Archive for 6.Featured
At Last! Podcasts on Fat Loss and 3 Common Nutritional Mistakes
Posted by: | CommentsI posted these in other places but thought
they were good enough to post here too.
The first mp3 is about how to lose excess body fat.
It is 4 minutes long.
The second is about 3 common nutritional mistakes.
It is part one and can be read on
FemaleMenopauseMentors.com , just
click on the blog link on the bar above the article.
Before you do, if you are a woman
over age 45, you may want to down load
the “30 Tips” info sheet on losing and avoiding
mid-life weight gain at the bottom of the landing page.
Lose Excess Body Fat [4:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download 3 Common Nutritional Mistakes [6:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadPopularity: 1% [?]
What is the number one cause of Death?
Posted by: | CommentsWould you avoid it if you could? Though this cause never appears on the death certificate, it is the underlying cause of each diagnosis. What is it?
INFLAMMATION! If eating your favorite food or not eating a food you hate would stop inflammation in your body, would you change? I think you would, trouble is no one will stick out their neck from the main stream and tell you what you should do. In their defense it isn’t easy. I try to cover some basic points during this hour long show like:
The definition of inflammation in our body.
Does lack of sleep contribute to inflammation?
How can diet help or hurt?
What about our life style?
What is DNA? – our genetic code – what makes us look the way we do and how our bodies do or don’t repair – depends on if the individual codes – genes – are open or silenced. They can be silenced by methylation. Methylation is a way molecules attach to our DNA to make it open and readable or closed and silent. It is good for a tumor gene to be silent, it is bad for a gene that tells cells not to become tumors to be silent. I hope you enjoy the presentation and that you will ask me lots of questions.
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Prostate Cancer – What should You do?
Posted by: | CommentsWhat is the Prostate?
Male Genital Anatomy
Above is a diagram of male genital anatomy. The prostate is the beige circular structure below the bladder in the purplish color. The prostate produces fluid that assists in ejaculation because the semen contained in the seminal vesicle is a very small amount. The fluid of the prostate nourishes the sperm, protects them during ejaculation and forms a clot-like glob that sticks to the cervix and aids in reproduction.
What is the PSA test?
PSA stands for prostate specific antigen. It is a protein-like substance produced normally by the prostate. It was discovered in 1970 by prostate cancer researcher Dr. Richard J. Ablin Ph.D. PSA is measured for many different reasons, some useful and some questionable. It was publicity about PSA and Dr. Ablin that prompted this article. The testing of PSA in the blood to screen for prostate cancer has been controversial for many years. Measurement of PSA after the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer (the most prevalent form of non-skin cancer in men) aids in following the post-treatment progression and effectiveness of the therapy provided. Dr. Ablin for many years has said PSA should not me relied upon as a screening tool in the general population. Urologists vocally disagree. What is our risk of prostate cancer (men only of course)? What can we do to lower our risk and detect cancer early?
Who should be screened?
Screening is controversial in all but a few instances. If you have had a male relative that had prostate cancer before age 65, you should be screened starting at age 45. If you have more than one male relative with early prostate cancer, screening should begin at age 40. If you are a man of color, you should be screened at age 45. This may be due to low vitamin D levels as it is in women of color who have increased risk of breast and colon cancer because of habitually low Vitamin D 3 levels. So early in life, say high school, men of color should be screened for low Vitamin D3 levels. Perhaps They should just begin regular supplementation with 1000 IU per day then and save the money – about $40 for the 25 OH VitD levels.
It is not clear that other men should be screened at all and almost certainly not before age 50. A digital rectal exam (DRE)
The dreaded DRE!
and PSA should be done baseline and then again in 3-5 years. If these are both normal, then probably not again until age 65. PSA values are not the same at all ages as the linked chart from Sloan-Kettering reveals. Some specialty hospitals allow men 70-75 to have a PSA of 5 but most studies think screening anyone over 70 not productive or cost effective. Why? The over all, lifetime risk of prostate cancer in all American men is about 17% but the chance of dying of prostate cancer is 3.4%. It seems there are two different forms. Dr. Ablin describes them as either a Rabbit or Turtle in a box. The turtle represents slow movement and no risk of getting out of the box. The rabbit is certain to get out if we take the lid off. We do not have a test to distinguish which one a man might have.
What should you do?
If you are white, under 50, have no family history and healthy (not over-weight, no other cancer, none smoker your whole life, regular exercise, no prescribed medication) then no screening is needed until age 50 at the earliest. After age 50, your heritage (family history of prostate cancer, African-American, obesity, smoker, history of other cancers) and your preference/understanding come into play. I think it is bunk to put the hard decisions on patients. If you are 50 and have a PSA screen of 4.0 or more, you would likely get set to a urologist for biopsy. Your Gleason score (a judgement by the pathologist reading the tissue from the biopsy) is likely to be low but if you only consult your Urologist you are likely to get surgery. You can find a recent study at the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The study entitled “Physician Visits Prior to Treatment for Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer” looked at 85 088 men(over age 65) with this diagnosis. 50% were only seen by their Urologist, 44% by the Urologist and a Radiation Oncologist, 3% by Urologist and Medical Oncologist and 3% by all 3 specialists. Only 17% visited a primary care doctor (PCP) – the person who did the screening test that led to the biopsy diagnosis.
