Tag Archive for 'Prevention'

Surprising benefits of watermelon

Published on October 3, 2011 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

When we think of summer, we often think of a delicious wedge-shaped cold piece of juicy watermelon. This said, watermelon can be found all year round.

There are many benefits to eating watermelon. First of all, they are a great way to get many of your vitamins. Vitamin A, good for maintaining eye health and also an antioxidant; Vitamin C, a plus for strengthening our immunity and encouraging healthy teeth and gums, and Vitamin B6, great for boosting brain functioning and converting protein into energy.

In the past, tomatoes have been given a lot of credit for a great source of lycopene, which is a powerful antioxidant which helps to fight heart disease and several types of cancer – prostate cancer in particular. However, watermelon actually has the highest concentrations of lycopene of any fresh fruit or vegetable! It is also a great source of potassium, which helps to lower the risk of high blood pressure. Watermelon also contains the two amino acids citrulline and arginine. These amino acids help to maintain arteries, blood flow and overall cardiovascular function. And don’t forget, watermelon is not only low in calories, it is even high in fiber.

So even though many of us think of watermelon as a dessert or snack option, when you think about all the nutrition it packs, you might want to have it as a main part of your cuisine.

 

Don’t get burned by your laptop

Published on September 29, 2011 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , .

We’ve all done it from time to time; resting our laptops on our laps while watching t.v., at the airport or maybe the doctor’s office. Well, according to a study from the University in Basel, Switzerland, resting a laptop on your thighs can cause a burning itchy rash.

The heat that is created by laptops can lead to a condition now known as “toasted skin syndrome.” With this condition, skin can become discolored or splotchy. Unfortunately, in extreme cases, the damage can even be permanent. You can protect yourself by resting your computer on a laptop pad or at least a thick blanket or pillow.

Some basic reminders about sunscreen

Published on July 25, 2011 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Well since we are here in yet another sweltering summer, it wouldn’t hurt to bring up some basic facts to remind people to not forget the sunscreen! Plus, for those of you who care more about appearance than health, remember that the most important indicator for the health and appearance of your skin is the use of sunscreen.

It’s very important to stay in the shade when the sun is at it’s peak hours, till around 2pm, and always wear sunscreen whether it’s sunny or not. Try to make putting on sunscreen a daily habit, like taking a shower and brushing your teeth. Think about how much younger you will stay later in life when others will be wrinkled and spotted like a dried up apple that has fallen from a tree and baked in the sun.

Appearance is very important to most people, but preventing skin cancer is much more serious. So what exactly causes skin cancer? Well, it is caused by the ultraviolet A and B rays from the sun and, sorry tanning bed lovers, tanning beds. If you like a quick and even tan without going in the sun, try the new spray tans! Most tanning salons who have the tanning beds, offer this quick and safe type of spray tanning. UVA rays can permeate deep into the skin and even through window glass. They can eventually overpower the immune system, making the body unable to guard against developing skin cancer. Again, for those trying to stay young, UVA rays also cause premature wrinkling.

The rays that cause us to get sunburn are UVB rays. An easy way to remember which rays cause which is UVA for aging and UVB for burning. This said, both UVA and UVB are cancer-causing agents.

The more you are in the sun during your lifetime, the more likely you could develop skin cancer. Since this is a collective risk over time, it is so important to protect your skin from the sun’s effects every day, even when you will be outside for short periods of time. This is especially true in the spring, because even though the temperature is low, the sun is very strong.

So don’t be caught out in the sun at an event without having put on sunscreen. Put your sunscreen on first thing in the morning, even before your moisturizer and make-up. If you are strapped for time, you can make things simple and just use your sunscreen as your moisturizer. The majority of people don’t put on enough sunscreen. Try to remember to use about the size of a shot glass full of sunscreen to cover all your exposed areas. Don’t forget your ears and lips. To avoid a mess in your hair, you can use a spray sunscreen for your scalp. It is important to protect this area too, because that is the closest area to the sun. Also use a lip balm with an SPF of 30. Try to reapply your sunscreen every 2 hours or less, even when it is waterproof.

