Let’s take a quick look at exactly what eating disorders are. The National Institute of Mental Health sums it up: “An eating disorder is marked by extremes. It is present when a person experiences severe disturbances in eating behavior, such as extreme reduction of food intake or extreme overeating, or feelings of extreme distress or concern about body weight or shape.”

The main types are anorexia (extreme desire to stay thin) and bulimia (binge eating followed by attempts to make up for it, like induced vomiting). The rest are known as EDNOS — eating disorders not otherwise specified. These include binge eating disorder, in which the patient doesn’t try to make up for binges, but feels excessively bad about them. Eating disorders can be treated with psychotherapy, sometimes together with medication. They often first show up during adolescence or early adulthood. They may co-exist with other mental health problems, and the patient’s abnormal eating can lead to severe physical problems.

Binge eating disorder is about as common in males as females, says NIMH. One in four children with anorexia is a boy. Sadly, though they show the same symptoms as girls, they’re less likely to have their “stereotypically female” illness recognized and treated.

Maybe one reason for this is that males don’t necessarily want to lose weight — they may want to gain weight, develop more muscle, or do anything that will make them larger, to the point of using steroids. They may have muscle dysmorphia, an obsession with being muscular, commonly known as bigorexia. That nickname says it all — even in our sedentary, information-based  society, body size is  important to a male’s self-image.

Why? Well, we’ve known for a long time how impossibly perfect media images of women affect girls’ body images. Now, maybe, the same thing is happening to boys. A 1998 study measured male action figures from a period of 30 years and concluded: “We found that the figures have grown much more muscular over time, with many contemporary figures exceeding the muscularity of even the largest human bodybuilders.”

Also troubling is NIMH’s recent finding that most teens with eating disorders don’t get treatment for their particular condition.

It can be hard to recognize an eating disorder in a man or boy, and it can be hard for them to admit to problems of this kind. But it’s something parents, teachers, and society have to be ready to deal with.

Women’s vitamins typically come with higher iron and calcium than a “general formula” multi-vitamin. That’s because women naturally do not absorb as much iron as men and also lose iron through menstruation. Women also typically eat less red meat, which is full of iron. Women who have gone through menopause, however, usually do not need a supplement that has extra iron. The elderly have different needs than middle-aged adults and should look for vitamins that specifically address this. (Some are labeled “50+.”) Pregnant women also have very different needs and should consult a doctor about taking supplements during their pregnancy. Prenatal vitamins often contain higher levels of folic acid and iron than the typical one.

If a bottle is labeled “high potency,” what does this mean? The FDA allows a company to label their multivitamin as having high potency if at least two-thirds of the included vitamins supply 100% of the recommended daily value. It usually means that the multivitamin provides a substantially high amount of both vitamin B and vitamin C.

It is important to remember that the best way to obtain vitamins is by eating vitamin-rich foods, not by taking supplements. Also, if your diet is rich in a certain vitamin, you should avoid taking supplements that cause you to have too much of that vitamin. Too much of anything can be more detrimental than helpful.

What is in sex then that makes it good for your health? Here are some of the known health benefits that sexual activity can bring you:

You will live longer if you make love more often. A study done in Britain showed that men who had sex at least two times a week lived longer than men who had sex less than once a month. A similar study also was conducted in the US, and it showed the same results–men who have sex more often live longer. The British study also revealed that men who have sex more often have healthier hearts and are less likely to have heart attacks. Another study, which was published in the Biological Psychology journal, reveals frequent sexual activity lowers diastolic blood pressure.

A French study also showed that women who do not have sexual intercourse often are more likely to have breast cancer than those who do regularly. In men, frequent sexual activity was found to be a good way to prevent prostate cancer, this was found out in a study conducted in Minnesota.

Every time you have sex, you burn around 50 calories. Imagine how much calories you’d be burning if you have sex at least three times a week. This is probably why those who have frequent sexual intercourse tend to be sexier than those who do less often.

If you want to live longer, start making love to your partner more often, it will bring the two of you a lot of benefits.

The winning answer came from SDW911:

Make up a basket out of hand picked items from your local health food store. Pick an organic fruit & veggie basket. Maybe an herbal tea basket.

What would you give a friend who is very focused on his or her health?

One of the researchers behind this study is Jorge Chavarro at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. In his study he and his colleagues sampled 100 couples who were seeking treatment for infertility.They had the men provide semen samples and then answer survey questions that pertained to the amount of soy products (including food such as “powerbars” and tofu) that they had consumed over the past three months. In Chavarro’s study the men were divided into four groups. These groups were based on the amount of soy that the men had consumed. After comparing all of the groups, Chavarro noticed a significant difference between the men who did not eat too much soy based food and the men who ate a fair amount of soy food.

