Dr. John's Health Matters
Welcome to Dr. John's Health Matters blog.
The articles posted here are from various sources who are duly acknowledged. I would appreciate being immediately notified, if any copywritten material needs to be removed. This blog is not intended to replace the qualified advice of a licensed health practitioner. Readers should exercise their own judgment. Enjoy, subscribe, participate and tell others :)
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Posts tagged "disease"
Wednesday, Sep 2nd, 2009 ↓New iPhone App 'Outbreaks Near Me' Locates H1N1 (Swine Flu), Infectious Diseases →
Sept 2, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—A new iPhone application, created by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab, enables users to track and report outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as H1N1 (swine flu), on the ground in real time.
The application, “Outbreaks Near Me,” builds upon the mission and proven capability of HealthMap, an online resource that collects, filters, maps and disseminates information about emerging infectious diseases, and provides a new, contextualized view of a user’s specific location – pinpointing outbreaks that have been reported in the vicinity of the user and offering the opportunity to search for additional outbreak information by location or disease.
Additional functionality of Outbreaks Near Me is the ability to set alerts that will notify a user on their device or by e-mail when new outbreaks are reported in their proximity, or if a user enters a new area of activity.
“We hope individuals will find the new app to be a useful source of outbreak information – locally, nationally, and globally,” says HealthMap co-founder John Brownstein, PhD, assistant professor in the Children’s Hospital Informatics Program (CHIP). “As people are equipped with more knowledge and awareness of infectious disease, the hope is that they will become more involved and proactive about public health.”
For full article, see link above.
Tags: iPhone application swine flu H1N1 outbreak disease infectious location awareness
Caution on mix of cholesterol-lowering meds →
Sept 1, 2009 (Cbc.ca)—Combining a prescription cholesterol-lowering medication with omega-3 supplements may not be the best approach, a new review suggests.
Statins are medications that prevent the liver from producing cholesterol, which can help reduce the risk of heart attacks. Every year, Canadian doctors write more than 12 million prescriptions for statins, making them the most-prescribed drugs in the country. Omega-3’s are heart-healthy oils that some evidence suggests help reduce the risk of coronary disease.
In the Nov. 3 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, Dr. Mukul Sharma, medical director of the Regional Stroke Centre at the Ottawa Hospital, and his team reviewed five different cholesterol-lowering medications that can be combined as well as omega-3 supplements sold over the counter. They concluded there is little evidence to support mixing them.
Bad cholesterol increase
In one case, the researchers found taking prescription medication with omega-3 had the opposite effect.
“Your bad cholesterol, the LDL, actually goes up,” Sharma said. “There isn’t a benefit in terms of heart disease, stroke or mortality.”
Most cholesterol patients may be better off taking higher doses of one drug instead of multiple medications, since there may be less chance of side-effects and long-term problems developing, he said. People are also less likely to take their medications the more that are prescribed.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: cholesterol increase risk danger LDL prescription cardiovascular blood heart statin medication liver heart attack prevention coronary disease
Heart Suffers From Just a Few Whiffs of Smoke →
Sept 1, 2009 (Therapytimes.com)—Just a few whiffs of tobacco smoke or dirty air can have a profound negative impact on your heart’s health.
Study results released today by the American Heart Association suggest that exposure to even a small amount of smoke — whether it’s from your own cigarette or someone else’s — greatly increases your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. The same goes for breathing in air polluted with carbon monoxide emissions.
“It doesn’t require extreme exposure to have significant cardiovascular effects. Even passive exposures to ambient air pollution and secondhand smoke contribute to significant increases in cardiovascular mortality,” study author C. Arden Pope III, PhD, says in a statement.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: heart cardiovascular risk disease smoke tobacco risk danger exposure cigarette breathing air pollution
How Much Omega-3 Fatty Acid Do We Need To Prevent Cardiovascular Disease? →
Sept 1, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—A team of French scientists have found the dose of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) that is “just right” for preventing cardiovascular disease in healthy men. In a research report appearing in the September 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal, the scientists show that a 200 mg dose of DHA per day is enough to affect biochemical markers that reliably predict cardiovascular problems, such as those related to aging, atherosclerosis, and diabetes. This study is the first to identify how much DHA is necessary to promote optimal heart health.
“This study shows that regularly consuming small amounts of DHA is likely to improve the health status of people, especially in regards to cardiovascular function,” said Michel Lagarde, co-author of the study.
