Zespri Gold can help reduce cold symptoms - study

New research reinforces the health and nutritional benefits of Gold kiwifruit, finding that eating the fruit on a regular basis helps to reduce the symptoms of a cold.

The study, "Consumption of gold kiwifruit reduces severity and duration of selected upper respiratory tract symptoms and increases plasma Vitamin C concentration in healthy older adults", was completed by Plant & Food Research and has been published in the British Journal of Nutrition.

The research was sponsored by ZESPRI, and is part of an ongoing drive by ZESPRI, in association with leading health research bodies, to understand the health and nutrition benefits of both green and gold kiwifruit.

In the study it was found that regular consumption of gold kiwifruit did show benefits in reducing certain symptoms of colds, namely; the duration of sore throat and head congestion and the severity of head congestion.

The 20-week study was conducted over the winter and spring period and tracked the health of 37 healthy older people. The participants were asked to eat ZESPRI GOLD Kiwifruit daily for four weeks then switch to banana (or vice versa), with a four week kiwifruit/ banana-free period prior to each treatment period.

The results showed a reduction in self-reported cold symptoms with gold kiwifruit compared to banana, with sore throat symptoms reducing from 5.4 days to 2.0 days and head congestion from 4.7 days to 0.9 days.

Natalie Milne, Health Marketing Manager for ZESPRI, said the study was further evidence of the tremendous nutritional properties of kiwifruit.

"Eating just one ZESPRI Kiwifruit a day provides you with your daily requirement of vitamin C and offers much more; they are high in fibre, aid protein digestion and contain vitamin E. When eaten daily, as part of a healthy diet, ZESPRI Kiwifruit offer numerous health benefits; allowing individuals to stay healthy and fight disease and infection," Ms Milne said.

NBA returns with 5-game Christmas Day slate

Over Thanksgiving vacation, I caught the vicious head cold that seems to plaguing everyone this time of year.

Unfortunately, with a nose more stuffed than a turkey and a throat so sore I could barely swallow, my favorite meal of the year fell flat.

I tried Tylenol and Aleve, but both just gave temporary satisfaction. Within a matter of hours, the congestion and headaches returned.

But on Saturday morning, something strange happened. Around 6 a.m., I woke up and changed the channel to ESPN. Without my glasses I couldn’t see much, but I could make out the voice of NBA commissioner David Stern. At the bottom of the screen, I could make out a small red bar on the ticker, indicating breaking news.

At first I feared the “nuclear winter,” which Stern referred to when the NBA Players Association disbanded as a union, had come upon us and that the season was cancelled. But after listening to Stern for another moment, I heard the voice of Billy Hunter, the NBAPA’s executive director, and became giddy. They would only have been holding a joint press conference if a deal had been struck.

A tentative agreement had been reached, with a 66-game season set to begin on Christmas Day. I immediately felt more energized than I had all vacation. The pressure in my forehead disappeared, my sore throat eased and I genuinely felt better.

I’m not saying the resolution of the NBA lockout and the return of the NBA has healing powers. That’d be ridiculous.

But I’m not saying it doesn’t.

This is by far the best situation the NBA could have hoped for. Many NBA fans don’t even tune in to NBA telecasts until Christmas Day. Junkies like myself, who cared about an early November game between the Thunder and the Kings, are happy with absolutely anything — we’re junkies, remember?

The only depressing part of the ordeal is that all changes made were forecasted two years ago. It’s unclear how many egos pushed their way into the discussion to delay the process, but regardless, there will be the majority of an NBA season, barring some unforeseen meltdown.

What changed, exactly? Not a whole lot, but some necessary tweaks and some needed improvements, for sure.

The split of basketball-related income, or BRI, has been the biggest sticking point of the negotiations. Previously, players received 57 percent of the split — by far the most of the four major professional team sports. That number is down to 51.2 percent this season and will fluctuate between 49 and 51 percent throughout the 10-year agreement — though each side can choose to opt out after six years.

The owners solved their tussle with revenue sharing, as the new plan has three times as much money distributed to competitively disadvantaged markets. All details aren’t clear, but large-market teams with TV contracts will be forced to pay more.

In the previous agreement, teams only had to spend 75 percent of the salary cap on player contracts, giving small-market teams a reason to pocket some of their money, which disappointed fans who didn’t think their team’s front office was going all-in.