Within 9 months of diagnosis, 21% got a radical prostatectomy, 42% got radiation therapy, 17% received hormone therapy, 20% were just observed and most of these visited their PCP during the decision process. It appears from the study that what specialist you visit dictates the therapy recommended. I have always said that the person with only a hammer to solve problems, sees every problem as a nail. This study bears this out. There is no evidence that any therapy for this problem is superior to watching, yet 18000 men got a major operation that carries the risk of impotence and incontinence.
The moral of the story here seems to be to find your self a primary doctor that is well trained and younger than you by about 10 years. Visit that person regularly and give them every piece of your medical history. Insist that any specialist consult with your Doctor prior to any treatment they recommend or talk to your doctor about how you can communicate with them to discuss therapeutic recommendations by specialists. Don’t be pound foolish here. Pay the person for their time. If they charge you an office visit that costs you $50 as your copay, count it as an investment in your health.
Don’t expect anyone in medicine to be perfect or to know it all. You will get a perfect doctor when they get a perfect patient. When it comes to prostate cancer, the odds are in your favor if you don’t have special circumstances. I think some screening is OK if it is most likely to yield good results. PSA screening is iffy and so is treatment of localized prostate cancer.
The best course is to not smoke, drink plenty of water, eat a diet that has lots of fresh green vegetables and just enough protein (I favor animal protein). Avoid processed food, especially grains and eat just enough most days to keep you well and able to do some physical work, (either exercise or hard manual labor to strengthen your muscles). Get enough sleep! Also take some instruction in controlling your response to stress. You do not manage stress, just your response (the link will take you to the first of two videos – watch #1). There is evidence that pure Pomegranate juice can lower your risk of heart disease and slow prostate cancer tumor growth, so drink some regularly.
What do you think? Got a question or a comment? Type it in down below. If you are a first time commenter, it will take a few hours to be approved. If you have commented before you will see you comment appear now.
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Cholesterol and Your Health – Ask an Expert
Posted by: | CommentsIn this edition of Ask an Expert on Blog Talk Radio I answer questions about the blood fat that sparked a huge industry. One of Pfizer’s drugs for this problem was selling 4 billion dollars worth a year!
When you finish listening you should be able to answer these questions:
What is Cholesterol? Triglycerides? HDL? LDL?
How are they measured?
What do the numbers mean?
Should I take a medicine if my numbers are “high”?
When I take a medicine for my cholesterol, what happens?
What is APO B? How can measuring it benefit me?
Why doesn’t a low cholesterol diet lower my cholesterol?
What does sugar have to do with cholesterol?
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A Super Habit that matches any Superbowl Athlete
Posted by: | CommentsMay I have your attention for 5-6 minutes? I want it because I want to make a point that will benefit your health. There are two things I can teach you to do that will transform your life. This blog post and Youtube video are about one of them.
I have said many times that your health is not the absence of disease. I believe your health is the summation of your habits. What you think, what you say (mostly to yourself) and what you ultimately do determine your health. Thinking and talking influence the doing. Think about your own health habits?
What information did you use to form them? Were you like the woman who always cut off the end of a ham before cooking it. When her husband asked why, she said her Mom had always done it. The wife thought it made the ham taste better. On their next trip to his in-laws, the husband asked his mother-in-law why she did that to the ham? She said because her pan was too short and she had to cut off the end to make it fit.
If you eat a healthy diet, what is the resource you use to determine that? Well, I want to encourage you to take up a habit and do it as well or better than any Superbowl Athlete. What is that habit, well if I was going to write it, I wouldn’t have made this video would I? So watch the video please. Your comments are welcome and wanted. Please leave them below.
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Fructose – good or evil?
Posted by: | CommentsFollow up on Dr Robert Lustig
In a recent blog post I embedded a 90 minute video produced at the medical school at UCSF. The video featured a lecture by a pediatric endocrinologist on staff there by the name of Dr. Robert Lustig M.D. Dr. Lustig is a specialist in the system of organs secreting hormones directly into the blood stream and he further specializes in problems in this system in children (pediatric endocrinologist). Diseases he would try to help are diseases of the thyroid, pituitary, adrenal glands and diabetes among others.
Your comments welcome
A fellow of strong opinion named Mike left a comment that he thought Dr. Lustig was biased and 9/10’s of the lecture was wrong. He linked to a blog of a well credentialed health and fitness specialist named Alan Aragon. Aragon had a few good things to say and many specific and documented criticisms. Aragons main arguement is that Lustig had some non-essential facts wrong and that he was picking one thing, fructose, and saying this is the reason we have all these health problems in adults and now some of the same problems in children.
Alan Aragon’s opinion
Aragon makes some stong and valid points and I agree with him largely. One of the questions I would ask is this, “Is the policy of encouraging consumption of amounts of fructose unavailable in any other form in these quantities a good one?” I think not. We give government support to growers who are not at fault, they are taking advantage of a market opportunity so that a large US based industry – manufactured/processed foods – can make a large profit.