With all the different sunscreens out there, it is so hard to understand what SPF to choose. Some have said that sunscreens with an SPF more than 15 do not protect any better than those with just an SPF of 15. Not true. Sunscreens that have a higher SPF than 15 absolutely protect better against the sun’s damaging rays! Whether you pick a lotion, spray, gel or wax, make sure you choose a sunscreen that has a broad spectrum coverage with both UVA and UVB protection, is waterproof and has an SPF of 30 or higher. Have fun in the sun, but don’t get burned.

U.S. shows progress on cancer report

Published on June 26, 2011 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

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Around 1, 596, 670 Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year. Within that number, about 571, 950, which is more than 1,500 each day, will die. These figures come from the June 17 report from the American Cancer Society. They update cancer incidence and mortality statistics every year. Their Cancer Facts and Figures 2011 provides a more in depth explanation of where the United States rates when it comes to cancer.

Dropping since the 1990s, cancer death rates have proceeded to decline among males and females in almost all racial and ethnic groups since 1998, according to the report. The ACS believes that the falling rate in cancer mortality rates from 1990 to 2007 designate almost 900,000 lives that could have been lost due to cancer but were not.

Even though they have been increasing since the 1930s, lung cancer death rates have been on the decline for women. For men, the death rates began to fall about 10 years ago. This said, lung cancer will be the cause of almost 25 percent of all cancer deaths for women in 2011.

From 1997 to 2007, cancer death rates for men plunged by 22.2 percent for men and for women by 13.9 percent. Most of the lessening was the result of decreasing mortality rates for colorectal and breast cancer for women and lung, prostate and colorectal cancers for men.

Disturbingly, the report notes that the American Cancer Society reveals that cancer death rates for the least educated are more than twice the amount of that for the most educated. The report claims that if this difference was eradicated, 37 percent of the premature cancer deaths that happened in 2007 among those between 25 to 64 years old, could have been prevented. This number mirrors more than 60,000 lives.

Even though all this is good news, cancer is still the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. The ACS reports that cancer is responsible for almost one in every four deaths. Currently, only heart disease kills more.

New DNA tests may eliminate most colonoscopies in the future

Published on February 15, 2011 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Here is some good news for those of you who cringe at the thought of getting a colonoscopy: new research indicates that most colonoscopies will not be necessary in the future. Why is this? Well there have been two new DNA-based tests that claim to be able to detect colon cancer early. If this holds to be true, this will have a huge impact on reducing colon cancer. Colon cancer is a devastating disease that affects around 150,000 people a year in the U.S. and costs and astounding $14 billion to treat.

These new tests could allow the majority of people to bypass colonoscopies, which are currently recommended for people who are 50 and older. Instead of screening everyone, doctors may refer people for a colonoscopy only in cases where they have tested positive in one of the DNA tests.

It is believed that more people will go and get one of these DNA tests, because they are noninvasive in comparison to a colonoscopy, which uses a seeing tube that is fed threw the colon. These new tests could be available within the next two years.

In one of the test, created by Exact Sciences of Madison, Wisconsin, stool samples are examined to see if they contain the four altered genes that are characteristic of colon cancer. This test could find cancerous and precancerous tumors at an early curable stage that can be removed quickly.

The other test searches for changes in a single gene, called Septin 9, which is not one of the Exact Sciences’ panel of four genes. Epigenomics AG in Germany developed this test.

The good news is that both of these tests would be less costly than a colonoscopy and perhaps even more effective. The first test, which examines stools, will cost around $300. The current average cost of a colonoscopy is around $2000. A lot of people tend to avoid colonoscopies because they are invasive, and the general cost per detection is high since most people are in pretty good health. They also miss many tumors in the upper part of the intestine.

Exact Sciences has decided to sign up several thousand patients in a future trial that they hope the FDA will approve. The trial will be finished in 2012 and the test will be available soon after that, as long as it is approved.

Dr. David Ahlquist from the Mayo Clinic, who is an adviser to Exact Sciences, said “If widely used, and regularly, this test really does have the opportunity to eliminate colon cancer.”

Of course, the value of the tests depend heavily on details such as their sensitivity, which means the proportion of detected tumors and their specificity, or how many of the positive results are false alarms. In July, Exact Sciences claimed that its test was extremely sensitive and specific when applied directly to cells taken from tumors. In reality, the tumor DNA has to be detected in stool samples. This is a much harder to accomplish, because almost all the DNA comes from the bacteria of the gut, and only 0.01 percent of the DNA in feces is human. In October, the company revealed  at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research that in a trial of 1,100 patients, the test detected 64 percent of polyps, larger than 1 centimeter in diameter, and 85 percent of cancers, as judged by the colonoscopies that were also performed on the patients.

Dr. Ahlquist is happy with the results, particularly the 64 percent detection rate for precancerous polyps.

Even though this detection rate seems less than perfect, it will be highly effective is the test is performed on a regular basis. Ahlquist said that “The pap smear detects only 50 percent of cervical cancers, but applied over time it virtually eliminates the disease.”

The Exact Sciences test specificity is 88 percent. This means that 12 percent of the time a patient will be given a false alarm. This may not be so bad, since the worst that will occur is that the patient will have to undergo an unnecessary colonoscopy.

Two new drugs may help fight hepatitis C

Published on January 24, 2011 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Things may be looking up  for a long overlooked epidemic. There will be two very powerful drugs available soon that may help cure many people of the hepatitis C disease which attacks the liver. This said, most people who have the infection are not even aware of it yet.

Remarkably, around two-thirds of hepatitis C sufferers are believed to be baby boomers who may have acquired this disease in their carefree youth. The virus can take twenty to thirty years to complete its damage.

Perhaps it is time to consider if the government should suggest that baby boomers be checked for hepatitis C like they are for cancer.

This two-drug treatment for hepatitis C will cure about 40 percent of people who have the common variety of the virus, but can cause some unwelcome side effects. Major studies reveal that adding a new drug – either Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ telaprevir or Merck & Co.’s boceprevir – can lift those cure rates to as high as 75 percent. They also allow people to cut treatment time in half, about six months, which will reduce how long they have to endure those terrible side effects.

If the FDA approves the drugs, they would be the first to directly target the hepatitis C virus. The decision is expected to be announced sometime this summer.

The most significance could come if more people would get tested for hepatitis C, which is a blood-borne virus. Most people think that it is a only a risk for those who inject illegal drugs. The virus could also have begun from blood transfusions before 1992. Testing of the blood supply was not performed until then.

People are still exposed today in health care facilities due to errors in infection control. Even a one-time experiment with drugs, perhaps in college, could also expose someone. Many doctors are hesitant to ask a middle-aged conservative patient to reveal, according to Dr. John Ward.

Both abstinence and excess drinking linked to dementia

Published on January 24, 2011 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Scientists have recently found that whether you drink too much or not at all, you may increase your risk for developing dementia.

In the December issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, a Finnish study found that people who either didn’t drink at all or those who drank heavily, are at increased risk for dementia later in life.

Led by Jyri Virta from the University of Turku in Finland, scientists discovered that the pattern of drinking and the amount of alcohol consumed were both crucial factors in the risk for dementia.

For example, people who drank the quantity of a bottle of wine at one sitting only once a month but controlled their drinking the rest of the time, still increased their risk for dementia according to the researchers. The study found that binge drinking actually doubled the risk.

Even more scary was the fact that the study claims that passing out from heavy drinking just once was enough to increase one’s risk for cognitive impairment.

The research depended on a study group established in 1974 called the Finnish twin cohort. It explored links between the environment and chronic diseases.

In a statement the scientist  Jyri Virta said, “Our finding is significant as the changes typical of Alzheimer’s disease – the most common dementia syndrome – are thought to start appearing two to three decades before clinical manifestation and therefore identification of early risk factors is imperative.”

Surprisingly, people who never drank alcohol were found to be at more risk for cognitive impairment than moderate drinkers. This finding provides even more proof that totally staying away from alcohol can increase some health risks. In earlier research, non-drinkers were four times more likely to get rheumatoid arthritis than moderate drinkers.

