The World’s Healthiest Airline?
Flying these days can present some challenges: risk of DVT, food poisoning from inadequately heated food, and all those airborne viruses so a round of applause for Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates based in Abu Dhabi. No, I have never heard of them either, but they fly from both London Heathrow and Manchester with 60 destinations in the Middle East, Europe, North America, Africa, Australia and Asia.
What’s so great about them? Well they are installing new state-of-the-art technology on their long and ultra long haul aircraft which can monitor the condition of passengers who display signs of sickness that might require immediate medical attention. Apparently the “Tempus IC” system allows cabin crew to take photo imagery and gather vital information about a passenger’s health and vital signs, including blood pressure and an electrocardiogram.
That information is then transmitted to a medical team of global experts who specialise in assistance in in-flight medical contingencies. Following their advice the crew will take a decision about what to do next for the passenger and the flight and hopefully you will be treated much more efficiently and swiftly than previously.
RDT is a British company who specialise in the development of leading-edge diagnostic device technology for use by non-experts in remote locations and have installed this technology for commercial shipping fleets, luxury yachts and with the US Military.
As someone who suffered a burst blood vessel in my eye on a Delta Airline flight and was pretty much ignored, I think this is good news and if you want more information go to www.etihadairways.com
Too Tired To Socialise? An Eastern Natural Remedy
We all get tired from time to time, but apparently today’s women, and men too, could do with an extra day in the week to get everything done. You could of course argue that they would do best to cut down what they do, but realistically that isn’t always possible and a new report commissioned by Red Kooga indicates that almost two thirds (60%) of British women miss out on social engagements due to feeling too tired. More worryingly is that over four in ten (41%) admit that getting fit and healthy is the main thing to suffer as a result, while healthy eating goes out the window for just under a third (31%) and two in five (40%) admit that relaxation and ‘me-time’ is unheard of and fatigue leaves over a third (36%) not wanting to do anything in the evenings.
Well I can relate to that as that ‘to do’ list gets longer and juggling all the daily demands also builds up stress levels and depletes energy. Exercise is the best and easiest way to up your energy levels but even a ten minute walk can seem like too much to fit in sometimes and if you want to turn to a natural boost for your energy you might think about taking an ancient asian herb like ginseng. I first came across it in the 1960’s when it got a lot of publicity for its use by the Soviet armed forces for improving both strength and stamina and it has remained popular ever since, particularly for its ability to maintain mental alertness.
A relative newcomer on the energy scene in the west has been the herb guarana and combined with ginseng and B vitamins it can naturally give you a boost. Ginseng brand Red Kooga’s Natural Energy Release might be a place to start as it has all those in a handy supplement. If you had more energy what would you do? The respondents in the survey put self development top of their list with over half (55%) opting to do more exercise, two in three (42%) wanted to take more time to relax while a third (35%) would learn a new skill or hobby. If you want to know more about ginseng visit www.redkooga.co.uk
The Sound Asleep MP3/ipod Comfort Pillow- and how it can Help Tinnitus
I love technology that makes life better, and reminds me that most of the things I read about in 1930’s sci fi books have now mostly come true – how we laughed at the idea of a complete meal cooked in minutes from a box in the wall – hello microwaves and M&S ready meals! Now we have listening devices that are so small they are almost invisible and this means they can be used in places you might never have imagined – like your pillow.
Have you ever used music to help you drift off, or one of those subliminal tapes to learn a language or help you lose weight or stop smoking while you sleep? If you have you may have used headphones, or had to keep the volume low so your partner wasn’t disturbed by it, and you will know how annoying it is to start to drift off and hear the click as the music ends or you have to stretch to your bedside table and switch it off. Now there is a revolutionary new concept which marries a very comfortable memory foam pillow with a tiny built in speaker that you can plug your mp3, cassette player and most radios so you can drift off to sleep without uncomfortable headphones, or disturbing your partner. .
I asked a poor sleeper to test it out and they reported that the pillow was very comfortable as it moulded to their head shape and the tiny lead to their mp3 player could not be felt at all. They used a relaxing background track on their mp3 and found that a plus was that the pillow ‘switches off’ the sound at the end of your selected tracks. So no annoying click and, although you can hear your music or language cd clearly, it’s not audible to anyone else.
