Daily Health Tips

Author Archive

Some studies have shown a link between consumption (albeit modest) of alcohol and an increased risk of breast cancer. However, other studies suggest that moderate alcohol consumption (consumption limited to 2 glasses per day) may protect against heart disease.

A Unless you have a greater risk of developing breast cancer because of genetic considerations, drinking alcohol in moderation is still possible. But to maintain good general health, keep your drinking under the recommended limits (less than 2 drinks per day for women).

> Eat plenty of fresh vegetables
The vitamins and antioxidants found in vegetables are known to help prevent all kinds of cancer. Recent studies suggest that eating green vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, may help prevent breast cancer.

Red vegetables such as carrot, tomato, red pepper, mango and cantaloupe are rich in beta-carotene and lycopene, which are known for their ability to prevent cancer.

You may have noticed that these food tips, recommended as part of a diet can prevent breast cancer, remain valid also for a healthy diet in general. Generally, a healthy diet will protect you from many diseases, including breast cancer.

Of course, there are people who follow all these tips and still at risk of developing breast cancer, but by adopting a healthy lifestyle, you still give the best chance of preventing the development of cancer breast. Read also: Diet and health: what foods health against diseases?

Nuts are one of the best dietary sources of selenium, a mineral that improves the efficiency of DNA to recover from exposure to harmful free radicals. Walnuts also contain large amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, which block a protein that has a natural sensitivity to carcinogens. Brazil nuts are the richest in this area among the nuts, but nuts all contain both anti-cancer nutrients.

Various studies have found a surprising difference in how the essential fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6 influence the development of cancerous tumors in the body. In short, eat more fish (rich in omega-3) and less chicken (rich in omega-6). A team of U.S. scientists have found conclusive evidence of these effects when it analyzed in laboratory rats who consumed more omega-3 fatty acids than omega-6 fatty acids.

A multitude of accompanying symptoms and illnesses food allergies:

* Gastrointestinal: Canker sores, celiac disease (or gluten intolerance), chronic diarrhea, peptic ulcer, gastritis, irritable colon (or functional bowel disorders), malabsorption syndrome, ulcerative colitis (ulcerative colitis or)
* Genito-urinary incontinence, recurrent urinary tract infections, nephrosis,
* Immune: chronic infections, frequent ear infections,
* Mental and emotional: anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, impaired concentration, insomnia, irritability, confusion, mood swings, seizures,
* Musculoskeletal: bursitis (or bursitis, inflammation and swelling of a joint area), joint pain, pain in lower back
* Respiratory: asthma, chronic bronchitis, wheezing (wheezing)
* Skin: acne, eczema, hives, itching, rash,
* Miscellaneous: arrhythmia, edema, fainting, headaches caused by fatigue, hypoglycemia, itchy nose or throat, migraines, sinusitis.

Why food allergies do they occur?
Food allergy is often hereditary. When both parents have allergies, there are 67% chance that their children also have allergies. When one parent is allergic, there are only 33% chance that children have allergies.

Repeated exposure to a food, improper digestion and the fragility of the intestinal barrier are other factors that may lead to the development or maintenance of a food allergy.

A food allergy occurs when a molecule typical of a food ingested acts as an antigen (foreign substance that triggers the release of IgE antibodies by white blood cells). When the immunoglobulin E and antigen of the food attached to specialized cells called mast cells, it causes the release of histamine and other compounds allergens causing swelling and inflammation.

Dietary factors contributing to food allergy
Exclusion diets (food allergens) are a useful way to identify food allergies. In an exclusion diet (food allergens), many commonly eaten foods are banned and replaced by substitutes special hypoallergenic.

Unless the person eats food allergens, it becomes easy to diagnose. The plan includes standard exclusion simply veal, chicken, potatoes, rice, bananas, apples and vegetables from the same family as cabbage (cabbage, Brussels sprouts and broccoli). Variations of this scheme also may agree, the important point is not to consume food allergens.

