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E W N 1 - 7 December 2016 / Costa Blanca North
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HEALTH & BEAUTY
A positive outlook can be good for your health A NEGATIVE attitude could be reflected in your health. According to a Finnish study, pessimism appeared to be a strong risk factor in coronary heart disease (CHD). Researchers studied 2,267 Finnish men and women over 11 years and found that the 121 people that died of heart disease had a gloomier approach to life than the rest and had been more pessimistic at the start of the study than the others. It is believed that this pessimism is linked to stress and the stress increases blood sugar levels and blood pressure which can lead to heart damage and disease.
This is one of a few studies highlighting the relationship between pessimism and mortality from CHD, but there have been numerous studies over the years stressing how optimism can improve your health. An American study evaluated 839 people in the early 1960s, performing tests for optimism and pessimism. In those analysed 30 years later, tests show that optimism was linked to longevity. Dutch studies have reported similar results. In one, the researchers assessed over 500 men for their optimism who were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer in 1985. Over the next 15 years, the researchers reported that those who were more positive
were 55 per cent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than the pessimists, even after traditional cardiovascular risk factors were taken into account.
PESSIMISM: Has been linked to stress.
Beware of unqualified dieticians IN Spain, the figure of a dietitian or nutritionist is not recognised within the public health system unlike other European countries. As a result, the number of people claiming to be trained professionals is on the rise. President of the General
Council of Nutritionists-Dietitians and Association of Nutritionists-Dietitians of Valencia, Alma Palau, claims that 70 per cent of dieticians who appear on websites are fraudulent without proper qualifications: “We are not dispensers of fad diets, we are professionals in-
volved in improving global health and disease prevention, based on scientific evidence.” Palau said this area of professionals are amongst the most unknown and yet “are the most involved in non-congenital disease prevention through healthy eating habits.” The president claimed that if you Google dieticians, of the top 100, she predicts around only 23 would have the correct professional qualifications. In the case of the Valencia Region, there are 500 registered professionals and three universities where the degree of Human Nutrition and Dietetics is taught, recognised by the public health system.