticsdatabase.com. Sometimes they don't always have the products listed, but i have found this site very helpful before I buy anything new. Always educate yourself and don't trust manufacturers. They watch out for their bottom line, not for your health. That is your job!

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You can learn a lot about eco friendly prodcuts from POMEGA5

How To Make Your Medicine Cabinet Eco-Friendly

It's no secret that changing your daily routine can benefit the Earth. Despite the difficulties of doing so, however, we seem to be willing to make the necessary sacrifices. A nationwide, online Harris poll of 2,600 people in May showed that more than half of U.S. adults have made changes in their lives that they believe will help sustain the environment, from recycling to paying bills online to installing energy-efficient appliances.

That eco-conscious attitude can extend to the products you use to support your own health. Experts say now may be the perfect time to examine some of the items in your medicine cabinet, given the growing array of environmentally friendly personal beauty and hygiene products.

"This sector is really exploding," says Jessica Jensen, co-founder of Low Impact Living, a Web site that helps consumers find the best green products, practices and service providers. "People are learning a lot more about the fact that many products are laden with toxins."

In fact, thanks to the popularity of the film An Inconvenient Truth and consumers who are increasingly green and health-aware, sales of natural and organic cosmetics are expected to pull in revenues approaching $7 billion this year in the U.S. That's a $1 billion jump over last year's numbers, according to the British consulting firm Organic Monitor.

Picking a nail polish or mascara that's good for you and the environment, however, involves a lot more than just searching out products with organic or natural labels and nixing those containing controversial ingredients such as petroleum, parabens and phthalates. There's also the product's packaging and the company's carbon footprint, among other things, to consider.

Luckily, Web sites such as the Environmental Working Group's cosmetic safety database Skin Deep and PristinePlanet.com have done much of the work for you. On Skin Deep, the Environmental Working Group has compiled information on ingredients in thousands of personal-care products and matched them against data in more than 50 toxicity and regulatory databases. Based on the results, each product is given its own "hazard" score. Pristine Planet, which grew its traffic from 50,000 to 100,000 shoppers over the past year, lets consumers browse, compare and review sustainable companies' products, including price points, says Catherine Finn, owner and co-founder.

One smart environmentally friendly medicine-cabinet item you can find on PristinePlanet.com is the Preserve toothbrush. Its handle is made from recycled plastic, including Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups. When you want to replace it, Preserve provides a postage-paid label for you to mail away your old toothbrush so it can be reprocessed into plastic lumber for picnic tables and decks. The company makes eco-minded toothbrushes for children, as well as razors for adults.

Jensen also recommends sticking with a few brands known for their commitment to the environment, such as Burt's Bees, J.R. Watkins Apothecary Natural Personal Care and Aubrey Organics. Burt's Bees, for instance, is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and recently started using biodegradable labels on some of its new products.

Beyond beauty and hygiene products, there are also a few environmentally friendly steps you can take when it comes to your medications. If you're one of the millions of Americans who has an albuterol asthma inhaler that uses chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as a propellant, it's time to switch to one powered by hydrofluoroalkanes (HFAs). CFCs are known to eat away at the ozone layer, causing more ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth's surface and increasing the risk of skin cancer. There is little difference between the two inhalers other than the fact that the HFA version needs to be cleaned on a weekly basis to prevent clogs (The CFCs act as a cleaning agent). CFC inhalers will no longer be available after Dec. 31, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory.

What eco-friendly measures have you taken in your household? Share your thoughts in the Reader Comments section below.

"This is really an environmentally driven pharmaceutical change," says Dr. Ira Finegold, chief of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York. "And it's a great idea. We're saving a lot of people from getting cancer."

Given a recent Associated Press report that trace amounts of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics and sex hormones, are present in our drinking water, it's also a good time to start paying attention to how you dispose of what's in your medicine cabinet. Instead of pouring an expired bottle of cough syrup down the drain or flushing unused pills, as was once advised, the FDA now asks people to mix drugs in a sealable bag with coffee grounds or kitty litter and then throw them out. (Some drugs still contain instructions advising people to flush unused portions in order to reduce the danger of unintentional use, overdose and illegal abuse.)

Of course, most of the medications in our waterways are being excreted from our bodies and flushed. While wastewater is treated before it's discharged into rivers and lakes and cleansed again at drinking-water treatment plants, most treatments can't remove all drug residue. But U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and health officials say proper medicine disposal may help reduce the environmental threat.

"It's another opportunity to be proactive," says Mitchel Rothholz, chief of staff of the American Pharmacists Association.

