Category: Health Conditions

Psoriasis linked to chronic inflammatory conditions

Psoriasis, a disease that causes red, raised patches of skin, is seen as a systemic
disease linked to arthritis and heart disease, according to Experts at Mayo Clinic
Women’s HealthSource.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have determined that psoriasis, a condition which results in  red, rough skin patches, is  a systemic
disease which is tied to cardiovascular disease and  arthritis.  All three diseases may have underlying an link which may be chronic inflammation.

Psoriasis patches come and go and sometimes flareup in response to triggers — such as allergies, infections,  medications, smoking, excessive alcohol use, stress, sunburn, harmful drugs, skin irritation or skin injury.

Methods that can help reduce the psoriasis include:

– Ultraviolet light slows the rapid growth of skin cells
– A daily bath with added bath oil, or epsom salts, dead Sea salts, or
colloidal oatmeal.
– thick moisturizing cream or ointment, applied several times daily
during cold, dry weather

Editor’s Note: Psoriasis is also a detoxification problem resulting from digestive issues. This results in the body eliminating toxins through the skin  (the skin and lungs are our secondary detoxification systems). Avoiding foods that can aggravate psoriasis and strengthening the digestive system such as
taking probiotics and enzymes with meals can help improve the psoriasis.

Ginger Quells Chemo-induced Nausea

A recent randomised clinical trial funded by the NIH has confirmed what many grandmothers would have suspected: that ginger can decrease nausea caused by chemotherapy. Better still, it seems that the effect goes beyond that provided by standard anti-vomiting drugs.

A recent randomised clinical trial funded by the NIH has confirmed what many grandmothers would have suspected: that ginger can decrease nausea caused by chemotherapy. Better still, it seems that the effect goes beyond that provided by standard anti-vomiting drugs.

The double-blind, placebo-controlled study included 644 cancer patients who to receive at least 3 chemotherapy treatments. They were divided into four groups who received placebos, 0.5g of ginger, one gramme of ginger, or 1.5g of ginger along with current antiemetics drugs.

Patients took the ginger supplements three days prior to chemotherapy and three days following treatment. Patients reported nausea levels at various times of day during following their chemotherapy and those who took the lower doses of ginger had a 40 per cent reduction in their symptoms.

Protein hormone Leptin Shows Promise in Treatment of Alzheimers Disease

Protein hormone Leptin Shows Promise in Treatment of Alzheimers Disease

The December 16, 2009 Journal of the American Medical Association  featured an article on a long-term study of elderly  individuals who have not been diagnosed with dementia.  The study, led by researchers from BUSM and the Framingham Heart Study,  focuses on the association between the protein hormone leptin and the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

The researchers found that those subjects who had higher baseline levels of Leptin circulating in their blood system also had a significantly reduced incidence of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Individuals in the lowest quartile of gender-specific leptin levels had an absolute Alzheimer’s risk of 25%, while persons in the highest quartile had only a 6% risk over a 12-year follow-up period.

Avoiding fast food burgers and fried chicken may reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes

A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that black women who ate fast food burgers or fried chicken at least twice a week were 40 to 70% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes over 10 years than women who never ate these high calorie foods.

Using data from the 44,072 participants in the Black Women’s Health Study, 2873 cases of type 2 diabetes occurred during 10 years of follow-up.  

Researchers believe that the weight gain associated with eating too much high calorie fast food explains most of these diabetes cases; previous studies have shown that becoming overweight or obese greatly increases a person’s chance of developing type 2 diabetes.

Women who ate restaurant meals of hamburgers, fried chicken, fried fish, and Chinese food more than once a week had a higher body mass index (BMI) on average than women who claimed to never eat fast foods.

Study authors point out that this risk factor for type 2 diabetes may be readily modifiable by dietary changes.

SOURCE:  Consumption of Restaurant Foods and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in African American Women, Krishnan, et al, Am J Clin Nutr, December 16, 2009, doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.28682.

Two foods to completely avoid

Avoid trans fats, found largely in commercially prepared baked and fried foods, These fats not only raise “bad” LDL cholesterol, but also lower levels of heart-healthy HDL cholesterol. High trans-fat intake has been linked to coronary heart disease, in which fatty plaques build up in the heart arteries, sometimes leading to a heart attack.

The food industry has been widely replacing trans fats with interesterified fat, another unnatural fat to completely avoid.

The interesterification process hardens fat, similar to the hydrogenation process, but without producing oils that contain trans fats. The end product, like trans fat, is less likely to go rancid and is stable enough to use to fry foods.

Avoid trans fats, found largely in commercially prepared baked and fried foods, These fats not only raise “bad” LDL cholesterol, but also lower levels of heart-healthy HDL cholesterol.  High trans-fat intake has been linked to coronary heart disease, in which fatty plaques build up in the heart arteries, sometimes leading to a heart attack.

The food industry has been widely replacing trans fats with interesterified fat, another unnatural fat to completely avoid.

The interesterification process hardens fat, similar to the hydrogenation process, but without producing oils that contain trans fats. The end product, like trans fat, is less likely to go rancid and is stable enough to use to fry foods.

However, like hydrogenation which generates unnatural trans fats, interesterification also produces molecules that do not exist in nature.

