Health Newsletter:December 2007
Related Links:From WebHealth
Contents |
[edit] Add Spice to your Meals - Happy Holidays!
You may have a variety of traditional holiday treats planned. Probably you have included vegetables and fruit in your menu choices to create a healthy and tasty feast. Before you grab the salt shaker, when it comes to enhance flavors, take a good look at the many herbs and spices that do not only taste wonderful, but have health benefits too. Some good things stay over the millennia: already the old Egyptians used cumin, fennel, cardamom, thyme, coriander seed and cinnamon for medical purposes. Cinnamon is one of the big players. It has antimicrobial properties, has shown to decrease platelet clotting, and the newer research points out that it helps increase insulin sensitivity in diabetics. Parsley contains the substance Myristicin. It inhibits tumor formation and multiplication in animals and may give the herb the specific power to neutralize certain carcinogenic substances, like the toxic benzopyrenes that occur in charcoal grill smoke. Oregano scores high for its antioxidant contents. One tablespoon of fresh oregano contains 30 times the antioxidant power of an apple. Rosemary has been shown to inhibit tumor production in animal experiments and research suggests that ground rosemary powder has possible protective effects against breast cancer. Cilantro has been demonstrated to improve insulin release and improve blood sugar control in animal tests. The aromatic oils have powerful antimicrobial qualities. (This may explain how the herb has become such a popular ingredient in Mexican foods like salsa).The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry reported already in 2004 that coriander may be a natural means of fighting Salmonella. Further tests have shown that it is twice as effective as the antibiotic gentamycin at killing this bug. Happy and healthy cooking and happy holidays!
The Medical Post, October 26, 2007, page 21
[edit] Deep Brain Stimulation Pushes Treatment Boundaries
Thousands of patients with Parkinson disease have received DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation) as a new form of therapy. It has been successful for those, where conventional medications had reached their limit. DBS is a treatment in which electrical stimulation is delivered by electrodes which are surgically implanted into a targeted brain area. The electrical stimulation is generated by a small battery-driven device, and it may block or correct faulty brain signals. In patients with Parkinson disease the stimulation blocks abnormal nerve impulses which are responsible for the symptoms of stiffness, tremors and walking problems. It has made a difference in patients whose movement related problems had been previously untreatable. By this success scientists are encouraged to investigate whether DBS could benefit patients with brain injury and treatment resistant psychiatric disorders. Advanced techniques have helped researcher to “map” the brain and determine which circuits or regions are responsible for normal functioning or with psychiatric disorders. These advances in imaging techniques and the success in the treatment of Parkinson disease have led scientists to examine, whether the targeting of disease-associated brain areas might help patients with treatment resistant severe depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Electrical stimulation is different from a surgical approach, as surgery is non-reversible. DBS offers the advantage of being adjustable and reversible, but it remains to be an invasive procedure, and it will only be an option for patients with the most severe and untreatable illness. So far clinical trials have shown that the procedure was effective and safe enough, and it has been approved by the FDA in 1997 for unilateral treatment of essential tremor. Since 2002 it has been approved for bilateral treatment of Parkinson disease. So far about 35 000 patients have been treated with DBS.
JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) 2007;298(19):2249-2251
[edit] The Quest For Better Insulin Delivery
Over the years most insulin dependent diabetic patients accept the needle prick of the next insulin dose as a routine. It hurts a bit, but it is the only way to keep a close tab on their condition. About 8% of Canadian diabetics were using the form of inhaled insulin in the form of the Exubera inhaler. It must have been an unpleasant surprise for them, when the manufacturer pulled the drug from the market. Often drugs are recalled because of dangerous side effect, but this case was different: the maker discontinued the medication for financial reason. The inhaler worked as well as injection, but despite this it was slow to catch on with physicians and patients. This is by no means the end in the quest to find better ways to administer insulin. From pens, pills to patches many methods are available or being researched. Dr. J.Robin Conway, director of the diabetes clinic in Smith Falls, Ontario, likens the various insulin delivery devices to tools: if there are more possibilities, the results will be better. Pens are an excellent alternative to the needle. They are filled with an insulin cartridge, and the dose is selected by a dial at the bottom of the pen.Both, cartridge and needle are disposable. Pumps offer a stream of basal insulin, but also can deliver a bolus jolt if necessary (for instance after a meal).The device is not larger than a pager and consists of an insulin reservoir, a battery operated pump and dosage control by a computer chip. A soft type of needle is connected by thin plastic tubing and is usually inserted under the skin in the abdominal area. The cannula (needle) is changed every two days. Another device is the Insulin jet. These needle free injection devices with disposable nozzles shoot insulin through the skin under pressure. The syringe is filled with the required dosage of insulin, and the administration requires a simple push of a button. Inhalers are still in the picture.Exubera may have been discontinued, but Generex’s Orallyn with its liquid insulin inhaler that is administered by a spray into the mouth is currently in the late stages of clinical trials. Novo Nordisk’s AERx is also expected to make its appearance on the market in a couple of years. Pills are about ten years away from their actual use. As it is, insulin cannot be eaten, as it is broken down in the gastrointestinal tract. Promising results come from research at Syracuse University that showed that insulin when attached to vitamin B12 can travel through the gastrointestinal tract and make it into the bloodstream. But human trials are still a long way off. Patches that use electrical currents and ultrasound waves for transdermal delivery of insulin are being worked on, but they are not due to enter the market for some time. Nasal sprays have been tried, but results so far have shown poor absorption. Nasal irritation has also been a problem. Dr. Conway is optimistic that there will be more technologies and refined devices which will improve convenience for the diabetic patient and lower costs.