His study found that while the “normal” sperm concentration for a man is between 80 and 120 million per millilitre, the average sperm concentration for those who had about a portion of soy based food every other day was about was 41 million less than the typical count.

More studies have been done, especially by companies that use soy for their products, that show that this research may be false. The most scientific answer that Chavarro has to explain how soy affects sperm count is that soy foods usually contain higher amounts of isoflavones. Isoflavones are compounds that mimic the effects of estrogen.

Some people choose to agree with Chavarro’s findings because the studies have shown a drastic difference between the men who ate soy and the men who did not. However, other people do not think it is true. For instance, some people do not believe this finding because of the fact that most men in Asia eat a lot of soy based products, and they do not seem to have any fertility problems.

It will be interesting to see the results of further studies.

“We were able to show the tissue was able to integrate and function in the long term, which means we can start planning clinical applications in humans. Our hope is to be able to treat patients with many conditions, including congenital abnormalities of the penis, traumatic injuries, penile cancer and severe cases of erectile dysfunction that don’t benefit from drug treatments,” the director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and senior author of the study, Dr. Anthony Atala said.

The study is really promising, but it is still in the early stage. This gives a lot of men hope because the researchers have shown that it is possible to grow erectile tissue in the laboratory. More than 30% of men do not respond to drugs for erectile dysfunction, and this study aims at addressing their problem.

The causes of impotency or erectile dysfunction are varied. It can be brought about by a disease like diabetes or atherosclerosis, or it can also be caused by hormonal imbalances (when a man’s testosterone level is low he may experience impotency).  Alcohol and drugs also can cause impotency. Men who do not exercise and men who are obese are also in danger of developing impotency. Vitamin A deficiency also is known to cause impotency. The state of one’s emotions can cause erectile dysfunction; depression and anxiety are known to cause impotency.

Is there a cure for impotency? The answer is yes. There are medications for impotency, but it is best to try to cure it the natural way because drugs may have unwanted side effects. One of the natural ways to prevent or help cure impotency is in eating only foods that are low in cholesterol. Cholesterol clogs the arteries and impede the smooth flow of blood to parts of the body. Processed foods and foods that are high in fat also should be avoided. Eat foods that are high in fiber like fruits and vegetables; fiber helps clean your system. Caffeine may help because it is a stimulant. If you consume a moderate amount of coffee everyday your chances of becoming impotent will be lessened. Avoid alcohol consumption, studies show that it contributes to erectile dysfunction.

Make exercise a part of your daily life. Exercise can help regulate the flow of blood in your veins and arteries; it also help build endurance. If you do not have time to go to the gym every day, you can try some alternative method of exercising like walking.

Set your mind to quit smoking. This is probably the most difficult  of all that is listed here. It is easy to fool one’s self that one’s mind is set on quitting, but deep inside it’s not really the case. But once one’s mind is really set on quitting, it will be less difficult to follow other steps that may help you to quit.

Cut it slowly. You can start by smoking one less cigarette each day until you reach the point where you smoke your last. For some people this is quite effective, it is actually a way of conditioning one’s mind to the inevitability of the end of the habit.

Avoid fellow smokers. If you are on the process of slowly lessening the number of cigarettes you smoke each day, it is easier to keep yourself from lighting up when you don’t see someone who is smoking. Many smokers have wasted weeks of progress because they have seen someone smoke in front of them and their resolve melted.

Use some substitute for cigarettes. Of course, if you are a hard smoker, it may seem that nothing can substitute cigarettes, but it is better to use something like mint candies or chewing gum than just using your will to control your habit.

Exercise. As you slowly progress through cutting the number of cigarettes you consume, put some more exercise into your daily routine. Exercise can help a lot in warding off some of the withdrawal symptoms.

Avoid social gatherings, like parties, where alcohol and cigarettes are abundant when you are still in the process of quitting. It is very easy to throw away a month’s worth of progress in quitting smoking when you are under the influence of alcohol.

Get someone to quit smoking too. It is easier to quit when you have someone, a fellow smoker, who is also trying to quit. You will have more resolve to quit than when you are alone in your endeavor.

Most of the time people think of women when they think of plastic surgery, but men have about 10% of the plastic surgery done in the U.S.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the top 5 plastic surgeries for men:

1. Nose Reshaping
2. Eyelid Surgery
3. Liposuction
4. Male Breast Reduction
5. Hair Transplants

Viagra has become a part of popular culture, with endorsers ranging from baseball star Rafael Palmeiro to former senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole. Wall Street legend Ace Greenberg of Bear Stearns was such a fan that he set up a multi-million dollar charity to buy Viagra for poor men who couldn’t afford it. The dark side of Viagra’s popularity is the endless flow of Viagra span that afflicts email users. Still, its users probably think that a small price to pay. Though Viagra does not prevent sexually transmitted diseases, so make to have an std test.