Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Jon's Health Tips - Latest Reports

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I will continue to try to get lots of vitamins in food and supplements - here is the latest evidence that keeps me going:

Vitamin and calcium supplements may reduce breast cancer risk

Vitamin supplements appeared to reduce the risk of breast cancer by about 30 percent. Calcium supplements reduced the risk of breast cancer by 40 percent. (Men get breast cancer too.)

Vitamin K May Protect Against Developing Blood Cancer

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Minnesota have found that people who have higher intakes of vitamin K from their diet have a lower risk of developing Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma is a cancer of the immune system and is the most common hematologic malignancy in the United States. The most common sources of vitamin K in the diet include leaf lettuce and spinach, with smaller amounts found in other vegetables, vegetable oils and some fruits.

Diet high in B-vitamins lowers heart risks

Eating more foods containing the B-vitamins folate and B-6 lowers the risk of death from stroke and heart disease for women and may reduce the risk of heart failure in men. Sources of folate include vegetables and fruits, whole or enriched grains, fortified cereals, beans and legumes. Sources of vitamin B-6 include vegetables, fish, liver, meats, whole grains and fortified cereals.

I'll continue my increased intake of Vitamin D:

Study links rheumatoid arthritis to vitamin D deficiency

Low vitamin D levels associated with more asthma symptoms and medication use



and dark chocolate:

Study shows potential benefit of dark chocolate

Doctors could soon be prescribing a dose of dark chocolate to help patients suffering from liver cirrhosis and from dangerously high blood pressure in their abdomen. Eating dark chocolate reduces damage to the blood vessels of cirrhotic patients and also lowers blood pressure in the liver. Dark chocolate contains potent anti-oxidants which reduce the post-prandial (after-meal) blood pressure in the liver (or portal hypertension) associated with damaged liver blood vessels (endothelial dysfunction). The data also showed that eating dark chocolate may exert additional beneficial effects throughout the whole body. In comparison, white chocolate, which contains no beneficial 'phytochemicals', did not result in the same effects.

and fish oil:

Lack of omega-6 fatty acid linked to severe dermatitis>

Lack of omega-3 fatty acid linked to male infertility


I'll make sure my olive oil is extra virgin:

Extra virgin olive oil extra protective

Eating a diet rich in the phenolic components of virgin olive oil represses several pro-inflammatory genes. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Genomics suggest that this partly explains the reduced risk of cardiovascular disease seen in people who eat a 'Mediterranean diet'.

and on the rare occasions when I eat prime rib, continue to order it rare, but continue to avoid meat and fried foods as much as I can:



Meat, especially if it's well done, may increase risk of bladder cancer


People who eat meat frequently, especially meat that is well done or cooked at high temperatures, may have a higher chance of developing bladder cancer.

"It's well known that meat cooked at high temperatures generates heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that can cause cancer," said study presenter Jie Lin, Ph.D... The group with the highest red-meat consumption had almost one-and-a-half times the risk of developing bladder cancer as those who ate little red meat.

Specifically, consumption of beef steaks, pork chops and bacon raised bladder cancer risk significantly. Even chicken and fish - when fried - significantly raised the odds of cancer.

The level of doneness of the meat also had a marked impact. People whose diets included well-done meats were almost twice as likely to develop bladder cancer as those who preferred meats rare.


But, despite the evidence below, will continue to eat oatmeal for almost every breakfast:


Eating eggs for breakfast helps reduce calorie consumption throughout the day by 18 percent

A new study demonstrates that eating protein-rich eggs for breakfast reduces hunger and decreases calorie consumption at lunch and throughout the day.

Bacon or Bagels? Higher Fat at Breakfast May Be Healthier Than You Think

The age-old maxim "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper" may in fact be the best advice to follow to prevent metabolic syndrome, according to a new University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study. Metabolic syndrome is characterized by abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, insulin resistance and other cardiovascular disease-risk factors.

I believe blood test are the most important part of any physical, and the evidence is mounting - now if I only could get the results of my latest test:

Blood test for inflammation may be sign of colon cancer

Levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a protein produced by the liver in response to inflammation, are increased in women with colon cancer.

Blood tests for CRP are typically used as a non-specific marker for infection and inflammatory conditions. A more sensitive CRP test (hs-CRP) can help determine heart disease risk.

Blood test accurately predicts which men may need treatment for prostate cancer


Blood test identifies people at risk for heart attack that other tests miss

A simple blood test can identify people who are at risk for a heart attack, including thousands who don't have high cholesterol, according to researchers at Oregon Health & Science University.

Blood Test Needed to Determine Vitamin D Status

Vitamin supplements, diet, geographic location, demographic information or lifestyle, independently or in combination, cannot accurately predict vitamin D concentrations in blood. (A reader recently informed me that a blood test showed her to be very low in Vitamin D.)

I will avoid herbal supplements:


Ginkgo herbal medicines may increase seizures in people with epilepsy

Restrictions should be placed on the use of Ginkgo biloba (G. biloba) — a top-selling herbal remedy — because of growing scientific evidence that Ginkgo may increase the risk of seizures in people with epilepsy and could reduce the effectiveness of anti-seizure drugs, a new report concludes. Ginkgo may also have harmful effects in other people.

Doctor warns against herbal medicines for anxiety

St. John's wort, kava extract and valerian, herbal remedies touted on the Internet, have not been proven to be effective in treating anxiety wrote Kimberly Zoberi, M.D., associate professor of family and community medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Additionally, she raised concerns about the safety of valerian, particularly lacking any long-term studies of the herb.

I'll continue to exercise as much as my body will let me:

Walking = Lower Stroke Risk in Women

Women who walked two or more hours a week or who usually walked at a brisk pace (3 miles per hour or faster) had a significantly lower risk of stroke than women who didn't walk, according to a large, long-term study.

Compared to women who didn't walk:

* Women who usually walked at a brisk pace had a 37 percent lower risk of any type of stroke and those who walked two or more hours a week had a 30 percent lower risk of any type of stroke.
* Women who typically walked at a brisk pace had a 68 percent lower risk of hemorrhagic stroke and those who walked two or more hours a week had a 57 percent lower risk of hemorrhagic stroke.
• Women who usually walked at a brisk pace had a 25 percent lower risk of ischemic stroke and those who usually walked more than two hours a week had a 21 percent lower risk of ischemic stroke.

And I now have more evidence against going on a diet, although I probably should:

Diet alone will not likely lead to significant weight loss

Newly-published research by scientists at Oregon Health & Science University demonstrates that simply reducing caloric intake is not enough to promote significant weight loss. This appears to be due to a natural compensatory mechanism that reduces a person's physical activity in response to a reduction in calories.

I don't know where to go with this one - I guess it's my wife's fault:



Is Cleanliness to Blame for Increasing Allergies?


Allergies have become a widespread in developed countries: hay fever, eczema, hives and asthma are all increasingly prevalent. The reason? Excessive cleanliness is to blame.

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