The new deal states teams need to spend at least 85 percent of the cap for the next two seasons and at least 90 percent for the rest of the agreement.

While the players received a smaller portion of the BRI, this wrinkle will force owners to put out more money for players.

The luxury tax in the new agreement requires teams to pay more into the revenue split when their spending exceeds the tax. In addition, teams repeatedly exceeding the luxury-cap threshold will need to pay more each season.

This change hopefully curbs the uncontrolled spending of teams with deep pockets, as the previous luxury tax was small compared to the new one. The new agreement also put restrictions on how much money tax-paying teams can spend in the offseason.

Another rule, called the “Derrick Rose Rule,” was implemented to reward players who outplayed their rookie contract. If a player on his rookie deal becomes the MVP, makes an All-NBA team twice or starts in the All-Star Game twice, he can receive a maximum extension of 30 percent of the team’s salary cap, up from 25 percent in the previous agreement.

Last is the amnesty clause, which allows any team to remove one contract from their salary cap. They still need to pay the player, but the money doesn’t count against their cap number, potentially freeing up millions of dollars.

Unlike in 2005, when the last collective bargaining agreement was reached and there was an amnesty clause, teams do not need to use it immediately. For example, if a team like the Portland Trailblazers wanted to wait another year to see if Brandon Roy’s knees would hold up, they can wait and choose to use it any time during the new CBA. It can only be used on contracts that were agreed to before this year, however.

So get ready. On Christmas Day, when you’ve finished unwrapping your presents, you’ll be able to take the bow off what will undoubtedly be one of the craziest NBA seasons yet.

'Knockout of the Year' Mila Kunis Has Unusual Remedy for Cold

Mila Kunis apparently has one unusual concoction when it comes to curing sore throat. In GQ's Men of the Year issue, writer Michael Idov shared the story when he had to interview the "Black Swan" beauty, who is dubbed Knockout of the Year by the magazine, while having cold.

In the feature article about Kunis, Idov recalled that the 28-year-old beauty offered him her own remedy for cold when they chatted in her apartment. "Kunis starts making us hot tea when she gets a better idea," he recalled. " 'Let's get some Cabernet going,' she says. 'It'll make you feel better and it will make you drunk.' " She then handed off the $50 Grgich Hills Cabernet Franc bottle to him.

The writer further detailed that after declaring it "perfect for boiling", the "Friends with Benefits" star poured it into a saucepan and added "an avalanche of green-tea powder ('It's vitamins!'), two gelcaps of fish oil ('What's the difference? It's all going to end up liquefied and syrupy'), apple-cider vinegar (' 'Cause that's just always good for you'), and Ayurvedic chai."

When the writer told her to also drink the potion, Kunis agreed as saying, "Yeah, I'll get wasted with you on this wine. F**k it. It's good for you!" She then decided to add some alcohol into the mix. "I have vodka and I have tequila," she told Idov. "What do you think kills germs better?" After settling on half a bottle of Ketel One, she exclaimed, "Healthy! This will kill everything."

During the interview, Kunis talked about not taking acting too seriously. "I love what I do," she said, "but my theory is that it's people who doubt what they do and want to prove it to you, they're like 'It's art. I create art. It's art, art, art.' I'm like, Holy s**t, are you fucking kidding me? I run around and pretend I'm someone else for twelve hours; I record 'Family Guy' [she voices Meg]. Then I get to go home and watch 'Jersey Shore'."

Our little boy was killed by the cold sore virus herpes simplex

GRIEF-STRICKEN parents have spoken of their heartbreak after their nine-day-old son died from a common cold sore virus.

Louise Foster and Danny Harvey were over the moon when Riley was born.

But their joy turned to tragedy when he suddenly stopped breathing.

Louise, 20, said the baby was “perfectly fine” when he was born on May 8.

But, when he was three days old, she discovered small blisters on the back of his head.

She was told they could have been caused by suction equipment after she needed help during the birth.

She was also concerned that Riley seemed to be having trouble breathing, but was told not to worry.

Louise was feeding Riley, her first baby, when suddenly he went limp in her arms.

“She turned round and said he’d stopped breathing,” said delivery driver Danny, 21.

“I checked him and I couldn’t find a pulse.”

The frantic parents immediately dialled 999.