To determine the optimal dose of DHA, Lagarde and colleagues examined the effects of increasing doses of DHA on 12 healthy male volunteers between ages of 53 and 65. These men consumed doses of DHA at 200, 400, 800, and 1600 mg per day for two weeks for each dose amount, with DHA being the only omega-3 fatty acid in their diet. Blood and urine samples were collected before and after each dose and at eight weeks after DHA supplementation stopped. The researchers then examined these samples for biochemical markers indicating the effects of each dose on the volunteers.
“Now that we have a very good idea about how much DHA is just right, the next step is to try it out in an expanded clinical trial that involves many more people,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “Until then, I’ll stick with tasty foods that contain DHA, like fish, rather than getting a quick fatty-acid fix at the local vitamin store.”
Journal reference:
- Nicolas Guillot, Emilie Caillet, Martine Laville, Catherine Calzada, Michel Lagarde, and Evelyne Véricel. Increasing intakes of the long-chain -3 docosahexaenoic acid: effects on platelet functions and redox status in healthy men. The FASEB Journal, 2009; 23 (9): 2909 DOI: 10.1096/fj.09-133421
Tags: omega fatty acid DHA heart cardiovascular supplement disease prevention atherosclerosis diabetes
Surprising Rate Of Recurring Heart Attacks, Strokes Globally →
Aug 31, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Despite many medicines and other treatments for patients with vascular disease, a large international study shows these patients have a surprisingly high rate of recurring events such as strokes, heart attacks and hospitalizations as well as mortality.
Also unexpected: patients in North America (including the U.S.) experienced an above-average rate of these events. Patients in Eastern Europe had the highest rate, and those in Australia and Japan had the lowest.
The results from the international REACH (Reduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health) Registry, presented by a researcher from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, examined data for 32,247 patients one and three years after they enrolled in the registry. Patients who had symptomatic vascular disease had a 14.4 percent rate at one year and 28.4 percent rate at three years of having a heart attack, stroke, rehospitalization for another type of vascular event or vascular death. Patients with vascular disease in more than one location of the body had the highest event rate at 40.5 percent at three years.
When projected over the global population who would mirror the patients in REACH, this represents millions of serious vascular events occurring every few years, many of which could be prevented.
“We were surprised by the high rate of these recurring vascular events,” said lead author Mark J. Alberts, M.D., professor of neurology at the Feinberg School and director of the stroke program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “We know how to prevent vascular disease and the events that it produces. This points to the need for better prevention, better use of medications and a need to develop more potent medications. These are the number one and two causes of death throughout the world.”
For full article, see link above.
Tags: heart attack cardiovascular blood vessel stroke reoccurance rehospitalization disease prevention risk
Obesity Is A Poor Gauge For Detecting High Cholesterol Levels In Children →
Aug 29, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—With the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States, there is concern that overweight and obese children need to be screened for chronic medical conditions, including high cholesterol levels.
However, body fat is not an effective indicator of high cholesterol in children, according to new University of Michigan research.
Those are the findings of a U-M study led by U-M pediatricians Joyce Lee, M.D., MPH, and Matthew Davis, M.D., MAPP, which will appear in the August 3 edition of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
“We found, actually, that using body mass index to find kids with high cholesterol does not work well. There were many overweight and obese kids who had normal cholesterol, and there were a fair number of healthy-weight kids who had high cholesterol,” says Lee, a member of the Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Unit in the U-M Division of General Pediatrics, and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the U-M Medical School.
For full article see link above.
Tags: obesity weight cholesterol heart cardiovascular disease body fat BMI children child overweight prevention screening risk
Defend Against Disease with Broccoli Juice →
Aug 28, 2009 (NaturalNews.com)— Broccoli is a member of the cauliflower family or a Brassica. It is a diverse super food that is delicious when steamed or can be finely chopped and sprinkled on food for added nutrition. Juicing is a great way to get the most out of this amazing food. By drinking broccoli juice daily, we can prevent disease and transform our health.
Broccoli juice offers a whole array of amazing benefits that help us to enjoy optimum health. It contains glucoraphanin that converts into sulphoraphane, a powerful anticancer agent. It contains isothyocyanate, the chemical that activates our natural cancer inhibiting genes. The sprouted seeds and the broccoli juice help to fight prostate cancer. It contains compounds that help to detox the liver from cancer causing toxins.
