Health Newsletter:November 2005
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Contents |
Exotic Mushrooms Best Source For Antioxidants
Antioxidants provide powerful cellular protection, and several sources are available through food. One of them under the name ergothioneine was known to be available through food sources like wheat germ or chicken liver. The latter is not necessarily a popular choice for a lot of people! However, antioxidants are necessary to protect us from diseases like arthritis, Alzheimers disease and cancer.
Researchers at Penn State have better news in the meantime. Joy Dubost, who led the research team, stated in a recent press release, that exotic mushrooms like shiitake, oyster mushrooms, king oyster or maitake mushrooms contain up to 13 mg of the desirable antioxidant ergothioneine in a typical serving, about 40 times as much as wheat germ.
Consumers who are reluctant to try these varieties and are more used to Portobello mushrooms, crimini mushrooms (brown mushrooms) or even the ubiquitous white mushrooms, still get a good dose of up to 5 mg ergothioneine per serving. Antioxidant levels do not decrease when the mushrooms are cooked.
The Medical Post, September 27, 2005, page 21
Pre-Conception Nutrition For Healthy Children
The importance for good maternal nutrition during pregnancy has been emphasized for a long time. Of course in this case it was up to the mom-to-be to avoid toxins, such as smoking and alcohol and to take prenatal supplements along with sensible nutrition. Enticing the women away from the excesses of the standard Western diet would yield handsome health benefits for the country. Dr. David Barker, a medical advisor to the British government pointed out, that this approach would reduce heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases in the mothers as well as in their offspring. This concept does not address all the aspects, which are important for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.
For the past 20 years a group of around 20 British family physicians, obstetricians and researchers under the name of Foresight has been putting a program into practice, which identifies and addresses the health deficiencies in prospective parents. Almost all couples that followed the pre-conception program had previously experienced problems relating to conception, pregnancy and birth. In one follow-up study of 367 couples that followed the Foresight program from 1990 to 1992, 327(89%) of the women became pregnant and had healthy, well-developed babies. None of the babies suffered malformations and none was transferred to special care. Of the 367 couples, 217(59 %) had suffered from infertility (from 1 to 10 years) and 139 (38%) had histories from 1 to 5 previous miscarriages. Eleven (3%) had previously given birth to a stillborn child, 40 had small-for-date babies and 15 had already had a low birth weight baby (less than 2,500 g). Seven couples had a previous baby with malformations and three had lost a baby to sudden infant death. In a larger follow-up study of 1,076 couples, almost all of whom had previous fertility or miscarriage problems, 846 conceived success rate of 78%, as reported by Belinda Barnes, who runs Foresight. There were four problem pregnancies, including one Down syndrome baby, two terminations and one child with an adhesion of the intestine, which was correctable. This is a complication rate of only 0.47 %. As the complication rate in the general population amounts to 6.43%, the pre-conception program has only 1/7th of the complications, a strong indicator that a pre-conception program does make a difference.
The Medical Post, September 27, 2005, page 33
Digital Mammography Superior For Some
Mammography has been considered a reliable screening test for breast lumps. It has become a crucial diagnostic tool for the early recognition of breast cancer. Nevertheless there are situations when the test has its limitations, which is especially true for women who have very dense breast tissue.
Dr. Martin Yaffe, PhD, a biophysics professor at the University of Toronto and Women's College Health Sciences Center has done the groundwork for digital mammography, and 20 years of research and development have finally paid off. For women who have dense breast tissue, digital mammography will be the superior diagnostic tool, as opposed to the conventional film mammography. In a study that involved 42,760 patients who were asymptomatic both film mammography and digital mammography were used for screening. In the general study population the accuracy of the two methods was found to be similar. In the group of women under 50 years of age the digital method showed significantly more accuracy (84% vs. 69%). Accuracy for women with dense breasts was also higher with the digital method (78% vs. 68%). It also was superior for premenopausal women (82%vs.67%).
The digital equipment used was still in its development stages, and the potential of the technology will become even greater with more sophisticated equipment down the road. At this point it is not cost effective to use the digital method for all women. The digital system costs between one and a half to four times as much as the film systems. "There is certainly no indication that digital is any less accurate than film mammography, but certainly the benefit is in a defined subgroup of women at this time," states Dr.Yaffe. For most women film mammography remains a method that works well.
The Medical Post, October 4, 2005, page1, 62.
Hard Liquor And Beer Hike Colon Cancer Risk
The old adage of "everything in moderation" has become something like an excuse-me note for those who do not wish to change their lifestyle. And the little bit that supposedly does not harm is another variation in the theme of excuses. Yet the truth remains, that this does not apply to various lifestyle habits. It still matters, what you ingest in your food or drink, as Dr. Joseph Anderson found out in a study of 2,291 patients.
All of these individuals presented for screening colonoscopy. It turned out that those who had a history of consuming more than 8 drinks of spirits or beer per week for at least ten years were more than twice as likely as abstainers to have significant cancer of the colon. The group that drank beer and hard liquor (and hard liquor also applies to the category of mixed drinks) faced at least a one in five chance to have significant colorectal neoplasia (meaning cancer of the colon or rectum). This came as no surprise to the researchers, as beer and hard liquor seem equally pernicious.
Even though wine does not seem to carry the same risk, Dr. Anderson is in no position to condone counseling patients to drink wine instead. His advice to other doctors is to " counsel the patients on what they are drinking and counsel them to temper their drinking."
The Medical Post, October 11, 2005, page 46
More Is Not Always Better In Exercise
Physical activity and good nutrition are the keys for a healthy immune system. Dr. David Nieman, PhD, from the Appalachian State University of Boone, N.C. has found that exercise and nutrition play a strong role in boosting immunity. His past research showed that women who walked briskly for 30 to 45 minutes five days for 12 to 15 weeks had colds half as often as inactive women. This is true even for the aging population, where immunity tends to decline; some research has shown that fit elderly people have better-preserved immune systems. It is tempting to conclude, that more exercise would lead to even better benefits, but the research results are quite different. Exercising for too long (beyond 90 minutes) appears to cause a steep drop in immune function that can last up to 24 hours. In the 1987 Los Angeles Marathon, Dr. Nieman surveyed 2,311 runners and found those who raced were six times more likely to get sick afterward compared with those who dropped out of the race for non-medical reasons. Runners who trained more than 96 km per week during the two months before a race doubled their chances for sickness compared with those who trained less than 36 km per week. In lab tests on marathon runners who ran on a treadmill for 90 minutes to 3 hours at 80% aerobic capacity, the level of immune cells had decreased (neutrophils, monocytes, natural killer cells, T cells and B cells). All these players in the immune system leave the blood and concentrate on the effort to do repairs and maintenance on the muscles. As a result the front line soldiers are unavailable for defense when viruses are present. The best strategies for active as well as not-so-active individuals remain similar.
- Minimize life stresses-mental and emotional.
- Avoid over training and chronic fatigue.
- Curb exercise if you have a fever or systemic infection.
- Eat a well-balanced diet with adequate energy.
The Medical Post, October 11, 2005, page 19