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Cholesterol Screening

Cholesterol Screening Is Urged for Young

By TARA PARKER-POPE

The nation’s pediatricians are recommending wider cholesterol screening for children and more aggressive use of cholesterol-lowering drugs starting as early as the age of 8 in hopes of preventing adult heart problems.

The new guidelines were to be issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday.

The push to aggressively screen and medicate for high cholesterol in children is certain to create controversy amid a continuing debate about the use of prescription drugs in children as well as the best approaches to ward off heart disease in adults.

But proponents say there is growing evidence that the first signs of heart disease show up in childhood, and with 30 percent of the nation’s children overweight or obese, many doctors fear that a rash of early heart attacks and diabetes is on the horizon as these children grow up.

Previously, the academy had said cholesterol drugs should be considered in children older than 10 if they fail to lose weight after a 6- to 12-month effort. The academy estimated that under the current guidelines, 30 percent to 60 percent of children with high cholesterol were being missed. And for some children, cholesterol-lowering drugs, called statins, may be their best hope of lowering their risk of early heart attack, proponents said.

“We are in an epidemic,” said Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, a member of the academy’s nutrition committee who is a professor and chief of neonatology at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. “The risk of giving statins at a lower age is less than the benefit you’re going to get out of it.”

Dr. Bhatia said that although there was not “a whole lot” of data on pediatric use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, recent research showed that the drugs were generally safe for children.

Surprisingly, the paper published in the medical journal Pediatrics that explains the new guidelines notes that among adolescents, average total cholesterol levels as well as LDL and HDL cholesterol have remained stable, while triglyceride levels have dropped, based on data collected from 1988 to 2000.

It is not clear how many children would be affected by the new guidelines. The recommendations call for cholesterol screening of children and adolescents, starting as early as the age of 2 and no later than the age of 10, if they come from families with a history of high cholesterol or heart attacks before 55 for men and 65 for women.

Screening is also recommended for children when family history is unknown, or if they have other risk factors, like being at or above the 85th percentile for weight, or have diabetes.

If the child’s cholesterol level is normal, retesting is suggested in three to five years. Although lifestyle changes are still recommended as the first course of action, drug treatment should be considered for children 8 years and older who have bad cholesterol of 190 milligrams per deciliter and who also have a family history of early heart disease or two additional risk factors, the new recommendations say.

The guidelines give no guidance on how long a child should stay on drug treatment.

But they do say the first goal should be to lower bad cholesterol levels to less than 160 milligrams or possibly as low as 110 milligrams in children with a strong family history of heart disease or other risk factors like obesity.

Because statins have been around since only the mid-1980s, there is no evidence to show whether giving statins to a child will lower the risk for heart attack in middle age.

The academy also now recommends giving children low-fat milk after 12 months if a doctor is concerned about future weight problems. Although children need fat for brain development, the group says that because children often consume so much fat, low-fat milk is now appropriate.

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A devil of a diet pill, the making of a great product...

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Overview

FucoTHIN is a dietary supplement from the whole foods nutrition company Garden of Life founded by Jordan Rubin in 2000. After winning a personal battle with Crohn’s disease, Rubin established the company with a goal to “empower others to attain extraordinary health.” Garden of Life promotes healthy lifestyle choices such as exercise and eating whole foods. The website is chockfull of information on topics ranging from digestion to green living. It also has healthy lifestyle suggestions such as positive thinking and getting enough rest. While Garden of Life offers many non-weight-related products such as vitamin complexes and Immunity Support, the company’s promotion is geared toward their weight-management offerings.

The two Garden of Life weight-loss products are Perfect Meal and FucoTHIN. FucoTHIN was discovered and developed by Dr. Zakir Ramazanov while he was studying the health benefits of seaweed.

Dr. Ramazanov was a consultant to POMEGA5, the developer of the Omega 5 oil skin care line.

Product Details

FucoTHIN contains the fat-burning ingredient fucoxanthin, an antioxidant found in seaweed. What makes this ingredient unique compared to other fat-burning ingredients is that it is thermogenic (it boosts metabolism) without affecting the central nervous system. In turn, this product does not increase heart rate, a typical, unwelcome side effect of weight-loss drugs. Another ingredient is pomegranate seed oil , omega 5, which is a significant CLA, and is possibly the secret behid the formula. The website suggests that pomegranate seed oil aids natural thermogenesis. The patent is pending on FucoTHIN, but at the moment it is the only supplement on the market using concentrated fucoxanthin. (Other products contain lower doses of fucoxanthin.) Garden of Life has patented this concentration under the name Xanthigen. Additional ingredients are gelatin, extra virgin olive oil, and purified water.

