STORY TO BE TOLD

The worst a Hershey bar can do to you is add an inch to your hips. But that same candy – even in relatively small amounts – can make a dog very sick. Make no mistake: For them, chocolate is poison.

In addition to a high fat content, chocolate contains caffeine and theobromine, two different types of stimulants that affect the central nervous system and the heart muscle, as well as increasing the frequency of urination.

Symptoms of Poisoning

If your 50-pound dog gets his paws on a single chocolate-chip cookie, it probably won't cause him serious problems. However, if he gobbles up more – a pan of brownies, say – he may develop vomiting or diarrhea.

Once toxic levels are reached, the stimulants kick in, and this is when you really have to worry. Symptoms include: restlessness, hyperactivity, muscle twitching, increased urination and/or excessive panting.

If your pet isn't treated, he could go into a seizure – possibly even die.

How Much Is Toxic?

The amount of chocolate that it takes to poison your pet depends on the type of chocolate he's eaten and his weight. White chocolate has the least amount of stimulants and baking chocolate or cocoa beans have the highest. Here is a list of the most common sources of chocolate and the amount that leads to toxicity:


source taken from: http://www.petplace.com/

Rooney crowned PFA player of the year
Monday, April 26, 2010, 15:56 [IST]

London, Apr 26: World famous English striker Wayne Rooney was on Sunday, Apr 25 crowned the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) player of the year.

24-year-old Rooney was forced to miss a couple of games in the recent past due to his groin injury.

"I'm disappointed to miss a couple of games. Hopefully I will play before the season finishes," he told guests at the PFA dinner.

When asked if he would be physically ready for the World Cup, he declared, "No problems for the World Cup."

He, however, dismissed the beliefs that he is key to England's victory in World Cup 2010, scheduled to kick start in Jun 2010 in South Africa.

"We've got a lot of great players. If I get injured, so be it," he said.

OneIndia News

source taken from: http://news.oneindia.in/

Chokeberry extract 'regulates weight gain'
Monday, April 26, 2010, 9:34 [IST]

Washington, April 26 (ANI): The chokeberry (Aronia) extract is a powerful antioxidant and helps regulate weight gain and blood glucose, according to a new study on rats.

However, the chokeberry is enjoying a new claim-to-fame as a potentially powerful antioxidant, and can now be found for sale in the dietary supplement and "health food" aisles of pharmacies and grocery stores.

Scientists say that the reason chokeberry is so healthful is because of its unusually high levels of substances called anthocyanins (from the Greek anthos + kyanos meaning dark blue).

There are many different anthocyanins in these colourful berries, but they all function as antioxidants - originally protecting the chokeberry seed from sunshine-induced oxidative stress.

When we eat them, they also appear to protect our bodies from a variety of damaging situations, including exposure to pollution and metabolically-derived free radicals.

Indeed, a growing body of scientific literature has shown promising effects of chokeberry consumption on diseases ranging from cancer to obesity.

In addition, certain anthocyanins - including those found in chokeberry - have also been shown to improve blood sugar and the function of insulin.

To better understand how chokeberries influence health, Bolin Qin and Richard Anderson from the US Department of Agriculture in Beltsville studied what happens when prediabetic rats are fed chokeberry extracts for an extended period of time.

This presentation is part of the scientific programme of the American Society for Nutrition, home of the world's leading nutrition researchers.

The researchers first made male rats "prediabetic" or insulin insensitive by feeding them a fructose-rich diet for 6 weeks.

Then they randomised the animals to continue drinking either pure water or water spiked with low or high levels of chokeberry extract.

After drinking this water for six weeks, the groups were compared in terms of body weight, body fat, blood glucose regulation, and molecular markers for inflammation.

Qin and Anderson found that at the end of the study the rats consuming the chokeberry-spiked water weighed less than the controls; both levels of chokeberry had the same effect in this regard.

Similar beneficial effects of chokeberry consumption were found for body fat (specifically, that of the lower abdominal region).

They also discovered that animals that had been drinking chokeberry extract had lower blood glucose and reduced levels of plasma triglycerides, cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol when compared to the control animals, says a US Department of Agriculture release.

These alterations would theoretically lead to lower risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease in humans.

The results were presented at the Experimental Biology 2010 meeting in Anaheim, CA. (ANI)

source taken from: http://news.oneindia.in/