The emergency operator talked Danny through how to carry out CPR on Riley until the ambulance arrived at their home in Oxford Road, Clacton.

Distraught Louise followed the ambulance to Colchester General Hospital in a police car. However, doctors were unable to save the youngster.

“They were trying to breath for him, but there was no oxygen in his blood,” said Louise. “That’s when they stopped.

“It was devastating – just horrible.”

Tests last week revealed Riley had caught the herpes simplex 1 virus, a common cause of cold sores.

It is very rare in newborn babies, affecting just one in 10,000 in the UK.

But it can be a killer, attacking the heart, liver and lungs.

The virus can be caught from anyone who comes into contact with a baby.

Danny said: “I was so chuffed when Riley was born – he was brilliant.

“He looked like us and had thick black hair.

“The only thing we were concerned about was his breathing and the little blisters, but the midwife reassured us it was all fine so we stopped worrying."

Danny added: “Riley was only here for nine days, but we’ve got about 100 photos of him.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever had to go through.”

The couple hope their tragedy will help others spot the infection before it is too late.

“Six babies a year die of the infection, but that’s six too many,” said Louise.

Study shows water cups don’t clean pong balls

The next time students team up for a round of beer pong, they should consider the risk involved of germs and diseases spreading between participants, medical experts say.

Playing with ping pong balls that hit the ground as well as cups touched or drank out of by other players can give students more than just a Friday night buzz.

"Your game is a game of sharing alcohol and the bacteria on your hands and mouth," said Michael Leonard, medical director of Health Services at Binghamton University.

Beer pong, also known as Beirut, is a popular drinking game that consists of two teams lining up racks of either six or 10 cups filled with alcohol on opposite sides of a long table and throwing ping pong balls into these cups. If a player sinks a ball into a cup, the opposing team must drink its contents, and the cup is removed. The game is won by whichever team successfully hits all of their opponent's cups first.
The risk of picking up unwanted germs is often introduced when a ball hits the floor or the table surface during a game.

"Most respiratory viruses are transferred by touch," Leonard said. "Everyone touches their face and you bring it into your system."

Teams usually use a water cup to rinse the ball, but according to Leonard, this is not nearly enough to sanitize it. He said that unless the water is boiling, it will do little to destroy the bacteria crawling within it.

In 2006, George Washington University students Aaron Heffner and Ben Morrissey tested cups used in an all-night beer pong game for bacteria. They found that the most concentrated bacteria, including salmonella and E. coli, resided in the water cup used to "clean off" the ball at the start of every turn.

Leonard added that although alcohol has sanitizing properties, players need the degree of alcohol contained in Purell or similar products to kill bacteria. Purell contains about 65 percent ethyl alcohol, whereas beers in the United States typically contain only 4 to 6 percent alcohol by volume.

Leonard also noted that sharing cups while playing beer pong can spread respiratory infections, stomach viruses, strep throat and even herpes.

In 2009, the federal Center for Disease Control debunked a claim linking beer pong with a rise in herpes simplex two virus on American college campuses. But Leonard pointed out that most students who contract the chronic virus, which is characterized by cold sores on the mouth, do not know how they got it.
Some BU students said they understood the risks of playing the popular game.

"When you look in the cup, you see hair and dirt," said Chris Tenore, a senior majoring in integrative neuroscience. "You're playing with random people and don't know if someone has mono. The dirt issue gets overlooked in the spirit of things because everyone's trying to have a good time."

Tenore plays in beer pong tournaments at the Rathskeller Pub in Downtown Binghamton, but uses cups filled with water in the game, drinking only out of his own bottle of beer so as not to take the chance of getting germs from the floor in his cup.

"That floor is sketchy," he said.

"I don't play beer pong because it's gross," said Laquisha Turner, a senior majoring in sociology. "The ball, it falls to the floor. People's hands are touching the ball; the act of putting it in the cup, it's dirty. People might go to the bathroom and not wash their hands."

Other students, however, said they did not see any danger in playing beer pong.

"I don't think you should live your life in fear," said Julian Vives, a senior double-majoring in psychology and Africana studies. "I'm not concerned with germs or catching something. It doesn't matter because it's about fun."

Vives said that when he plays beer pong, there are usually friends of his standing on the sidelines who will catch the ball before it skids off the table so as to minimize contact with dirty surfaces.