Results from FucoTHIN are expected after six to eight weeks when combined with other health-conscious changes regarding diet and exercise. In a clinical trial, those who used FucoTHIN lost approximately 11.5 pounds (on average) more than those who followed the same lifestyle regime without any supplement.

The Good

All the ingredients in FucoTHIN are natural.
Fucoxanthin is a non-stimulant and should not cause jitters.
FucoTHIN has been tested in a clinical trial.
Patient testimonials are offered on the official product website.
The official website offers a $5 coupon.
The product is available at many health stores.

The Bad

The Food and Drug Administration has not investigated the product claims.
The price is not indicated on the official website. (The price varies.)
No free product sample is offered.

The Bottom Line

All of the ingredients in FucoTHIN are natural, which may be comforting to many consumers. The company Garden of Life does not claim that this product will magically melt away the pounds, but must be combined with smart choices about food and exercises. With those caveats, though, results from the clinical trial indicate that the supplement increases the potential for weight loss. What distinguishes this product from other weight-loss products (in addition to its all-natural recipe) is its claim to be a non-stimulant. Users should not experience jitters.

The website does have a section devoted to the science of fucoxanthin, but it will read like gibberish to most buyers. However, the thoroughness of the website-from helpful lifestyle tips to a story about the discovery of fucoxanthin inspires confidence.

www.pomega5.com

Green living online to get boost from young greentech beauty writers

greenlivingonline.com: Better Than Ever

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - July 2, 2008) - Green Living Online is already Canada's premier go-to web destination for the best green information available.

Now greenlivingonline.com is even more accessible, with a new design and new offerings geared to Canadians.The site continues to offer a wide range of articles that track green trends, products, personalities and issues, in Canada and around the world. But visitors can now also enjoy a new entertainment section, videos and daily blogs from green industry experts.

Erin Schrode, the spokesperson for Teens for Safe Cosmetics, will write the Sustainable Beauty blog about green personal-care products and the cosmetic industry. And food expert Lindsay Evans shares healthy food tips and recipes in her DeLish Bites blog. Meanwhile, online editor Shelagh McNally keeps us up to date with her Green at a Glance blog.

Green Living magazine will also be offered free online in a digital format and visitors can sign up for a weekly online newsletter."The new look and content at greenlivingonline.com reflect the dynamic changes taking place as the green economy takes off," says Laurie Simmonds, President and CEO of Green Living Enterprises.

"Green Living has been the source for all things green and Canadian for a decade now, and our website reflects our knowledge and our commitment to offering Canadians the information they're looking for."Green Living Online is a division of Green Living Enterprises (GLE), one of the first major Canadian communications companies to recognize and respond to environmental issues.

Through Green Living magazine, Green Living Online and the Green Living Shows in Toronto and Vancouver, GLE is widely recognized as an authentic and media-savvy green authority, with expertise in magazine and book publishing, custom publishing, corporate consulting, brand promotion, event management, sponsorships and fundraising.

www.pomega5.com

Treat your high heels pain with a touch of POMEGA5 ultra natural skin care

Could high heels affect your health?
High heels are dangerous to your health

Try the Omega 5 oil solution

www.pomega5.com

You like high heels.

When you are wearing high heels your legs are beautiful. You probably think high heels are the height of elegance. You should know that high heels can affect your health. Wearing high heels is your choice, but you should at least be aware of the problems related to high heals.

Women have four times as many foot problems as men. Wearing high heels is a major reason for this. Physical problems associated with high heels include foot pain, foot deformities, a change in back posture, knee osteoarthritis and balance impairment. Orthopedists think that high heels can contribute to the development of a variety of conditions like arthritis, chronic knee pain, sprained ankles and back problems.

High heels can also result in a variety of foot problems. High heels could be the cause of knee osteoarthritis, a painful, degenerative joint disease. The knee osteoarthritis is characterized by the breakdown of the cartilage surrounding the knee. You could have ankle sprains and breaks from rolling over on high-heeled shoes. If you wear high heels you probably had this kind of problem. You should also know that high heels are pumps with heels of more than two inches.
High heels and Osteoarthritis

Wide heels increase the risk of developing osteoarthritis in the knee as much as, or more than, spindly-heeled stilettos. High heels increase knee joint pressure, this is repetitive stress to the knee elevates the risk for osteoarthritis.

