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.

Depression and the Internet

It’s not often I comment on a mainstream news item, but The Guardian has reported that a new study links depression and excessive internet use. Now as someone who could not make a living without the Internet for research, it caught my eye as I am also someone who has experienced depression since my early teens. So in the current age of heavy internet use, particularly by teens, just how much is too much?

Work has been done in South East Asia on this, but nothing to date in the UK until researchers at Leeds University did a study on a group of young people and adults to see at what point their Internet use became a problem. It’s already known that for a small proportion of users it becomes an addiction but less well known is that people in this group were more likely to be depressed than non-addicted users, particularly males with an average age of just over 18.

It seems to be a chicken and egg situation: which comes first – are depressed people drawn to the internet or does the internet cause depression? What is useful, particularly for parents, is that it is clear is that, for a small subset of people, excessive use of the internet could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies according to Dr Catriona Morrison of the University’s Institute of Psychological Sciences.

A more worrying concern for me is that addicts spend proportionately more time browsing sexually gratifying websites, online gaming sites and online communities and that the research concurs that these again reinforce the belief that over use of the Internet is serving to replace normal social function. In other words, keep a close eye on the amount of computer online time is being spent – not always easy when most teenagers have their machines in their bedrooms, or have laptops so monitoring use is even more difficult.

If you also find that depression is affecting memory, whatever age, then Ginkgo appears to be as effective in younger people as it is in the elderly. It can also be useful as a short term supplement (5-7 days) before exams to help with focus and short term retention.

Could Vitamin B replace Cholesterol Drugs?

A recent study found that niacin (vitamin B3), is far more beneficial to heart patients with high cholesterol than the most popular cholesterol drug.  Dr. Anthony DeMaria is a leading cardiologist and editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and believes that these new findings will eliminate the need for such drugs.

Anti cholesterol drugs are aimed at reducing the levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad cholesterol”, but niacin is much more effective at boosting the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good cholesterol”.

Niacin significantly reduces plaque build up on arterial walls, improving blood supply to the brain, while cholesterol drugs can slightly increase such arterial plaque build up.  In addition, niacin is considerably cheaper than such drugs and can be bought over the counter.
Studies consistently show that therapeutic doses of niacin alone can raise HDL levels by up to 35 percent and lower LDL levels by 20 percent. When incorporated into a well-balanced diet with regular exercise, the benefits increase even more. Proper diet and exercise will actually cause arterial plaque to dissipate over time, unlike statin drugs which have never been proven to break up arterial plaque.

Niacin is naturally found in dairy products, lean meats, fish and poultry, nuts, eggs, and whole-grain or sprouted breads. Diets rich in plant-based sterols, soluble fibre, and balanced sources of omega-3 and omega-6 oils will also contribute significantly to maintaining proper cholesterol levels and a healthy heart.

Precautions when taking niacin are given for those suffering from diabetes as it can increase blood sugar and anyone with a history of liver or gallbladder disease or peptic ulcers need.  Side effects associated with niacin are usually mild and are redness and flushing of the skin, particularly the face.

Health Bite:
There is another reason why your face may flush, and that is one to seriously pay attention to if you are a regular drinker.  Doctors at the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism report that when drinking results in facial flushing, it’s time to call your doctor to schedule an endoscopic cancer screening.

It could be that you have an inherited deficiency in an enzyme known as ALDH-2 which prompts facial flushing after just a couple of drinks.  This warning sign suggests a much higher risk of oesophageal cancer compared to the general population and as it has a very low survival rate (less than five years) it is worth paying attention.

If you regularly experience flushing after drinking go see your doctor, and monitor your intake because flushing can also occur with the additives in some wines so keep a record of what causes your face to go red so you can eliminate that first.

The Real Differences Between Teenage Boys and Girls

One of most commonly quoted facts about the differences between boys and girls is that the girls do better academically. What’s not so well known is that boys have higher rates of suicide, conduct disorders, emotional disturbance, premature death and juvenile delinquency than girls of their age.

This startling conclusion came from a paper on the “The State of American Boyhood,” published in the Journal ‘Gender’ and based on work done at the University of Alaska. They acknowledged that depression, suicide attempts and eating disorders are common in teenage girls but that the boys problems are more serious.

Young people themselves have negative stereotypes as to why boys do less well, and centre on three themes: young men are lazy, they don’t plan ahead and they are prone to peer pressure. The result is that they get little respect and so have even less enthusiasm for continuing education and low self esteem is made even worse.

Another difference between the sexes in the teens is that overweight girls tend to enter puberty early but overweight boys may begin puberty later than thin boys. Being a bouncy chubby baby is one thing, but when it persists it is setting a pattern for health problems later in life. As rates of obesity among teenagers has nearly tripled since the 1960s, this late development of puberty in boys may well become a cause for concern as it can lead to loss of self esteem with peers and this can increase comfort eating, and obesity, still further.