With high levels of selenium and fiber, the juice of Broccoli offers protection from stomach and bowel cancer.
Broccoli juice contains compounds that protect cells from ultraviolet light. It helps to increase the production of protective enzymes that protect cells against different aspects of UV damage by working inside the cells. It helps in prevention of skin cancer.
Glucoraphanin present in the broccoli juice promotes antioxidant defenses in the body that help lower blood pressure and harmful inflammation in the heart and arteries.
The phytochemical sulforaphane helps the body defend against H. pylori, a bacteria that causes gastrointestinal problems. Thus, it helps to prevent stomach ulcers and painful bloating.
Broccoli juice contains fibers which help to maintain a healthy gastrointestinal GI tract. It reduces cholesterol levels in the blood. Calcium present in the Broccoli juice promotes healthy bones and helps to burn fat. It decreases the production of cortisol, which is a stress hormone, relating to food cravings and stomach fat.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: prevention disease broccoli juice benefit glucoraphanin sulphoraphane antioxidant anticancer cancer prostate detox liver selenium fiber stomach bowel uv damage skin bacteria gastrointestinal inflammation heart arteries bloating ulcer pain cholesterol blood
Consumers Duped by Trans Fat Labeling →
Aug 28, 2009 (NaturalNews.com)— FDA food labeling rules make it possible for consumers to exceed their maximum recommended daily intake of trans fats even if they eat only foods labeled “zero trans fats” per serving.
Trans fats, also known as hydrogenated oils, are synthetically produced by adding hydrogen atoms to unsaturated vegetable oils. Unlike natural unsaturated or saturated fats, trans fats have no nutritional value. They have been overwhelmingly shown to increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, such that several large cities and the state of California have banned their use in restaurants.
The fats are favored by food producers because they have a longer shelf life than natural fats. But growing consumer awareness over the dangers of trans fats has led more and more people to avoid them. According to a recent survey by Greenfield Online, 72 percent of U.S. residents read nutritional labels to make food purchasing decisions, and 61 percent believe that “zero trans fats” is the most important claim for a heart-healthy food.
Yet because the FDA allows nutrient content to be rounded to the nearest half gram, all food producers need to do to make a “zero trans fats” claim is set the serving size low enough that it contains no more than 0.49 grams of trans fats.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: labeling rule FDA transfat fat nutrition diet prevention obesity cardiovascular heart disease food vegetable oil daily intake
AHA limits sugar intake to protect heart →
Aug 27, 2009 (Presstv.com)—While Americans eat more than 22 teaspoons of sugar per day, the American Heart Association urges individuals to limit their sugar intake in order to remain healthy.
“For the first time we’ve created specific recommendations about the amount of sugars that can be consumed in a heart-healthy diet,” said Rachel Johnson lead author of a report published in Circulation.
According to the report, too much sugar not only leads to obesity but also places the individual at a greater risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.
The new guidelines revealed that women should eat less than 100 calories (equal to six teaspoons or 25 grams) of added processed sugar per day.
The limit for moderately active women aged 51-55 is as low as 5 teaspoons (80 calories) and for sedentary women aged 71-75 is as low as 3 teaspoons (48 calories).
As for men, the permitted sugar amount is reported to be less than 150 calories, equal to nine teaspoons or 37.5 grams.
The new guidelines recommend active men aged 21-25 to eat less than 18 teaspoons (288 calories) and sedentary men aged 46-50 to eat less than 9 teaspoons (144 calories).
AHA officials say that the guidelines are only for “added sugars” used to make foods and drinks rather than the natural sugar found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, or milk.
They therefore urged food and beverage companies to limit the sugar content of their products.
PKH/HGH
Tags: heart disease cardiovascular disease diabetes high blood pressure hypertension stroke diet nutrition teaspoon calorie processed sugar content limit risk
Hormone therapy fatal in prostate cancer sufferers →
Aug 27, 2009 (Presstv.com)—Hormone-based medications commonly used to treat aggressive prostate cancer may be hazardous for certain men suffering from heart problems.
Previous studies had reported that drugs which block tumor-fueling surges of testosterone can effectively treat aggressive forms of prostate cancer.
A new study, however, finds radiation therapy added with these drugs increase the mortality rate in men already suffering from heart disease.