What particularly interested me about this whole concept is how it can use by those suffering from tinnitus. The continuous ringing or clicking sounds in the ear they experience seem more pronounced in quiet settings, such as in the bedroom before going to sleep. Sound therapy is often suggested and it works by reducing the difference, or contrast, between tinnitus sounds and a background sound which makes the tinnitus seem less intrusive. You can get ‘masking’ tracks to help muffle the tinnitus or just choose your favourite soft relaxing music to help you drift off.
The Sound Asleep Comfort Pillow will not emit any sound until it is connected to your device of choice such as a cd player or mp3/ipod and the cable is removable to keep the pillow tidy and safe when it’s not in use. Ideal if you like lying down and listening to music or audio books and don’t want to disturb anyone else.
High Fat Diet Linked to Strokes in Post Menopausal Women
This information comes from the US, but it is likely to be highly relevant for all women on a western diet. Before menopause, women have a lower risk of stroke compared to men of similar age, but this situation reverses after menopause and women with a high fat intake at this point in their lives have a 40 percent higher incidence of clot-caused strokes than women on a low fat diet.
This finding was reported at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2010 and the warning bell is for women having more than 7 grams a day of trans fats, mostly found in processed, baked and fried foods.
Ischemic strokes are caused by blockages in blood vessels in or leading to the brain and the researchers reported positive associations between total fat intake and ischemic stroke incidence and between trans fat intake and ischemic stroke incidence. We know from previous studies shows that different types of fat have different effects on the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD), with trans fat being identified as a risk factor but those were small scale studies. This one involved 87,230 post-menopausal women ages 50 to 79 who participated in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study, by answering a food frequency questionnaire when they entered the study and were then followed for an average of 7.6 years.
During that time, 1,049 ischemic strokes occurred and the researchers looked for links between dietary fat intake of all types (saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and trans fat) and ischemic strokes and covered all health variables including physical activity, drug use, smoking, alcohol and hormone therapy. The top 25% of women had an average total fat intake of 86 grams a day and the lowest 25% consumed just 26 grams a day. With a 40% risk of stroke at the top end of fat intake it makes sense to monitor fat intake, and particularly trans fats to keep their levels down.
If you are not sure of how much fat a day you take in, there is a handy way to determine it and the example below is based on the average amount that a woman needs which is a total of 2,000 calories a day, but you can be more accurate by exactly working out your daily calorie intake.
1. Take the number of calories you eat each day and multiply it by 30 percent (.30). For example: 2,000 calories x .30 = 600 calories from fat
2. Divide your answer by 9 because there are 9 calories in each gram of fat. This will give you the number of grams of fat per day that should be your goal.
600 ÷ 9 = 65 grams
You can use a calculator if you need to I certainly did!
Something You Didn’t Know About Winter Sports
If you enjoy winter sports, or have been watching the 2010 Winter Games a surprise health fact has emerged. It is well documented that alpine athletes are particularly in danger of developing skin and lip cancers due to prolonged exposure to harmful ultraviolet radiation while training and competing at high altitudes. If you enjoy two weeks skiing it is probably not a concern to you, but be aware that the damaging radiation largely occurs when the sun reflects off the surface of the ice and snow.
This year the International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed to screen a record number of athletes for oral cancer. This type of preventive health care is virtually unknown in the sports world and with 70 dentists on hand to deal with normal dental problems they took the opportunity to actively promote an increased oral screening campaign that included education for athletes on the importance of applying sun-cream to help prevent mouth cancers
Mouth cancer can affect the lips, tongue, cheeks and throat and kills one person every five hours in the UK, with the number of new cases rising faster than almost any other cancer.
Traditionally mouth cancer was considered to be an older man’s condition, but recent years have seen more and more women and young people affected. Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter, said that early detection is vital to a patient’s long–term survival, which means regular visits to the dentist. Don’t grit your teeth at the thought, apparently we are very dilatory in taking care of our mouth and teeth and tend to ignore a seemingly trivial symptom which can lead to the prospect of major surgery, and concern that cancer may return in the future.
What to look out for? Dr Carter suggests if you have a mouth ulcer which does not heal within three weeks, or notice any discomfort or other changes in your mouth, then get it checked. At least once a year visit your dentist to look for the signs of cancer and you are a heavy smoker, drinker or use chewing tobacco, make sure your dentist is aware of this.