When you wear shoes with high heel it is long term effect to your knee, ankles and feet. The exact cause of osteoarthritis is unknown. Risk factors for osteoarthritis include injuries, age, congenital predisposition and obesity. Walking on high heels puts abnormal stress on both the front and the back of the knee. The health of the cartilage that in the knee is dependent on the fluid in the knee. It absorbs the nutrients it needs from this liquid to repair itself. If you wear high heels stress on the knee restricts the absorption of the fluid, and the cartilage begins to dry out and shred.

High heels and foot problems

Feet are designed to provide you with balance and strength as you walk or run over many different types of terrain. High-heels could change the shape of your feet and may eventually prevent them from functioning properly. Foot problem related to high heels is metatarsalgia, which is pain in the ball of the foot.

If the joints of your feet don’t work properly because of the strain of wearing high heels, other areas of your body are forced to compensate and suffer extra wear and tear. The Morton's neuroma, which is 10 times more common in women than men, is caused by a thickening of tissue around a nerve between the third and fourth toes. The Morton's neuroma, could develop as response to irritation and excessive pressure such as the weight burden high heels place on the ball of the foot. Treatments of the Morton's neuroma include orthotics, cortisone injections and in some cases, surgery. If you wear very high heels, you should know that can cause the calf muscles and Achilles tendons to become permanently shortened.

You should know that other tendons and connective tissues can also become permanently disfigured. If you only wear high heels whole area could be reshaped for high heel wear only, even to the exact measurement of one pair of heels. If the skin on the bottom of your feet gets hard, you should treat it. It can become very painful. You should know that shin splints can happen when very high heels are worn. When the anterior tibial muscletears away from the bone can cause pain when the muscle is used. If your shin splints you should have gentle stretching exercises, such as swimming. Sometimes wearing shoe inserts to support the foot could help. You should consult your doctor about shoe inserts.

High heels and falls

High heels impaired balance in both the younger and older women when the brain received dissimilar information from the eyes and the senses in the legs. When older women wear high heels might be at greater risk for falls. Being overweight means extra stress for your feet, not to mention the joints of your legs and spine. If you overweight and you are wearing high heels that are extra stress for your feet, joints and ankles. Toppling over on very high heels can cause a broken ankle, wrist fractures and worse condition.

High heel and headaches

Wearing high heels on a regular basis can cause toe pain, mid foot pain, heel pain, ankle pain, knee pain, hip pain, lower back pain, mid back pain, upper back pain, and headaches. When you wearing high heels that cause unnecessary stress on your ankles, knees, pelvis, and potentially throughout your entire spine. The compensatory changes that result from wearing heels can cause the muscles behind your neck to be stiff, putting pressure on nerves that can result in chronic headaches.

High heels and deep vein thrombosis

Standing for long periods of time in high heels can cause deep vein thrombosis. You should know that standing even in low heels carries this risk. Deep vein thrombosis is condition in which blood clots form in deep veins, mainly in the legs.

Some good tips for you

You should never wear high heels all day long. When you are shopping shoes do it in the afternoon or evening. Feet because of accumulation are little bigger in the afternoon. Your shoes need to be comfortably for you. You should try shoes on both of your feet, because sometimes one foot may be larger than the other. Measure shoes while you are standing.

Making sure the shoe fits properly is essential. Flat shoes are not the ideal for foot and leg health. Low heels are best for you. The healthiest shoes for women are those with fairly wide heels that are no more than a half or three-quarters of an inch in height. You should know that pain and other foot problems are less likely to occur if high heels are worn as infrequently as possible and are replaced by sneakers or flats as much as possible. Wearing extremely high heels can damage the feet, especially if the toes are pointed, or the shoes are too tight. Damage can sometimes be so extreme that the sufferer can never wear any high heel ever again. Starting with lower heels and practicing for short lengths of time, gradually building up the height and time will help to prevent shin splints.

You should warm up the muscles before each wearing of high heels. The calf muscles should be stretched and exercised on a regular basis. Before putting heels you should run on the spot for a few minutes to warm up your muscles. After wearing your high heels for an extended period you should stand with your legs apart barefoot on the floor. Keeping your legs straight, bend at the hips and try to touch your toes. You should have warm-up and cool-down exercises every time you wear high heels. If you feel any pain in your ankles or feet while wearing your high heels, take them off immediately. Sometimes is best to not wear high heels at all.

www.pomega5.com

POMEGA5 salutes Germany for taking the number 1 slot as the greenest country, soon to be on the Omega 5 oil map

Germany greenest country in the world

LONDON: Germany has been named the world's

greenest country in a global energy report.