According to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, neoadjuvant hormone therapy doubles the risk of death in prostate cancer sufferers with coronary artery disease-induced congestive heart failure (CHF) and myocardial infarction (MI).
Such a high mortality risk, however, was not reported among those with no comorbidity or just a single coronary disease risk factor undergoing the treatment.
Scientists concluded that physicians should prescribe hormone therapy with care in men with serious heart diseases. Such men account for only five percent of the male population.
PKH/AA
Tags: hormone therapy prostate cancer danger risk heart disease cardiovascularr testosterone death coronary artery congestive heart failure heart attack myocardial infarction treatment
Study reveals shocking effects of obesity on brain →
Aug 27, 2009 (Presstv.com)—Compared to their normal-weight peers, obese individuals have smaller and older brains, indicative of destructive processes that can lead to dementia.
Previous studies had reported obesity to be associated with various health problems including an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and certain cancers.
According to a study published in Human Brain Mapping, obese individuals have 8 percent less brain tissue than their lean counterparts. The amount, however, is reduced to 4 percent in those classified as overweight.
The brain of obese individuals is also reported to be 16 years older than that of normal-weight individuals.
The main tissue loss is reported to occur in the frontal and temporal lobes (areas in the brain responsible for planning and memory), in the anterior cingulate gyrus (attention and executive functions), hippocampus (long-term memory) and basal ganglia (movement) of the brains of the obese individuals.
Overweight individuals, however, showed brain loss in the basal ganglia, the corona radiate (white matter comprised of axons) and the parietal lobe (sensory lobe).
“That’s a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer’s and other diseases that attack the brain,” said lead researcher Paul Thompson.
Scientists concluded that adopting a balanced diet, exercising and keeping ones weight under control are the best ways to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
PKH/AA
Tags: dementia brain tissue memory alzheimer's disease cognition weight obesity planning memory attention movement risk
Tags: baking soda death health chronic kidney disease bicarbonate metabolic acidosis prevention decline
Twitter And Health Care: Can A Tweet A Day Keep The Doctor Away? →
Aug 26, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Twitter, the increasingly popular social networking tool that was at first merely a convenient way to stay in touch with friends and family, is emerging as a potentially valuable means of real-time, on-the-go communication of healthcare information and medical alerts, as described in a feature article in the Medical Connectivity section of the latest issue of Telemedicine and e-Health.
Physician groups, hospitals, and healthcare organizations are discovering a range of beneficial applications for using Twitter to communicate timely information both within the medical community and to patients and the public. Short messages, or “tweets,” delivered through Twitter go out from a sender to a group of recipients simultaneously, providing a fast and easy way to reach a lot of people in a short time. This has obvious advantages for sharing time-critical information such as disaster alerts and drug safety warnings, tracking disease outbreaks, or disseminating healthcare information. Twitter applications are available to help patients find out about clinical trials, for example, or to link brief news alerts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reliable websites that provide more detailed information.
For full article see link above.
Tags: twitter communication health information knowledge sharing information disease outbreak warnings link medical healthcare news alert
Tags: supplement metabolic syndrome cardiovascular heart blood pressure extract root obesity cholesterol insulin isoflavone kudzu stroke disease
Low-carb Diets Linked To Atherosclerosis And Impaired Blood Vessel Growth →
Aug 25, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Even as low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets have proven successful at helping individuals rapidly lose weight, little is known about the diets’ long-term effects on vascular health.
Now, a study led by a scientific team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) provides some of the first data on this subject, demonstrating that mice placed on a 12-week low carbohydrate/high-protein diet showed a significant increase in atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the heart’s arteries and a leading cause of heart attack and stroke. The findings also showed that the diet led to an impaired ability to form new blood vessels in tissues deprived of blood flow, as might occur during a heart attack.
Described in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study also found that standard markers of cardiovascular risk, including cholesterol, were not changed in the animals fed the low-carb diet, despite the clear evidence of increased vascular disease.
“It’s very difficult to know in clinical studies how diets affect vascular health,” says senior author Anthony Rosenzweig, MD, Director of Cardiovascular Research in BIDMC’s CardioVascular Institute and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “We, therefore, tend to rely on easily measured serum markers [such as cholesterol], which have been surprisingly reassuring in individuals on low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets, who do typically lose weight. But our research suggests that, at least in animals, these diets could be having adverse cardiovascular effects that are not reflected in simple serum markers.”
For full article, see link above.