For more information on mouth cancer call the National Dental Helpline on 0845 063 1188, or visit www.mouthcancer.org
Women with Gout at Increased Heart Risk
Although gout is characterised as a disease of old colonels who have drunk too much port, the reality is it can affect men and women who may never have had a drink in their lives. It is often genetically inherited and although more common in older men and women after the menopause, the most vulnerable group are usually men over 30.
Now equality has caught up and although it is known that gout increases the risk of a heart attack in men what has just been revealed is that women with gout are at greater risk of a heart attack than the men are.
This research (I know, all research to be taken with a pinch of metaphorical, not actual, salt) was recently published in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases and based on a study of more than 9500 gout patients and 48, 000 people without the disease, aged 65 and older in British Columbia, Canada.
The study took place over 7 years and tracked cardiovascular health and they found that compared with women who did not have gout, those who did were 39% more likely to have a heart attack of any kind and 41% more likely to have a non-fatal heart attack. The surprise in the study was that the risks were significantly higher among the women than among the men as men with gout were only 11% more likely than those without the disease to have a fatal or non-fatal heart attack.
Gout is common and caused by inflammation in the joints as a result of excess uric acid deposits, that are a feature of western diets. Factors that can produce gout include other forms of arthritis obesity, weight gain, high alcohol intake, high blood pressure, poorly functioning kidneys and certain drugs.
If you are wondering if you have it, then look for redness, pain and inflammation of the joints, particularly toes and fingers. Natural remedies suggested to help with gout include dietary help by avoiding alcohol and organ meats, particularly liver, tart cherry juice, celery seed, apple cider vinegar and yoga.
Lies, Research and Drug Companies
Pfizer are I believe the second largest drug company in the world, and research articles published on their drugs run into the thousands. Now in the US, Dr. Scott Reuben, a former member of Pfizer’s speakers’ bureau, has agreed to plead guilty to faking dozens of research studies that were published in medical journals.
He was given a $75,000 grant from Pfizer to study Celebrex, a drug to help reduce pain after surgery, and his research on it has been used by hundreds of other doctors and researchers as “proof” that it was effective. Now it turns out that he never ran a trial on it, no patients were ever enrolled in the study and he made up the entire thing. Nor was this his first fraud, as reports in the Wall Street Journal have shown, as he was also found to have faked study data on Bextra and Vioxx drugs. Even more incredibly an internal audit at the Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachussets, where he worked, found that he had been faking research data for 13 years.
Dr. Reuben has reportedly done a deal with the prosecutors to pay back $420,000 to the drug companies and faces up to ten years in jail. That should be a terrible warning you would think, but there is so much money at stake in the drug industry that there are widespread concerns that this is certainly not a one off.
The thing that saddens me is that alternative medicine is frequently dismissed as having ‘no scientific basis’ and being purely anecdotal, as if the patient’s experience is somehow not valid. However, if Dr Reuben is anything to go by at least the alternative market can point to actual trials on real people, and somehow I would far rather put my trust in that than in a study paid for by the company who is going to profit from marketing a new drug.
Prostate Cancer and Nitro-glycerine
If you are suffering from angina, you may well carry a drug containing nitro-glycerine to put under the tongue in the event of an attack. Nitro-glycerine is used because it dilates the vessels to lower the blood pressure and dilates the coronary arteries to bring rapid relief from symptoms such as heaviness in the chest and shortness of breath.
Now it is also being suggested it could also slow and even halt the progression of the disease without the severe side effects of current treatments. Researchers at Queen’s University, Belfast have been conducting the first ever clinical trial of nitro-glycerine to treat prostate cancer. Their two year study was conducted on 29 men with increasing levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) following prostate surgery or radiation.
What they found that the PSA levels (a key predictor of cancer progression) showed a significant slowing in the progression of the disease when given very low doses of a slow-release nitro-glycerine in a skin patch. This is good news as safe and effective treatments for men with rising PSA levels following surgery or radiation are limited.
Obviously this is a small study but it is encouraging news as of the 17 patients who completed the study, all but one showed a stabilization or decrease in the rate of cancer progression, as measured by their PSA Doubling Time. Of men who have undergone radical prostatectomy and/or radiation treatment, it is estimated that 30 to 50 percent will experience a recurrence of cancer so anything that can slow its progress, or halt it has the potential to offer prostate cancer patients a new non-invasive treatment option.
Broader clinical trials will be undertaken this year to confirm and expand these results
Acupuncture Helps Young Patients with Chronic Illness
February 17, 2010 by AnnA
Filed under Childrens Health, Health
There is plenty of evidence to support acupuncture for pain relief, and I personally am a big fan of it after it cured me of pain from a trapped sciatic nerve in my hip, and now doctors at Rush University Medical Center in Illinois but little has been studied for its effects on children.
Rush Children’s Hospital offers both Chinese and Western medicine to patients and this has prompted this new study to analyze and document how acupuncture might help in reducing pain in children and increase quality of life. The children have been diagnosed with chronic illnesses and they are testing acupuncture therapy to help ease the pain and negative side effects like nausea, fatigue, and vomiting caused by such conditions and intensive treatments such as chemotherapy.
Dr. Paul Kent is an oncology expert at the hospital and it is the lack of options for pain management in children that has prompted the study. Research indicates that up to 70 percent of paediatric patients experience pain and those with chronic illnesses often do not have adequate relief or prevention of pain. This is because as many of the solutions for adults such as narcotics and other serious pain medications carry too many risks of serious side effects in children. Dr Kent has no doubt it will be useful from his own experience at the hospital, he said that many children with chronic or acute health issues turn to complementary or integrative approaches after all other conventional treatment options are exhausted and that integrative therapies like acupuncture can be helpful from the onset of disease and can have a tremendously positive influence on a child’s quality of life.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) in the United States has published a statement concluding that acupuncture is effective for treating adults for nausea following chemotherapy and for pain after dental surgery. In children, both they and their parents have stated that acupuncture treatments were both helpful and relaxing so the therapy is being offered to patients between the ages of 5-20 years of age.
Those children in the study will receive eight acupuncture treatments at no charge.
Want to Predict Your Heart Risk with a Web-Based Calculator?
Now if you are too busy to go to the doctor, or tend to avoid them until the last possible minute, a new research tool could be just the thing for you. Cardiff University Medical School has developed an Internet site where you can assess their future risk of having heart disease.
I am all in favour of being proactive and having information is the first step in any process to make changes. Heart disease is the biggest killer in the UK and still many of people do not know they are at risk, but by taking part in this research project you help expand the database of knowledge on heart disease, and you get a free assessment to know where you stand.
They are looking for volunteers aged between 45 and 64 who have not been previously diagnosed with heart disease, had a cardiac event (such as a heart attack or angina) or a stroke. I took the online survey and it is a model of an easy to use site and it doesn’t take long. They will even send you a copy of your results if you want to take them to your doctor, but remember they are a guide to whether you are at risk over the next ten years, not a definitive diagnosis, and hopefully a spur to taking action.
You are not only helping the researchers but for every volunteer who visits the website and completes the study, £1 will be donated to the British Heart Foundation so just go to www.myheartrisk.co.uk to check yourself out.
PS – if you are suffering from angina, also have a look at the item on prostate cancer and nitroglycerin.
Health Bite:
Now if you are feeling guilty over that large box of chocolates you got for Valentine’s Day, and which disappeared faster than you like to admit to – or is that just me – then here’s some good news. Eating chocolate may lower your risk of having a stroke, and lower the risk of death after one, according to an analysis of available research presented at a recent American Academy of Neurology meeting in Toronto.
They hedge their bets by calling for more research, which probably means eating more chocolate and conclude that they are not sure ” whether chocolate truly lowers stroke risk, or whether healthier people are simply more likely to eat chocolate than others”. Well I am healthy and I eat chocolate so I think should volunteer, and if you want facts to back up your chocoholism then remember that it is rich in antioxidants called flavonoids, which may have a protective effect against stroke, and their research showed that those who ate one serving of chocolate per week were 22 percent less likely to have a stroke than people who ate no chocolate and those who ate 50 grams of chocolate once a week were 46 percent less likely to die following a stroke than people who did not eat chocolate.
One study found no link between eating chocolate and risk of stroke or death so go forth and consume with a clear conscience, though remembering that chocolate is also rather high in fat, so that 50 grams a week is probably a good (though stingy) guide.