The following person addressed the exclusion diet for a week at least, and up to a month. If symptoms are associated with food hypersensitivity, they typically disappear by the fifth or sixth day of the plan. If symptoms do not disappear, it is possible that food in the exclusion regime is responsible. In this case, a regime even more restrictive shall be used.

After the period of exclusion diet, foods are reintroduced one by one every two days. The methods differ in that: a food is reintroduced every two days or every one or two meals. Usually after a week of desensitization due to diet, the patient will develop a greater sensitivity to food allergens.

The reintroduction of allergenic foods will typically produce a more pronounced and recognizable symptoms before. Careful monitoring and detailed must describe foods reintroduced gradually and symptoms that accompany them. It can be very useful to measure the pulse for the reintroduction of foods because of changes in pulse rate may occur when an allergenic food is consumed.

Driver fatigue would be involved in 22% of fatal accidents and 20% of all injury accidents, according to statistics of 2008 in Quebec, said the Société de l’assurance automobile du Quebec (SAAQ) to ‘Day provincial awareness of driver fatigue. Fatigue was responsible for 5 deaths on the roads in 2008. It is the third leading cause of road accidents, according to the speed and alcohol.

A long period of awakening, some times of the day and sleep deficit are factors that increase risk.

Studies have shown that:

– 40% of fatigue-related accidents, the driver had been awake for more than 17 hours;

– It is early afternoon, between 13 pm and 15 pm, and night, between midnight and 6 am, the risk of falling asleep at the wheel are the highest. Episodes of drowsiness are 8 times more frequent at night, “because the body follows a daily cycle that includes moments” hollow “during which metabolism slows, alertness and reduces fatigue is felt;

– Half of all drivers involved in accidents related to fatigue had slept less than 6 hours the day before the accident.

Moreover, sleep disorders exacerbate the problems of driver fatigue and the effects of fatigue are greatly exacerbated by even minimal alcohol, certain medications or other drugs.

SAAQ recalls in particular to stop in a safe place to rest at the first signs of fatigue driving.

Nuts and nut oils lower blood pressure at rest or in response to stress, according to a U.S. study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Previous studies have shown that omega-3 such as alpha-linolenic acid found in walnuts and flaxseed, reduce bad cholesterol (LDL). These foods may also reduce C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation.

West and his colleagues wanted to determine whether the omega 3 from plant sources could reduce cardiovascular responses to stress.

They studied their influence on blood pressure at rest and under the effect of stress in 22 healthy people with elevated cholesterol levels.

Participants followed for six weeks each of the following plans:
- A typical American diet without nuts;
- The same diet plus 35 grams of walnuts (approximately 9 nuts) and a tablespoon of walnut oil;
- This diet plus walnuts and walnut oil together with 1.5 tablespoon of flaxseed oil.

Nuts and oils entering the composition of foods like muffins and salad dressings or were taken as a snack.

Walnuts and walnut oil reduced blood pressure at rest and in response to stress (the source of stress in the laboratory is to make a speech or feet immersed in cold water). Add flaxseed oil did not further improve the pressure.

Some participants also underwent a vascular ultrasound to measure the dilation of the arteries. The addition of linseed oil to food significantly improved results in this test. Flaxseed oil also lowers the level of C-reactive protein, indicating an anti-inflammatory. According to the researcher, this could also reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Nuts contain unsaturated fatty acids such as alpha-linolenic acid and antioxidants that may be responsible for beneficial effects on blood pressure. Flaxseed oil is more concentrated in omega-3.

There is a link between rates of diabetes in adults and air pollution, even in places where pollution is at a level considered safe, according to a U.S. epidemiological study published in the journal Diabetes Care.

Laboratory studies had already shown an increase in insulin resistance in mice exposed to fine particles.

John Brownstein of the Children’s Hospital Boston and colleagues linked data on pollution by fine particles, such as those present in the smug, smoke and exhaust fumes from motor vehicles, with data from the Centers for Disease control and national censuses.