The researchers used questionnaires on which people rated their own drinking, possibly distorting the results.

Virta said that one explanation for moderate drinkers showing some health benefits could be that they are more likely to live healthier in general.

New discovery of anti-allergy protein

Published on January 7, 2011 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

A human protein that prevents hay fever, atopic dermatitis and other allergies has been discovered by a group of researchers. This breakthrough could pave the way for outstanding medicines that will treat these kinds of conditions.

A team at Tokyo’s University of Tsukuba, led by Professor Akira Shibuya, made the discovery. It was recently published by the scientific journal Nature Immunology.

The article explains that humans already carry the protein in their bodies. The group of researchers found the protein, named Allergen-1, on the outside area of mouse and human mast cells. Histamine and other allergy-causing substances are produced and released by these mast cells.

The group discovered that Allergen-1 prevents mast cells from sending signals to release histamine and similar substances. They also found that mice who were lacking in Allergen-1 were afflicted by extreme allergies.

Shibuya said that “If medicines enhancing Allergen-1 functions are developed, we can block the discharge of histamine and allergy-causing substances. We can then fundamentally suppress most allergies and provide sufferers with much better treatments.

Presently, there are medicines that keep the body from activating histamine and similar substances to treat those who suffer from allergies.

When the body’s immune system overreacts to protect the body from invading substances, allergies are activated. Some examples of allergies that often occur are allergic rhinitis and anaphylaxis caused by repeated bee stings.

The purpose of allergic reactions is to get rid of parasitic worms from the body by discharging extremely toxic substances like histamine. That is why these type of reactions can create such severe symptoms.

Study says get more sleep to lose weight

Published on December 14, 2010 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

A new study seems to suggest that cutting a lot of calories won’t do you any good if you don’t get enough sleep, because you won’t be losing the right kind. This new study, which was published recently online in the Annals of Internal Medicine, indicates that reducing your sleep from 8.5 hours to 5.5 hours can make you less able to lose fat.

In the study, ten overweight dieters who reduced their calories by 10 percent, lost a substantial amount of weight – but the kind of weight they lost was different depending on how long they slept.

More than half of the weight lost was fat for dieters who had a complete night’s worth of sleep, but only one-fourth of the weight lost was fat when the researchers took three hours off their sleep. This revealed that 75  percent that was burned was nonfat mass like protein, important building blocks of muscle and other vital body tissues.

You may wonder, how could this happen? Well the researchers think that it’s because of the way sleep levels affect the levels of ghrelin, which is a hormone that stimulates hunger and supports fat retention. These are definitely two symptoms that you want to avoid if you are trying to lose weight. The authors wrote that “sleep loss amplifies these ghrelin-associated changes. Thus, the increased loss of fat-free body mass during the short-sleep condition of our study may be due to increased conversion of body protein into glucose to support the more prolonged metabolic needs of the waking brain and other glucose-dependent tissues.”

Since all the dieters stuck to the same calories during the study, keeping the sleep-deprived from giving in to their hunger pains, the experiment may even reveal less negative effects of sleeplessness than in reality.

So what can we learn from this? Lighten up on the work if you can and record that late night movie so you can get your much needed sleep. It is definitely the easiest way to combat those unwanted pounds.

Study finds marijuana can damage young brains

Published on November 17, 2010 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , .

According to a Harvard study, smoking marijuana habitually before age 16 can cause changes in the brain, making it harder for a young person to focus, learn from their mistakes and to think abstractly.

When brain scans were analyzed, activation was seen in regions of the brain of the youngest pot smokers that was not seen in the smokers who started after age 16. Researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital found that this indicates early exposure to marijuana can cause neural changes. Early and habitual users of marijuana did not do well on tests of cognitive functions such as mental flexibility.

Study author Staci Gruber, the director of the cognitive and clinical neuroimaging core at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. claims that research on how marijuana changes a developing brain is very important, because it is the most frequently used illegal drug in the United States. A 2009 study from the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that around 16 percent of eighth graders have tried marijuana, and the amount continues to increase to about 42 percent by 12th grade.