Just a few days ago, the German government had passed a new round of environmental laws as part of its efforts to meet its ambitious carbon dioxide reduction targets. According to the report by British Petroleum, while the global energy consumption, driven by China, America and India, rose by 2.4 per cent in 2007, Germany managed to slash its use by 5.6 per cent as against 2006. "Issues such as energy security, energy trade and alternative energies are at the forefront of the worldwide political agenda.

Continued weakness in oil supply and increasing demand highlights the challenges we all face in maintaining secure energy supplies," BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph . According to the report, Germany, apart from making one of the world's biggest cuts in nuclear energy last year, slashed its oil and gas use as well. Only the consumption of coal increased.

While passing new environmental laws recently, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had described them as "crucial for climate protection". She had said that they would help the country reduce its 1990 level of emissions by 40 per cent come 2020. The laws, which target high polluting lorries and make energy saving designs compulsory for homes built after 2009, are expected to allow Germany to shave 35 per cent off 1990 emissions.

Germany greenest country in the world

LONDON: Germany has been named the world's greenest country in a global energy report.

Just a few days ago, the German government had passed a new round of environmental laws as part of its efforts to meet its ambitious carbon dioxide reduction targets. According to the report by British Petroleum, while the global energy consumption, driven by China, America and India, rose by 2.4 per cent in 2007, Germany managed to slash its use by 5.6 per cent as against 2006. "Issues such as energy security, energy trade and alternative energies are at the forefront of the worldwide political agenda.

Continued weakness in oil supply and increasing demand highlights the challenges we all face in maintaining secure energy supplies," BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph . According to the report, Germany, apart from making one of the world's biggest cuts in nuclear energy last year, slashed its oil and gas use as well. Only the consumption of coal increased.


While passing new environmental laws recently, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had described them as "crucial for climate protection". She had said that they would help the country reduce its 1990 level of emissions by 40 per cent come 2020. The laws, which target high polluting lorries and make energy saving designs compulsory for homes built after 2009, are expected to allow Germany to shave 35 per cent off 1990 emissions.

We adore ultra green POMEGA5 products

www.pomega5.com

LOHAS leans towards sustainable green technologies such as POMEGA5

Understanding the Consumer Who is Driving Green Trends

Use of the term “sustainable” has been increasing in the business world - especially in tourism. By definition, “to sustain” means to give support or relief. “Sustainable” businesses function to maintain or improve the present and future quality of people’s lives. Companies continue to realize that consumers are spending their money consciously, considering more than just the material goods they take home from the store.Consumers are beginning to realize that when they support sustainable businesses such as POMEGA LLC, their dollars can impact social and environmental concerns.

This group of influential and leading-edge thinkers, representing LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), seeks out companies that share their health, social and environmental interests and priorities.In the United States, LOHAS consumers make up a $200+ billion (and growing) marketplace for goods and services. LOHAS consumers are also commonly referred to as “Cultural Creatives,” a term coined in 1996 by Paul Ray, a sociologist, and Sherry Anderson, a psychologist, who conducted a study of American values and identified this emerging societal group.

Ray and Anderson determined that Cultural Creatives value health, the environment, social justice, personal development and sustainable living. This group represents approximately 40 million people.This LOHAS marketplace is expected to grow to $425 billion in three years and $845 billion by 2015, according to research conducted by the Natural Marketing Institute.

Travelers’ Expectations are ChangingWhy is this important? Because it is no longer about just operating your lodging facility as you once did before. You are now being judged by a group of people who want to maintain their healthy, green lifestyle while traveling. They want to stay at environmentally friendly facilities and ones that recognize the connection between green and health.

Ones that offer healthier eating options, serve organic and/or local cuisine, use environmentally friendly cleaning products and talk about what they are doing to conserve natural resources.Times have definitely changed. This consumer group, comprised of the key influencers of the green and health trends, knows that it is important to conserve natural resources.

They are demanding that businesses do their part and become good environmental stewards.They are the most critical and demanding consumers, yet the most brand loyal. Willing to not only support your inn, hotel or lodge, but convince their friends and family to stay there as well.

They’ll also spend 20 percent more than your average traveler for facilities that meet their values and lifestyle. To them, the company and brand are inseparable.American (and international) lodging facilities are beginning to recognize the importance of making decisions that consider their economic, environmental and social impact in order to capture the LOHAS audience. Although sustainable businesses represent only a small percentage of the national business community, this percentage is a fast-growing segment of the national marketplace.Consumers Pushing for Stronger StandardsAs many as eight states had green certification programs in 2007; today, 12 states have certification programs in place.

There are also certification programs available through organizations such as Sustainable Travel International. The American Hotel & Lodging Assn. is also working on a national certification program. Do you think this is by chance? No. It is in large part because of the demand from the leaders within the LOHAS category pushing toward higher, greener standards.

Do you realize that LOHAS consumers in the citizen action groups pushed Wal-Mart to become more environmentally friendly? The leaders are very involved and pushing for change to create a healthier lifestyle and environment for themselves and for future generations.Do you have to be certified as green to acquire these LOHAS travelers? Do you have to be this “perfect” green facility? No, but you cannot pretend that you are, either.

These are the same consumers who are creating the greenwashing (pretending to be environmentally sound when you are not) lists. In the same respect, the more environmentally friendly, socially responsible and healthier you are as a facility, the easier it will be for these LOHAS consumers to find you. There are many green communities and resources available today to connect LOHAS travelers with LOHAS businesses.

To get and stay ahead as a travel facility, it is important that you recognize the true influencers of the green and health trends. The sooner you acknowledge them and connect your values with theirs, the sooner you’ll succeed in capturing them as your customers.

Colette Chandler is an expert in consumer health and environmental trends and is the president of The Marketing Insider, a marketing and communications consulting firm that teaches companies how to profit from consumer trends and understand the consumers who influence them. Learn about the media training services she offers, including her Walk the Media Tightrope audio program, or the study her firm conducted on attitudes of green and health-conscious consumers at www.marketing-insider.com.

www.pomega5.com

The wonderful world of pomegranates not only excellent super green skin care

The POM TeaMobile Tour Will Refresh North America This Summer


The 10-market Tour will Sample New Plastic Bottles of POM Tea, the Portable Healthy Beverage of Choice LOS ANGELES, June 26

LOS ANGELES, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- With a new 16 oz. plastic bottle
that's portable and 100% recyclable, POM Tea will take its message of
antioxidants-on-the-go to the masses this summer with the POM TeaMobile Tour
-- a 10 market sampling trek across North America that runs from June 26
through Labor Day. The POM TeaMobile Tour will offer healthy and refreshing
POM Tea to 300,000 consumers at a variety of summertime events that feature
live DJs, giveaways and an online sweepstakes. POM Tea is an all-natural
blend of POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice, premium, whole-leaf, hand-picked tea
and POMx, the most potent, antioxidant-rich pomegranate extract available.
The tour begins in New York, followed by stops in Boston, Chicago, Orange
County, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver and
Seattle. In each city, the tour will bring refreshing POM Tea to summertime
staples such as music festivals, sporting events, upscale pool parties and
parks. Signature POM Tea cocktails will also be featured at popular
nightspots in each city.

The POM TeaMobile Tour is an environmentally conscious tour equipped with
a fuel-efficient sprinter van, a brigade of four TeaMobile Vespas and a team
of POMbassadors. To help negate the carbon emissions associated with the POM
TeaMobile tour, POM Wonderful has purchased carbon offsets through TerraPass
which funds clean energy projects such as wind farms, resulting in verified
reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Consumers can go to http://www.teamobiletour.com/ to find a detailed list
of events, streaming videos, personal blogs from POMbassadors and a
sweepstakes that asks consumers where POM Tea takes them. To enter the
contest, consumers must upload a picture of them doing their favorite
summertime activity or adventure while enjoying POM Tea. Winners will be
announced in mid-September

http://www.pomega5.com/

Can a Boob Job help your sex life?

When was the last time that you got dressed and instantly felt like you could stop traffic? Are you frustrated with your upper statistic, and long to feel shapely and confident, both dressed and undressed? You are not alone. A recent study stated that 93% of women in America are dissatisfied with their breasts. After all, breasts are a major attribute that is at the heart of our femininity, and therefore important to how attractive and sexy we feel, not only to the opposite sex, but to ourselves.

Every day, thousands of women are changing their lives in a very positive way and having a Breast Augmentation, Breast Uplift or even a Breast Reduction.The reasons that so many women take this step are usually one of the following:

1. So many are like me - a 40 something mother who has lovingly raised her children, and given all of herself to it - but rather too much! Pregnancy and breastfeeding can have a devastating effect on your breasts.