For each increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of fine particles, they found a 1% increase in the rate of diabetes. This, after taking into account in the analysis of various factors that may influence the incidence of the disease. The prevalence of diabetes was 20% higher in the most polluted areas compared to less polluted.

The standard U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for fine particles is 15 micrograms per cubic meter or less. The influence of particles on the rate of diabetes was observed, however, even in counties where pollution levels were below this standard, the researchers noted.

While, apart from aging populations, obesity and physical inactivity are considered the predominant factors in the increased incidence of diabetes, the role of pollution and other environmental factors deserve further study, the authors conclude.

An editorial in the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association warns against dangers of codeine, a painkiller commonly used. Often regarded as a safe painkiller, codeine, however, can be fatally toxic, even at recommended doses, for some people with particular genetic profile.

The drug has never undergone safety studies such as new medicines suffer because its goes back 200 years, say the signatories.

Codeine is converted into morphine by the liver. However, in some people, this conversion is too fast, leading to a fatal accumulation of morphine. Infants and young children are particularly vulnerable.

Associations and hospitals should change their guidelines and warn doctors of potential risks until studies have been conducted, the editorial recommends. The drug should be used cautiously especially in children, infants and nursing mothers. Already in April, the Hospital for Sick Children has stopped administer codeine to patients after a committee has raised concerns about the metabolism of codeine.

According to Dr. Noni MacDonald, one of the signatories, morphine is a better alternative because it is easier to predict the levels being found in the patient’s system. “Why would we use it even when codeine is metabolized into morphine anyway?, Asks her.

Codeine is found particularly in certain specialties sold without a prescription such as syrups for colds for adults and some formulations of Tylenol and Aspirin.

It is an opioid painkiller called weak or (minor), level 2 according to WHO classification. In Canada, tramadol is the only alternative to opioid analgesics low, according to Lori Montgomery Center Chronic Pain of Calgary. The more powerful drugs (tier 3) include morphine, oxycodone (Oxycontin) and hydromorphone.

People dieting to lose weight that lack of sleep lose less fat than those who get enough sleep, according to a U.S. study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers conducted the study with 10 people, average age 41 years and having a body mass index ranging from 25 to 32. They followed a diet with moderate calorie restriction and were randomly assigned to sleep 5.5 hours or 8.5 hours for 14 days. The hours were then reversed during 14 more days.

In both situations, 8.5 and 5.5 hours of sleep, the amount of calories consumed per day was similar (average 1450), because controlled by researchers, and the total weight loss was similar (3 kg for each period of 14 days).

But participants who slept only 5.5 hours have lost 55% less fat than those sleeping 8.5 hours and lost 60% more muscle. They felt more hunger and had higher levels of ghrelin, an appetite hormone.

Sleep helps maintain muscle in times of reduced energy intake. Sleep deprivation, common in our society may jeopardize the effectiveness of a diet and reduce the improvement of metabolic risk factors that are expected to weight loss, the authors conclude.

For a life saved by screening programs for breast cancer, many women are treated unnecessarily, says an article in the Los Angeles Times.

The objectives of the campaigns did not follow the advancement of research on breast cancer, considers Dr. H. Gilbert Welch of Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Lebanon (United States) whose comments are reported by the newspaper.

The experts thought a few years ago that the priority was to detect cancerous tumors when they were small and presumably more tractable. So they put the emphasis on annual mammogram, “he said.

But they now believe that breast cancer is not one disease but many. Some tumors are indolent and will never cause problems. Others develop slowly and may eventually spread. And the most aggressive cancers can metastasize before they are detected.

Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to assess which tumors are benign or dangerous. All are treated as if they were dangerous.

However, screening tests such as mammograms and self-examination are more likely to find indolent cancers, “said Welch. Therefore, there is more testing, more women there are subjected to surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy for cancer that they have never caused injury. An article published last month in The New England Journal of Medicine estimated that for every life saved by screening mammography, 5 to 15 other women are diagnosed and treated unnecessarily.

