VItamins, Is It REALLY Safe To Be Consumed?

You know and have been told (by whom, I don't really care...) that vitamins are good for your health. Daily consumption of vitamins may increase your body immune, strengthen your muscle and bones, keep your eyes healthy, etc. Many people, maybe you too, have spent a lot of money buying various kinds of vitamins and health products, usually those which are well advertised in TV, radio or newspaper. They do such thing just for one simple reason: to keep their body healthy. Children too are given a lot of multivitamins by their parents, because they want their children to grow healthily.

Vitamins are also good for those whose diets are low on fruits and vegetables. They can act as the provider of nutrients that actually can be obtained from fruits and vegetables. For example, people who don't really like to eat orange can take the vitamin which contains Vitamin C that suits their daily need of Vitamin C.

Recently, some media in European countries claimed that vitamins may instead shorten your lifespan. This may be true, since you can't be 100% sure that a vitamin is safe. There are no uniform manufacturing rules for vitamins and supplements, thus a vitamin may not contain the nutrients written on the bottle. Also, the vitamin may have been contaminated with other substance that may be poisonous or, in a better word, bad for our health. They also claimed that the price of a vitamin doesn't guarantee the quality of it, since the expensive ones can still be contaminated by other substances such as lead. Well. I must say that this is true. If the more expensive is contaminated whereas the less expensive isn't, then it means that the cheaper one is better, right?

However, this doesn't mean that ALL vitamins are bad for health. What the paper claimed may not be true. There are vitamins that are cynically proved to be a good vitamin and it must have already passed the lab test. To be noted, the paper didn't write about the people who managed to overcome their diseases by taking various vitamins. There are also cases in which vitamins reduced the risk of death which the media didn't include in the published newspaper.

Therefore, I think it isn't recommendable to trust whatever the media says. I personally think that vitamins that are produced and sold for us are healthy to be consumed despite what the media said. I believe that during the process of production, scientists must have already tested it to determine whether it is safe for the public or not. So, don't worry about it anymore and feel free to consume your vitamins! (This doesn't mean that you can take more than the recommended dose, you know...)

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/22/healthmag.multivitamins/index.html

Milk... Between High Cost and Healthy Life...

Milk is an essential part of our life. It has a lot of protein and minerals (and of course, fat...) that can make someone healthy. For children, milk is very important. It helps building strong bone and teeth, and in so doing, makes a person taller and stronger. It can also be used as an energy source beside food that we eat. Parents should give their children milk to drink if they want their children to be strong and healthy.

How if suddenly milk become very expensive? This happens now in the USA. The price of milk increases greatly, reaching $3.80 per gallon! This is a bad news, as most of the schools have healthy meal programs, which include milk inside. Also, it may affect the dairy products that contain milk, as the producers themselves will have to spend more money. If milk becomes more and more expensive, then how are the children going to have it? And, if they can’t have it, then what will happen to them in the future?

The most likely reason for this is that the supply of milk is running down, while the demands are increasing fast. Why is the supply running down? In Australia, it is because of the drought. Many cows die because they don’t drink enough water, or perhaps can’t stand the heat of Australia.

Still, people believe that it is better to spend more money to buy milk for their children rather than giving them soda. I do think the same, because I know that children must be given the best nutrition they can get during their young ages, so that they can grow up healthily and become a healthy adult later on.

For now, all we can do is just pay the price and give them milk everyday, as they also need to grow healthily. Bear in mind that you can buy the milk, but you can’t buy the health of your children. That’s why I think we should just pay the price and stop complaining. After all, children are much more important than our money, because they are the future leaders. They must be healthy and strong to lead in the future. There is no such thing as a weak and unhealthy leader, I guess. The least we can do is not to waste the milk we have in our home. We need to think those who can’t afford to give their children milk to drink. At least appreciate that. Remember, money can’t buy someone’s health, so please don’t waste the milk, or you might face a very serious trouble, I guess...