Studies show that interesterified fat raises your blood glucose and depresses insulin production. These conditions are common precursors to diabetes, and can present an even more immediate danger if you already have the disease (Nutrition & Metabolism 2007, 4:3doi:10.1186/1743-7075-4-3)

Editor’s Note: Stay with healthy fats such as olive oil, and even saturated fats in moderation such as butter or coconut oil.

To round out your healthy fat intake, be sure to eat raw fats, such as those from avocados, raw dairy products, and olive oil, and also take a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fat, or if vegetarian, supplement with Krill oil.

Innovative Medical Technique Saves Limbs

An innovative surgical technique called Bone Transport is being
used to save limbs. Dr. Austin Fragomen, Fellowship Director for
the Institute of Limb Lengthening and reconstruction surgery at
the Hospital for Special Surgery, uses an evolution of techniques
originally developed in Russia.

An innovative surgical technique called Bone Transport is being
used to save limbs. Dr. Austin Fragomen, Fellowship Director for
the Institute of Limb Lengthening and reconstruction surgery at
the Hospital for Special Surgery, uses an evolution of techniques
originally developed in Russia. Only a handful of surgeons in the
world use the procedure routinely (see also Dr. Austin Fragomen).

According to Dr. Fragomen, “The basic way it works is the bone is
cracked surgically and then the leg is put into an external fixation
device and the bone is separated one millimeter a day until the
desired length is achieved.

For more information visit http://www.hss.edu/physicians_fragomen-austin.asp or contact Dr. Austin Fragomen at 212-606-1550.

EPA and DHA needed for optimal nervous system function

A report appearing in the December 2009 issue of the American
Psychological Association journal Behavioral Neuroscience revealed
that diets that fail to provide enough of the omega-3 fatty acids
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may
negatively affect the nervous system.

A report appearing in the December 2009 issue of the American
Psychological Association journal Behavioral Neuroscience revealed
that diets that fail to provide enough of the omega-3 fatty acids
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may
negatively affect the nervous system. The finding could impact
the understanding of information-processing deficits that occur
in schizophrenia, bipolar disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder,
attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Huntington’s
disease and other nervous system disorders.

Editor’s Note: Omega-3 fatty acids are one of the super nutrients that help protect the heart, eyes, brain and are used by every cell in the body. For more information on eye health and omega-3 fatty acids, see the “Research” section at Natural Eye Care Research

Statins Don’t Lower Pneumonia Risk

Taking popular cholesterol-lowering statin drugs does not lower the risk of pneumonia, according to a study published the British Medical Journal.

Taking popular cholesterol-lowering statin drugs does not lower the risk of pneumonia, according to a study published the British Medical Journal.

There was some hope that statins could help prevent certain infections. But the study, which involved 65- to 94-year-olds with intact immune systems, found that pneumonia risk was, if anything, slightly higher in people using a statin than in those not using any.

Researchers emphasized that statins work well for what they were designed to do, such as lower cholesterol and the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Published 16 June 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2137
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2137

Editor’s Note: New research continues to show that other factors are greater indicators of heart disease and stroke such as C-reactive protein levels and homocysteine levels.

Learn more about harmful effects of statins.

Breast Cancer Researchers Focus on Stem Cells

Cancer drugs and radiation target and kill fast-growing cancer cells. But a small number of noncancer cells in the tumor often survive. These, researchers believe, are “mother” cells — stem cells that shrug off treatment and survive to manufacture more cancer cells.

Cancer drugs and radiation target and kill fast-growing cancer cells. But a small number of noncancer cells in the tumor often survive. These, researchers believe, are “mother” cells — stem cells that shrug off treatment and survive to manufacture more cancer cells.

“Cancer stem cells are present, we believe, in all cancers,” said Dr. Jenny Chang, medical director of the breast center at Baylor College of Medicine. “So that 1 to 5 percent of the cancer contains cancer stem cells. And while chemotherapy kills 99 to 95 percent of the tumor, what’s left behind is the 5 percent of cancer stem cells. Those will then regrow and regenerate.”

Chang spoke at a press briefing on experimental new cancer drugs Friday at the 32nd annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium , which continues through Sunday.

Exposure to Light at Night Linked to Breast Cancer

Women who live in neighborhoods with large amounts of nighttime light are more likely to get breast cancer than those who live in areas where the nights are darker. This reinforces previous studies that exposure to too much light at night can raise the risk of breast cancer by interfering with the brain’s production of melatonin, a tumor-suppressing hormone.

A study published in the journal Chronobiology International overlaid satellite images of Earth onto a map with local statistics of breast cancer and, for comparison, lung cancer, which is caused mostly by smoking and would not be expected to be linked to light.

After adjusting for variables such as ethnic makeup, birth rate, population density and local income, researchers found that breast cancer rate in localities with average night lighting to be 37% higher than in communities with the lowest amount of light. The rate was higher by an additional 27% in areas with the highest amount of light.

Research has shown that rats raised in cages where lights are left on at night have higher cancer rates than those allowed to sleep in darkness. Epidemiological studies of nurses, flight attendants and others who work at night have found breast cancer rates 60% above normal, even when other factors such as differences in diet are accounted for. On the basis of such studies, an arm of the World Health Organization announced its decision to classify shift work as a “probable carcinogen.”

SOURCE: Lights at Night Are Linked to Breast Cancer http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR2008021902398.html?hpid=moreheadlines