| Thursday, September 4, 2003 |  |
| NARCISSISM CAN WRECK A RELATIONSHIP |
 4 Sep 2003 @ 20:31From September 2003 Magical Blend For two decades, self-help books have hammered home a consistent theme for successful romantic relationships: first, you must love yourself. A new study, headed by a psychologist at the University of Georgia, may turn that wisdom on its head, though. It turns out that those with positive self-views bordering on narcissism are usually miserable mates--selfish, manipulative, unfaithful, and power hungry. The study, co-authored by Keith Campbell, assistant professor of psychology at UGA, Craig Foster of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Eli Finkel of Carnegie-Mellon University, was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Clinical narcissism itself is a personality disorder affecting only about one percent of the population, but there are millions who share characteristics of narcissists to a greater or lesser degree. In general, true narcissists think very highly of themselves, are not very concerned with intimacy, and believe they are unique and smarter and more attractive than others. They often maintain these feelings by seeking and expressing superiority to or dominance over others. Despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary, men are only slightly more likely than women to fall into this category. Narcissists often find it easy to get dating partners but rarely have long-term relationships. People with low opinions of themselves may be especially easy prey for narcissists. Viewing excessive narcissism as a problem is nothing new, of course. In Greek myth, Narcissus saw himself as beautiful and better than those around him, but his love of himself kept him from falling in love with anyone else. In the end, he fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water and died. If you want to read more on narcissism check out Sam Vaknin, Ph.D's website. It has lots of information and links...good reading. |
| DARK CHOCOLATE BOOSTS ANTIOXIDANT LEVELS |
 4 Sep 2003 @ 21:04By Gaia Vince August 27, 2003 New Scientist Eating chocolate can boost the level of heart-protecting antioxidants in the blood, but consuming milk at the same time cancels the potential health benefits, according to a new study. The researchers speculate that milk may also have the same effect on other antioxidant-rich foods, including fruit and green vegetables. Researchers in Scotland and Italy looked at the body's absorption of an antioxidant found in cocoa, called epicatechin, and a type of flavonoid. Dark chocolate contains about twice the amount of flavonoids as milk chocolate, so 12 healthy volunteers were given either 100 grams of plain chocolate or 200 grams of milk chocolate. Some were also given 200 ml of milk to drink in the double-blind experiment. The levels of antioxidant in their blood plasma were tested after one, two and four hours. Maximum benefit "Those volunteers who had dark chocolate had a 20 per cent increase in antioxidants in their plasma," says Alan Crozier, one of the team at the University of Glasgow. "But those who had milk chocolate, or milk with their dark chocolate, showed no increase in epicatechin plasma levels," Four hours after eating the chocolate, all the volunteers' blood antioxidant levels had returned to normal. To gain the maximum potential benefits from chocolate, Crozier suggests it may be advisable to refrain from milk products during that period. "Presumably the epicatechins are binding to the milk proteins," he told New Scientist . "Dairy products may inhibit the body's absorption of flavonoids from other foods as well." Antioxidants are involved in lowering the levels of free-radicals in the blood. Prolonged and high-level exposure to free radical has been linked to cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Journal reference: Nature (vol 424, p 1013) For another article on the benefits of Chocolate, check http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/74/5/563 |