National Review of Medicine, November 15-30, 2007, page 5
[edit] Breakthrough In Stem Cell Research
Previously the harvesting of stem cells has been fraught with ethical controversy, as stem cells were obtained from aborted human embryos. News from American as well as Japanese research teams has been released simultaneously, that will sidestep the ethical problems. The Japanese researchers have taken skin cells from the face of a 36 year old woman and transformed them into what appears to be embryonic stem cells. The American team used skin cells from infants’ foreskins and performed the same task. Stem cells in the developing embryo have enormous capacity for self renewal. They give rise to virtually every cell type in the body, heart, liver, kidney brain, as well as skin muscle bone and well over 250 other varieties of specialized cells. The work of both research teams is seen as a long-awaited medical advance in the hope of developing new therapies based on stem cells for diseases like diabetes, ,Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The journey of genetically preprogramming the embryonic stem cells into mature cells is not without difficulty and serious drawbacks. In the preprogramming at least one gene is involved that can cause cancer. Experts caution that at this point the new method is the best way to obtain embryonic stem cells, but it is still unknown whether the new work will lead to new treatment methods. The results of the research will however unlock the doors to obtain more insight into the cause of complex diseases like Alzheimer’s. Researchers can study cell patterns and find the causes for what has gone wrong in the disease process. Cells can also be used to test them in the screening of potentially new drugs.
1. Link regarding the ethical issues of this medical break through
2. Medical facts explained in newspaper article
[edit] Cancer Risks Connected To Diet Habits
The old adage of “You are what you eat” is not a notion that belongs into the horse and buggy age. Poor eating choices can and eventually will chip away on the body’s resilience to disease. The following brief outline is a summary of the findings of the yearly review of dietary habits, which was published by the World Cancer Research Fund. With cancer being the second largest cause of death (after coronary artery disease), the link of diet and cancer risk has been scrutinized in many studies. Beneficial choices that have been cited are a high consumption of vegetables and fruit. The recommendation of 7.5 servings of fruit and vegetables are still standing. Unfortunately a large segment of the population does not consume nearly enough of these foods. Bioflavonoids do make a difference for health, but not all of the ramifications are fully understood. The single most important fact that has been pointed out is the fiber content of vegetables and fruit. A diet which is high in fiber is protective to the risk of various cancers. As far as the “red flags” are concerned, red meat and processed meat products convincingly increase colorectal cancers. Persons who had the highest consumption of these foods had a 30% higher risk to develop colonic cancers as opposed to the group who had the least consumption of red and processed meat. Because of this it is now recommended that an intake of red or processed meat of 300 grams per week be not exceeded to reduce the cancer risk. At this point only people in south Asia or in Africa consume smaller amounts, but meat consumption has been rising: on the average 970 grams per week are consumed in Great Britain (women consume about 550 grams). Other western nations show similar patterns, so they have some ways to go until they decrease their cancer risk in that regard. The intake of alcohol as well as obesity has been known to be associated with a high cancer risk. Alcohol is known to be linked to a whole host of cancers: stomach, esophagus, pancreas as well as colorectal, along with ovarian cancer in women. For the consumer it spells out the importance of making healthy choices as far as their protein intake goes. Not all protein is available in fruit and vegetables, but there are great alternatives derived from grains, beans and their related products. Being adventurous in the kitchen and exploring foods of the world instead of sticking to burgers, hot dogs and fries will not only be rewarding for your taste buds, but also for your health.
1. BMJ 2007;335:897 (3 November)
2. World Cancer Research Fund. Food, nutrition, physical activity, and the prevention of cancer . Washington DC: American Institute for Cancer Research, 2007