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/09/milk.prices/index.html

New Curriculum @ Harvard University

Who doesn't know Harvard university? Yes, it is the oldest and one of the best universities in the USA. As one of the best universities there, Harvard has a very large campus area with many facilities, including the Harvard Museum, Memorial Church and the Harvard Stadium.

Recently, Harvard approves its biggest curriculum overhaul in three decades, giving more attention on religious and cultural issues. This decision is made to counter the critics about the curriculum of Harvard. Harvard was criticized of being too focused on academic topics instead of putting a bit of "real-life issues" in the curriculum. Actually, they had made a proposal before about requiring the students to study religion, but it was dropped last December. By doing this, they hope students become more aware, interested and understand about the ideas in the context of social, religious, political and cultural conditions.

As a student, I must say that Harvard has chosen the right thing. It is true that religion and cultural ideas are also important in our life. They can give us more variative ideas, so that we become a broad-minded people. Study will be unsuccessful if we don't balance between academic topics and real-life topics, because in many cases, religious, political and social thinking can help us to reason more clearly and thus produce a better answer.

However, I also agree that those kind of things is not always useful. Academic topics such as science and maths are still more important than them, in case you don't want to be a politician. Religious, political, social and cultural ideas can help us but still, the roots are the ones that we learn in academic topics. They are only the supplementary ideas to help us reason better. So, I think it's still good to give students the teaching of real-life issues, but at the same time, we must make sure that we don't overteach it and leave the academic topics behind. still, students have the rights to get the right education and it is the task of the teachers to provide it.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/05/15/harvard.reut/index.html

information about Harvard University: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University

Junk Food? Bah. Faux-Junk Food? Yeah!

Junk food? Everybody knows that. If we talk about junk food, we will relate it with McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, donuts, french fries and those kinds of food. Why do we call them “junk”? I think it's because the food is quite nice –some people even say that it tastes very delicious- and it is also cheap, but it is unhealthy. Why is it unhealthy? It is mainly because of the fat –in many cases called trans fat- that is inside the food. For instance, trans fat causes many diseases and health problems, such as obesity and coronary heart disease. That’s why there are many cases where people die of heart disease because of eating too much junk food. There are many people who still continue consuming junk food. Actually I also agree that junk food is nice. However, as I said before, it is not good for health.

Recently, some school in the USA have found a way to fulfill the demand of the teens, which is, without any doubt, having fast food in the school, whilst also making it a healthy choice. The fast food is actually western food, such as fried chickens or nuggets, french fries, donuts, pizzas, salads, etc. They have come out with the food called “faux-junk food”. This kind of food is actually the revised version of junk food, where the food itself is much more nutritious than the ordinary junk food. For example, they change the shortening in cakes with applesauce. Another example is broccoli and cauliflowers are mixed into pasta sauce to reduce up to 17% calories without any change of taste or texture.

I personally think that this is a very good way to fulfill the demands of public whilst making a healthier society. This will satisfy many people, especially teenagers, and of course their parents. They don’t have to worry much about their children and the teenagers themselves will be freed from the shadow of heart disease. However, I also agree that everybody must set a limitation for themselves, meaning that they shouldn't eat too much faux-junk food, even though it is healthier. Eating too much is also not good. Applesauce in cakes is better than shortening, of course, but it will become not good either if we consume it too much because after all, it still contains sugar. Too much sugar can causes diabetes. Another example is the pasta sauce. Even though the calories have been reduced by 17%, it still contains calories. Too much calories is also not good for health.

In conclusion, I’d like to say that faux-junk food is a better choice for those who like to eat junk food before. However, we ourselves must set a limitation on consuming the food, because too much eating it will have the same effect as if we eat the ordinary junk food.

Source: http://www-cgi.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/05/01/faux.junk.food.ap/index.html

Vitamins can shorten lifespan... Is it true?!

For all this time, we all know, or at least are told by someone, that vitamins, supplements, and that kind of things are good for our health. Our parents have told us several times that we have to take vitamins and those supplements, because they can increase the number of our antibodies, they can kill the “free radicals” inside our body, and so on. My parents told me myself that thing and I think that it’s right, because by taking more Vitamin A, my myopia is reduced.