The problems of over-diagnosis and over-treatment are rarely discussed in advertisements and promotional material for campaigns. None of these words appear on the website of the U.S. campaign National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the site of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the oldest and largest group of American fight against cancer, “says Gayle A. Sulik, author of Pink Ribbon Blues: How Culture Undermine Breast Cancer Women’s Health.

And this is not accidental, said Welch.

“This is a common problem with campaigns to disease and patient advocacy groups,” he said. “If you look at their sources of funding, you will often find a pharmaceutical company or an equipment manufacturer which is positioned to benefit from an increase in the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease.”

Welch believes that the sponsorship by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca Awareness Month is a “huge conflict of interest” as encouraging women to get tested invariably increase the number of diagnoses and therefore the market for its drug Arimidex, Faslodex, Nolvadex and Zoladex.

The website of the National Campaign American awareness month indicates that the organization remains “dedicated to education and empowerment of women to make itself responsible for their breast health by practicing regular self-examination to identify any changes in scheduling regular visits with their health care provider and an annual mammogram, observing the prescribed treatment and knowing the facts about recurrence.

Some experts like to see greater emphasis on real prevention linked to a better understanding of the causes of breast cancer. “The message is that the best prevention is early detection, but this is not prevention, is to find a cancer that is already there,” recalls Dr. Susan Love, breast cancer surgeon at the School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles and author of Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book.

The number of patients with Alzheimer‘s and related dementias is expected to double in 20 years, from 35.6 million today to 65.7 million in 2030, according to a report published Tuesday on the occasion of World Day of fight against disease.

The association Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), which brings together 73 associations worldwide, said in the report that the number of patients expected to triple by 2050 (115.4 million).

Alzheimer and other dementias will represent a growing cost to society than 1% of global GDP in 2010, $ 604 billion and the equivalent of the 18th world economy, the report adds.

Experts from King’s College London and the Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) who compiled the latest data for this report call for an international effort to the extent of the disease.

Should be multiplied by 15 financial research effort to reach a funding comparable to that for cardiovascular disease – and by 30 to reach parity with the effort for cancer.

About 0.5% of world population is now affected by some form of dementia, including Alzheimer’s is the most common. The disease, which affects memory and behavior, is incurable and highly debilitating. It is strongly linked to aging, since the risk of developing the disease doubles every 5 years from 65 and reached 50% at the age of 85.

According to the association, governments must make Alzheimer’s a priority in their health policies. Some countries have already implemented plans “Alzheimer’s,” the report said, citing France, Australia and England.

Globally, Alzheimer’s should be a priority for the World Health Organization (WHO) and be on the agenda of the G8 and G20.

For Dr. Daisy Acosta, president of ADI, “Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are the most important medical and social crisis of the 21st century and governments are” woefully prepared to face social and economic disruption that it causes .

Alzheimer’s affects 860,000 people in France, where a plan launched in February 2008 will allocate a budget of 1.6 billion euros by 2012. President Nicolas Sarkozy announced last Friday the generalization of 2011 houses for the reception of patients, involving all the professionals of the disease.

To fight against anorexia, MP Valerie Boyer (UMP) filed September 15 in the National Assembly a bill that would require that the picture editing are indicated by a reference. “These images can lead people to believe in the reality that often do not exist,” said the MP.

The publicity photographs of people whose physical appearance has been altered by image processing software should be accompanied by the words “photo retouched to alter the physical appearance of a person,” the bill. A fine of 37,500 euros is foreseen in cases of infringement.

Photos of magazines, posters and photographs on the packaging of products would be affected, as are photographs of political campaign posters or photographs of art.

“There is no question of curbing or curtailing the creativity of advertising or artists,” he defends the member. “But just say that (…). This is a public health goal, but it can also help protect the consumer. ”

Ms. Boyer has until now received a fifty signatures for his bill that it hopes to present next year, when reviewing the code of public health. The MP is already causing a draft law against incitement to anorexia, adopted by the National Assembly in 2008, but not yet by the Senate.