2. Also, like myself, you may have lost weight, and we all know that the first place that excess weight goes to or comes off from, are your breasts. The result can cause your confidence to sag!
3. Maybe you have never been well endowed (or are over endowed if seeking a reduction) and want to do something about it once and for all.

4. Sadly, many women need reconstructive breast surgery due to illness (mostly cancer) or genetic malformity.Whatever the reason, women who do make the decision to go ahead with surgery, experience a more positive outlook on life after the operation. Feeling attractive and feminine and sexy is healthy for people. When you feel that way, that’s a great energy!

However, making the decision to have the surgery that can be so life changing is not an easy one. It took me several months of researching the subject, mostly on the internet which is full of Breast Surgery sites, but nearly always sites that are promoting a particular surgeon, so are usually biased.

It was by talking to so many friends both before and after my “Boob Job” that I realised what was missing. As women, we need to talk, talk and talk to each other, and what better time to do it than when we have a reason that is important to us, and we need to seek reassurance and advice? Most women are good at giving reassurance, it is in our makeup. However, how many women do you know that have had a “Boob Job” that you feel close and confident enough to ask for the advice you need?

Well, I am a real woman like yourself, and I can tell you that the affects are truly amazing:1. A tremendous boost to your confidence and self esteem.

2. The ability to wear clothes you have only admired on others, who have the shape and the cleavage to show it off. This can now be you!

3. Admiration from others, and I do not just mean the (inevitable!) looks from men, but from other women as you will go up in their estimation for being “brave”.

4. You will start to feel SO sexy and feminine and attractive to the man in your life, which will more than likely sky-rocket your sex life!

Make no mistake about it, having a Boob Job will sky-rocket your confidence off the scale, and will give your life such a boost, and not just to your bust!

http://www.pomega5.com/

Web 2.0 functionality to support green technology

Web 2.0 scores success in the enterprise

Paul Krill

June 19, 2008 (InfoWorld) Incorporating Web 2.0 social networking concepts into enterprises offers great benefits but also challenges, said implementers of these technologies such as Best Buy, Serena Software and Oracle during an industry event Tuesday evening in Silicon Valley.
Social networking in corporate environments, also referred to as Enterprise 2.0, increases collaboration and idea-sharing among employees as well as customers and can even lower employee turnover, panelists said at a Churchill Club presentation entitled "From 'Dilbert' to Dude: Succeeding with Web 2.0 Within the Enterprise," given in Santa Clara, Calif.

But implementers should also be concerned with risks such as legal issues that could arise and what to do if inappropriate material gets posted on a social networking site, according to the panel.

Best Buy Co. has set up a social networking site for employees called Blueshirtnation.com, which has attracted 20,000 users, said Steve Bendt, Best Buy senior manager for social technology. Workers can participate in activities such as using audio files or blogging.

The impact has been "pretty huge," enabling the company to listen to and better understand employees, he said. Barriers are being broken down.
"It was about giving up control right away," Bendt said. "Now, they have the means to connect with people they've never met before," such as a store in Las Vegas talking to a store in North Carolina.

Employees can put ideas on the site and get funding for them anywhere in the company. The site does not challenge the hierarchy but complements it, Bendt said.

Turnover appears to have been affected as well as employee morale. The overall turnover rate at the company is 60%, while turnover of people using the site is just 8% to 12%. The site itself has not required a lot of investment and uses open-source software. Currently, the site is restricted to employees only, and customers are not able to access it.

Serena Software Inc. has taken a different approach to social networking, conducting its collaboration on Facebook. While seeking a better way for communication than the company's intranet, the company pondered rebuilding it but instead looked toward "millennials," twentysomething people and how they communicate, said Rene Bonvanie, a senior vice president at the Redwood City, Calif.-based company.

Serena officials made Facebook the new corporate intranet, resulting in improved communications. Employees speak with one another and with customers more openly, and customers know where to find representatives and technologists.

"Through Facebook, they can find where people are," Bonvanie said.
To acclimate employees to Facebook, Serena brought in people familiar with the site -- 16-year-olds -- to enlighten Serena employees in the 40-to-45-year-old age bracket.
"We started out with this phenomenon called Facebook Fridays," which is when the 16-year-olds would instruct Serena employees.

The project is paid for by using funds no longer needed for other software. "I funded it by no longer paying Microsoft for their stuff," said Bonvanie. Facebook itself is free, he noted.
Oracle Corp. built a social networking site that features rich profile support, integration with the company's Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory system, and the ability to make contacts with people, said Paul Pedrazzi, vice president for strategy and innovation at Oracle.

An hour after launching the site, there were 270 people using it. "The next morning when I came in, we had about 8,000 people on the site," he noted.

Participants are from around a globe, and Russia is a heavy user, he said. "It was kind of fascinating to see that go," said Pedrazzi.

Now, about 10,000 people use the site per week. The network is about the social fabric of the company and applying it to information, he said. Users can share information such as news articles, PowerPoint presentations and budgets.

Avenue A/Razorfish has added a wiki built on the Wikipedia platform, said Shiv Singh, vice president for social media and global strategic initiatives at the Seattle-based company.
"The question was, 'How can we create a tool that would encourage people to share and feel safe doing so?'" Singh said. The wiki is viewed as a marketplace of ideas, with people contributing and getting something in return, he said.

For example, users can find an interesting article, bookmark it using del.icio.us tags and have it appear in the wiki. "That alone was the single most popular feature," Singh said.
Companies must recognize and reward collaboration, which is a challenge because many educational systems are set up to reward individualism, said Singh. "Companies need to rethink how they motivate and how they reward. It needs to be based on teams and collaboration," he said.

Through the wiki, people begin to view others as experts on particular subjects.
Like Best Buy, the Avenue A/Razorfish wiki is currently only for internal use.
Approaches to security and privacy also were shared at the presentation. Serena took the opposite approach from firewalls, which have everything placed behind a firewall with some data trickling out to the public just to protect 3% of a company's information, Bonvanie said. "We said everything goes on Facebook and a few things don't," he said.

To guard employees' private data, they are not forced to participate, and they are given guidance about posting of information, according to Bonvanie.
Avenue A/Razorfish recognized that vandalism that could happen on the wiki, but found that individuals who are professional in the office will conduct themselves in the same way on the wiki, Singh said.

Oracle acknowledged the potential legal issues. Enterprises have to be open to the concerns of the legal and human resources departments, Pedrazzi said.
"In Enterprise 2.0, people can get sued," Pedrazzi said. For example, a person might be pictured wearing a religious headdress on the site and then could claim denial of a job because of that headdress, he said.
Best Buy said it has had to take down only three posts out of 30,000 to 50,000.

http://www.pomega5.com/

Taking care of your skin

Healthy skin is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle - and vice versa. For good skin care, start developing healthy habits that protect your skin from the outside and the inside.
Drink plenty of water to keep your skin hydrated.
Eat well-balanced meals.
Protect your skin from the harmful rays of the sun.
Practice an effective skin care regimen.

To take care of your skin effectively, you need to identify your skin type. When choosing how to cleanse and treat your skin, remember that what works for someone else will not necessarily work for you. Based on the characteristics of your skin, skin types can be grouped into one of the following:

Dry skin: Often feels uncomfortably tight and rough. For this particular skin type, avoid cleansing with hot water and using soaps and alcohol-based products. Cleansing creams or cloths will help infuse moisture into the skin without stripping away natural surface oils. It is important to moisturize your face with lotions or creams to keep your skin hydrated and looking its best!

Oily skin: Skin may appear shiny with dilated pores and is prone to blackheads and pimples. Use a mild cleanser twice a day. If acne breakouts are a problem, talk to your dermatologist to help you select a medicated face wash best suited for your skin. Don't make the mistake of over-scrubbing acne-prone skin - it will worsen the problem. After cleansing, follow up with an astringent to remove the excess oil. Moisturize with a light oil-free product specifically formulated for oily skin types. Avoid using any type of oil-based cosmetics on your skin, as they may clog pores and promote pimples and blackheads.

Combination skin: People with combination skin have areas that are dry and areas that are oily. The nose, forehead, and chin tend to be the oily zones. There are many products on the market that can be applied to both areas of your face.

Normal skin: People with "normal" skin have a pinkish, glowing complexion with hard-to-see pores. This type of skin maintains a balance between dryness and oiliness. As this skin presents no particular problems, its water/oil balance does not need adjustment - just ongoing maintenance. Therefore, the use of a skin care product that helps the skin keep its water balance is recommended.

People with sensitive skin should always use beauty aids that are mild like Pomega5.

Always test the product on a small area on your arm to see how your skin reacts before using it on your face. Don't assume that a "natural source" product doesn't contain ingredients that can irritate your skin. Try cleansing with gentle, milky, water-soluble lotions and tepid water. Avoid face-cleansing gels or soaps that contain drying alcohol, preservatives, or strong-acting acid, since these ingredients can irritate the skin. Do not use exfoliating scrubs or astringents on sensitive skin, because they can cause inflammation.