However, the scientists speak different. According to their research-which I don't know whether they did it in the right way or not-, vitamins can shorten our lifespan! It is said that the scientists team in Copenhagen, Denmark has done a research about the benefits of vitamin A, C and E plus beta-carotene and selenium. All of them are the most commonly used supplements by people. Surprisingly, they came with the result that vitamin E, beta-carotene and vitamin A increase the risk of death by 4%, 7% and 16% respectively whereas selenium, vitamin C, and antioxidant supplements don't change the risk of death. The scientists said that removing “free radicals” from the body might interrupt the mechanism of the body.

There are pro and contra about this research. Some said that they are right because to make a balanced diet, a person just need to eat a wide range of food that can give the body the nutrients it needs. However, another person said that the research is “worthless” because they did the research on the patients who were already seriously ill!

As a normal human that still can think clearly, should we believe that the research is right? After reading through the article, I can't say that I believe in it. The result is still vague. The research said this and that, but someone criticized it by saying that it's worthless!

There are two possibilities that can occur. One, the research is a complete failure. The critic is right. This means we can consume all of the supplements like usual, because there’s no negative effect. Another possibility is the research is surprisingly right. This will cause a great impact in our life. The consumers’ lifespan is getting shorter and shorter, many vitamins and supplements producers will be bankrupt and the workers will lose their jobs! Such a great impact will happen. Actually it doesn't really affect me, because I only consume 100mg of vitamin C daily. However, we also need other nutrients, not only vitamin C.
This will have a great effect on our health and, of course, our life as human being.

As we wait for the next research to be done, we will have some questions in our minds. Will the supplements be banned from distribution? Will life be the same after this? Will we have long life? Only one sentence can answer all of the questions.

"Only God knows..."

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6399773.stm

TV, Music, & Games and Their Effects on Children

Television, known as TV, computer games, and music have various effects in life, especially in childrens life. Actually, the purpose of creating those things is only one, which is to give entertainment to the consumers, so that they can relax and have fun.

I myself enjoy computer games very much. I also love music. In my spare time I like to listen to music, because I believe that music can help me to relax and relieve my stress of school. Although I rarely watch TV, I like to watch movies. Some movies are very good to be watched because they have good messages inside the story. However, they also have their own“evil” sides and most of them are violence.

What is violence? According to Wikipedia, violence is “any act of aggression and abuse that causes or intends to cause injury to persons (and by some definitions animals or property) and is often a crime”.

TV can give bad influence to children by showing their films. Violence is shown in many films that are shown in TVs. Even Power Rangers and Spiderman have violent scenes in the film. These are some of the films and TV shows that children like to watch. I myself used to love Power Rangers so much, because it is interesting and cool. The difference between me and the other boys who did violence things after watching it is that I never see the fighting scenes as something that I should copy, whereas they thought vice versa.

Music also can make children to do violence. I didn't believe this, actually, when I first heard it. I think music is just something that can give us inspiration or relaxation. However, the truth speaks different. The artists and musicians who commit crimes can affect the children to become violent.

Another thing is computer games. Children really enjoy games because they are challenging and interesting. However, we can see ourselves that many games have violence in the storyline, which are shown in battles, wars, etc. The game of Smackdown and Raw! has a lot of violent scenes inside. There was a case in Indonesia when a boy killed his pal using Smackdown moves and it is because he watched the TV show and played the game a lot. Actually, it's okay to watch and play the game, as long as you don't do the same thing as this boy did!

My opinion is: TV, games, and music are actually not a medium of violence but a medium of entertainment and happiness. Unfortunately, some people don't know this. They can't event think in the right way that the violence, either in TV or games is just for acting and to make the storyline better, not to be done in the real world! This is why I think there should be a clearance of people's mindset that those things are made for goodness' sake, to make the life better.

Source: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/VideoGames/3.html
Violence Definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence