Monthly Archive for May, 2010

Statistics concerning diet and exercise appear unfair to women

Published on May 12, 2010 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Once again, mother nature seems to be harder on women than men. New research has come out revealing that women need lots of exercise to keep off the extra pounds as they age.

For older women who aren’t dieting, at least an hour of moderate exercise each day is recommended just to maintain a healthy weight. And for those of us who are already pleasantly plump, which is the majority of American women, even more exercise is suggested to keep from gaining weight without eating less, according to the study.

John Foreyt, a behavioral medicine expert who evaluated the study but wasn’t involved in the research, said “we all have to work at it. If it were easy to be skinny, we would all be skinny.”

So what is considered moderate exercise? Some examples are brisk walking, leisurely bicycling and golfing. Don’t get upset if you can’t commit to this for at least an hour a day. The researchers kindly reassured us that even a sprinkling of exercise is good for our health, even if it won’t make us thin.

The findings in this report were based on 34,079 non-dieting middle-age women that were observed for around 13 years. During the study, the women gained an average of 6 pounds.

The ones who began the study at a healthy weight, with a body mass index less than 25, and who also gained little or no weight in the study regularly got around an hour of moderate daily activity. There were only 13 percent in this group of women. A few women who were already overweight exercised the same, but it wasn’t enough to keep them from gaining weight. The results show just how hard it is to maintain a healthy weight in our society.

The results support a 2002 Institute of Medicine report that stressed the importance of balancing diet and exercise and recommended at least 60 minutes of daily moderate activity for adults as well as children. In addition, the study claimed that the 2008 U.S. guidelines urging around 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week will not keep the pounds from creeping on as we get older unless some calories are also cut out.

The study reaffirms some inescapable things about aging. Men and women often add weight, to some extent, because their metabolism slows down with age. Dr.I-Min Lee, the study’s lead author, said it possibly has less to do with that than the natural tendency to get more sedentary, without changing eating habits as we age.

Women are prone to gain weight, especially in the belly area, due to hormonal changes in menopause. Even so, Lee stressed that the benefits of exercise go beyond what you see visually. Exercise helps the heart stay healthy and protects against chronic disease, even if you don’t exercise enough to lose weight.

Expensive back surgeries are often risky and unnecessary

Published on May 12, 2010 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

According to a study of Medicare patients, more complex and expensive spinal fusion surgeries are increasing. Sometimes they are even performed unnecessarily for common lower back conditions that are the result of aging and arthritis.

The scary part is that these challenging operations are riskier and can lead to even more complications and sometimes even death.

The researchers claim that the cost to Medicare, for the hospital charges on the three types of back surgery reviewed, is around $1.65 billion annually.

In the study, all of the patients had  a condition called stenosis in their lower back. This is a painful squeezing in the spine that is common in people over 50. Three different types of surgery for the condition were compared by the researchers: simple fusion, decompression and complex fusion.

Dr. Richard Deyo of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland said, “It’s not necessarily true that the more aggressive surgery is better, at least in terms of safety.” There is currently not much agreement when it comes to the best way of treating chronic lower back pain. A lot of it depends on exactly what is causing the pain.

Deyo said that before considering surgery, patients should ask their doctors about other avenues to complicated operations. Perhaps steroid injections or physical therapy could be tried first. Maybe even a simple decompression procedure could be as effective as a spinal fusion and with less risk.

A decompression procedure is the simplest method in the Medicare study. In this procedure, a surgeon cuts away part of the bone that is pressing painfully on the nerves. It can run around $30,000 in hospital and surgeon fees.

During a fusion, a surgeon secures two or more vertebrae together using a bone graft, sometimes using plates and screws. A complex fusion, as defined by the researchers, involves three or more vertebrae or more than one side of the spine. Fusions can cost $60,000 to $90,000.

Data, from more than 32,000 Medicare patients who had one of the three types of surgeries in 2007, was reviewed by the researchers. It was found that a complex fusion was performed on more than half of the patients who only had a simple stenosis condition. Usually this condition calls for just decompression only. They did not have curvature of the spine or a slipped vertebra, which are specific conditions that suggest a fusion might be necessary.

Norovirus illness can be prevented easily

Published on May 12, 2010 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Health officials around the Carolinas are trying their best to persuade people to prevent the spread of viruses by simply washing their hands often with soap and water. This winter there were norovirus outbreaks on a cruise ship out of Charleston and also at a teen conference in Raleigh.

Unfortunately, noroviruses are very common and contagious. They can cause a uncomfortable gastrointestinal illness which may result in quite a bit of vomiting and some diarrhea. This type of virus is spread through direct contact with a person who already has the virus. This occurs when someone touches a contaminated surface or eats or drinks contaminated food or water.

It usually spreads easily in schools, long-term care facilities, child care centers, restaurants and other settings where there are numerous amounts of people. That’s why it is so common for children to get this illness. It is very important to inform children of the necessity to frequently wash hands.

The symptoms that come with the illness include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping. Some people may also get a fever, chills, headache and muscle aches. The short-lived illness begins very suddenly and usually only lasts from 1 to 2 days. The elderly and young children can easily and quickly get dehydrated and may need medical care. Extreme cases may even require hospitalization. For this reason, it is very important to make sure a person with this illness gets plenty of fluids.

Currently there are no special medicines that can treat norovirus. Protect yourself by washing hands often. It is particularly important to wash hands after using the restroom and before preparing, serving or eating food or drinks. Do not prepare food if you are sick and for at least 48 hours after you have been sick.

One-third of breast cancer cases may be avoidable

Published on May 1, 2010 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Supporters of eating less and exercising have won yet again as results from a new study have been divulged. According to researchers, around a third of all breast cancer cases in Western countries could possibly be avoided if women consumed less food and exercised more.

Even though early diagnosis, mammograms and better treatments have helped to slow the disease, experts are now focusing on changing unhealthy behaviors like overeating and being too sedentary.

This new study only adds to a string of existing findings that lifestyle changes in areas such as smoking, eating, exercising and sun exposure can have a crucial effect on all kinds of cancer rates.

The head of epidemiology, Carlo La Veechia, emphasized the importance of  taking these findings seriously when he said “what can be achieved with screening has been achieved. We can’t do much more. It’s time to move on to other things.” He spoke last month at a European breast cancer conference in Barcelona.

Michelle Holmes, a cancer expert at Harvard University, warned that people might mistakenly believe that their likelihood of getting cancer leans more on their genes than on their lifestyle.

Breast cancer is currently the most common cancer among women. In Europe, around 421,000 new cases and almost 90,000 deaths occurred in 2008. Last year in the United States, there were more than 190,000 new cases  and  40,000 deaths.

During an average woman’s lifetime, her chance of developing breast cancer is around one in eight. According to a 2006 study by British researchers, obese women are up to 60 percent more likely to develop any cancer than normal-weight women.

Numerous breast cancers are encouraged by estrogen, which is a hormone manufactured in fat tissue. This is why experts believe that the more fat a woman has, the more estrogen she is likely to produce, which could initiate breast cancer. This said, even slim women can help reduce their cancer risk with exercise by converting more of the body’s fat into muscle.

The American Cancer Society now recommends that women get 45 to 60 minutes of physical activity for five or more days a week to reduce their chances of getting breast cancer.

Some good news for women who have survived breast cancer and want children; a separate study has found that breast cancer survivors who have children later, do not seem to be at any more risk for dying from cancer. For a long time, doctors have been troubled that pregnancy could ignite hormonal changes which could cause the disease to return. For this reason, many women have been told to avoid getting pregnant after they recover from cancer. The European breast cancer conference had experts who announced that cancer survivors who get pregnant are safe and it does not appear to be linked to the disease’s recurrence.

Ways to prevent whooping cough

Published on May 1, 2010 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

3494792940_a492198c46A  bacteria  called Bordetella pertussis causes the respiratory infection commonly referred to as the “whooping cough”. A person will go through two stages of sickness when they get infected with pertussis. The first phase has symptoms that are similar to the common cold such as runny nose, sneezing, mild cough and a low-grade fever. Then, after one to two weeks, a dry irritating cough turns into the second phase, which consists of coughing spells. During these coughing spells, babies may turn red or even stop breathing. The illness acquired its name from a “whooping” sound that  can sometimes be heard at the end of a coughing period.

Pertussis is spread from person to person and is very contagious. Before the vaccine, 5,ooo to 10,000 people died each year in the U.S.  Now, around 30 people die each year from pertussis. However, in 2004, there was an unusual surge of pertussis: 25,000 cases, which was the highest amount since the 1950s.

The best prevention against pertussis is simply to get a vaccination. Most infants should get their primary series of vaccinations against pertussis at 2, 4 and 6 months of age. Infants who are less than 6 months of age are at the most risk for being hospitalized with pertussis.

Since their immunity has weakened against the disease, children between ages 11 and 18 are also at a higher risk of pertussis. Children at this age usually have milder symptoms, but they can spread the disease to infants who are in close contact with them.

For these reasons, it is recommended, as well as required, that children get a booster vaccine (called TdaP) at 11 years of age.

Colon cancer deaths can be reduced by special procedure

Published on May 1, 2010 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

On April 29, British researchers announced that a procedure called a sigmoidoscopy performed between the ages of 55 and 64 can decrease colorectal cancer deaths by an astounding 43 percent.

These results, which were taken from the first major randomized trial of sigmoidoscopy, reveal that it is even more effective screening than mammography for breast cancer or PSA tests for prostate cancer.

This reaffirms current U.S. guidelines that recommend regular sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy to check for colorectal cancer.

During a sigmoidoscopy, a bendable tube equipped with a tiny camera is inserted into the rectum to scan the lower third of the bowel. More than 50 percent of bowel cancers happen in this area of the colon. All of the large intestine is examined during a colonoscopy.

This test finds tumors in their early stages of development, when the cure rate is almost 90 percent. It also spots and enables removal of polyps that could grow into tumors later.

At this time, only around 13 percent of all tumors are detected at that stage. Sadly, once symptoms develop, the cure rate is less than 50 percent.

Currently, colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer in the U.S.  It is diagnosed in about 147,000 people every year and kills almost 50,000. However, only around half of the qualified people in the U.S. get screened for it, according to the American Cancer Society.