Bad Social Policies
We have done this in the past with tobacco. We provided price supports to encourage people to grow the crop for domestic consumption. We now have falling cancer rates and the one thing it is most attributed to is not medical advances but social policy that discouraged consumption. We no longer provide those price supports. We do not allow TV advertising of the product. Though people still smoke and young people still begin, it is less than in the past and with good public health benefits.
Now, neither Mike nor Aragon ( who is not aware of me) argue that high fructose consumption is bad. Aragon especially says it has gotten a bad rap. He says it is not just carbohydrates that are to blame for the obesity crisis but steadily increasing total caloric consumption 2100 cal per day 1970 vs more than 2700 today. It is those extra calories and an increasing sedentary life-style that lead to increasing weight gain.
There are studies like Changes in Beverage Intake between 1977 and 2001 that show
For all age groups, sweetened beverage consumption increased and milk consumption
decreased. Overall, energy intake from sweetened beverages increased 135% and was
reduced by 38% from milk, with a 278 total calorie increase. These trends were associated
with increased proportions of Americans consuming larger portions, more servings per day
of sweetened beverage, and reductions in these same measures for milk
And concluded
There is little research that has focused on the beneficial impacts of reduced soft drink and
fruit drink intake. This would seem to be one of the simpler ways to reduce obesity in the
United States.
(Am J Prev Med 2004;27(3):205–210) © 2004 American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Fructose and NALFD in children
Below is a video I made and embedded about this very issue. I think that Lustig has to be over the top in his presentation. The marketing messages are over the top that encourage people to drink the 7+ cans of sweetened soda a day that results in 135 grams of extra carbohydrate in the diet every day.
This is about 4 calories per gram so that would be 540 calories per day of empty calories. Just this week one of a colleagues patients confessed she was drinking 80 ounces of sweet tea per day. This is more than six 12 ounce cans of soda and probably has more calories in the form of sucrose each day.
This high consumption of sweeteners by many Americans, over burdens the liver and causes non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adults and children. We have never had this happen before so no one knows the long term results of growing up with liver dysfunction.
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Are all diets the same – Macronutrient composition vs total calories
Posted by: | CommentsMacronutrients are Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats. How much we eat of each one comprises our diet. Does it matter how much of each we eat? A study done in 2008 and published in the New England Journal of Medicine says it does not. They say it is just about total calories. I agree, you have to eat the right amount of calories for your ideal weight and activity level. Even though they say it doesn’t matter, a couple of well informed men I introduce in this video, found a statement that would seem to contradict what they concluded.
As we treat heart disease or attempt to prevent it, we meaning the medical community of researchers and clinicians, Cholesterol is an important variable we try to change. WE try to get HDL up and total cholesterol, LDL and Triglycerides down. Low fat diets are recommended to do this. They seldom work and drugs of the Statin( simvastatin=Zocor, also Lipitor, Crestor ) category are often prescribed.
I talk in the video about what the investigators found out about HDL and the study participants as pointed out by others, not me. I point you to another study and an article about one of that studies authors – Ronald Kraus PhD. Do some research, learn what you can, consider the facts and take action in your own life. Before you leave this page, leave a comment about your impressions – good or bad towards me – I want to hear them. Thanks.
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Ticks, Tick bites and Tick realted Illness, part 3
Posted by: | CommentsThis is the third and final part of the series with Dr. Marcia Herman-Giddens D.P.H., adjunct Professor of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We finish our discussion about TIC-NC, tick removal, prevention of tick related illness and when is it safe to go into the woods. This section experienced a technical malfunction right at the end of the section and the final 30-60 seconds may have been cut off. The picture to the left is Dr. Herman-Giddens and to the right are dog ticks. The larger ticks are engorged females. At the end of this podcast Dr. Herman-Giddens reminded people that prevention of tick bites was very important and that the chemical Permethrin (made for the Chrysanthemum plant) can be applied to clothes or bought already in clothing. It is know to slow tick movement and can cause tick death if they stay on the material.
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Ticks, Tick Bites and Tick-related Illnesses with Dr. Marcia Herman Giddens
Posted by: | CommentsPart one of this 3 part series was published on Tuesday, November 24. This is the second part of our discussion about ticks and their effect on humans. We discuss the difficulty in diagnosing Lyme disease, STARI or what some call Southern Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.
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Dr. Marcia Herman-Giddeons discusses Ticks, Tick bites and Tick-related Illnesses
Posted by: | CommentsDr. Marcia Herman-Giddens D.P.H. is an adjunct professor at the
school of Public Health at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She is also a founder and President of TIC-NC (tick-borne infection council of North Carolina). TIC-NC is a non-profit organization whose mission is to inform the public and work with the state in developing programs around the tick-related problems that affect citizens of the state.
The podcasts here are a 3 part series during which Dr. Herman-Giddens discusses ticks, tick-bites and issues of public health caused by tick related illnesses. In this post is part one. Parts two and three will follow in the next few days.
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