Antidepressants Can Affect Breast Feeding

If a woman is planning on breast feeding, and has been having treatment for anxiety or depression that involves taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs may find that it delays their ability to produce breast milk after their baby is born.

This study at the University of Cincinnati was just reported in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and its findings are significant.  Although this is only a small study, 87.5% of women on SSRI drugs had delayed milk delivery compared to 43.5% of those not taking the drugs.   Delayed milk production is an early breastfeeding difficulty faced by many women, particularly those who are first term time mothers, and defined as being over 72 hours after giving birth.  This difficulty also contributes to the mother ceasing to breastfeed before the recommended time. These women also are at risk of early cessation of breastfeeding.

SSRI drugs are the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressants and are typically used to treat ‘baby blues’ depression.  A more natural solution would be to turn to natural medicine such as St John’s Wort, or more particularly natural progesterone as that is the hormone that drops most dramatically after giving birth and the one that could most help elevate mood without any ill effects for the baby.

Health Bite:

Smoking in Pregnancy can Permanently Affect a Baby’s Blood Pressure

A Swedish study has shown that babies born to women who smoked during pregnancy show evidence of persistent problems in blood pressure regulation that start at birth and get worse throughout their first year.

The study was reported in the journal of the American Heart Association and raises serious concerns that the seeds being sown in pregnancy will reap a lifetime of ill health for the baby. Normally, when a person stands, the heart rate increases and the blood vessels constrict to keep blood flow to the heart and brain and so there is a standard repositioning test to see how a baby’s blood pressure responds to tilting them upright during sleep. The results were dramatically different in those born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy compared to those who did not.

The non-smoking mothers (on average 15 cigarettes a day) saw only a 2% increase in blood pressure in their babies when they were tilted upright at one week of age and later a 10 percent increase in blood pressure at one year. But, the babies of smoking mothers saw the exact opposite with a 10% increase in blood pressure during a tilt at one week and only a 4 percent increase at one year. At three months and one year, the heart rate response to tilting in the tobacco-exposed infants was abnormal and highly exaggerated, researchers reported.

The concern obviously is that early life exposure to tobacco can lead to long-lasting reprogramming of the baby’s blood pressure control mechanisms. The researchers found that such babies have a hyper-reactive system in the first weeks of life because the blood pressure increases too much when they are tilted up, but at one year they under-react and are less effective in adapting to an upright position. Despite any amount of health warnings some mothers still do smoke, and one argument I have heard is that it is better to smoke as it reduces the mother’s stress levels. A stressed mother is certainly not good for the baby, but this research shows the long-term implications are even more serious if she continues to smoke – or those around her do.

How Hemp Helps Hearts

Hemp, other than its use by sailors for rope or hippies for smoking, actually does have some positive health benefits – particularly hemp hearts which are shelled hemp seeds from the soft fibre of a Cannabis plant.  Hemp seeds are high (no pun intended) in essential nutrients. For instance they contain an ideal ratio of the essential fatty acids Omega 3, 6 and 9 which help to maintain a healthy heart and immune system.

Hemp has a full amino acid spectrum, meaning it provides a complete protein including the 9 essential amino acids our bodies cannot make and therefore must be obtained through the diet, these essential amino acids are required for the growth and repair of muscles, bones and skin. Two dessert spoonfuls per day of shelled organic hemp provides 49% RDA of Magnesium which we need for healthy bones and teeth and for proper muscle function and energy metabolism.

Hemp is also a good source of dietary fibre which helps to maintain healthy bowel regularity and may assist in lowering cholesterol. It is also high in Vitamin E which is a highly effective anti-oxidant and beneficial for hair, skin and nails. Hemp seed is ideal for every diet and especially appealing to athletes, vegetarians and vegans looking for alternative protein sources. Hemp is a delicious snack or also a perfect accompaniment to cereal, fruit, yogurt, soup, juice, casseroles, smoothies, stir fry or baking.

Linwoods make a very palatable organic shelled hemp mixture which you should be able to get in a good health store and by adding a couple of tablespoonfuls to your morning muesli, yoghurt or porridge you get some excellent health benefits with very little effort.

Warm Up Those Aching Muscles

I don’t know about you, but trying to keep my balance while walking on slippery pavements gave me aching calf muscles and my neighbour strained a tendon while negotiating the front steps.   Sadly muscle aches and pains are all too common and the usual response is a hot bath and some painkillers, but if you want a more natural solution then turn to the sports coaches favourite remedy; a muscle and joint rub.

Recently found to be the most effective on the market, Blue Active Gel is unique in two ways.  First it cools the affected area instantly with a soothing effect that lasts for hours and secondly it does that through the use of a whole range of natural active ingredients.   It certainly has enough of them to overwhelm your muscles into relaxing and being soothed including aloe vera, menthol and witch hazel for their anti-inflammatory and cooling effects, glucosamine sulphate and MSM for the maintenance of healthy joints, Golden Emu Oil, Chamomile and Tilia Cordata to soothe and willow bark and capsicum to help with the pain.

You should find it in your local health store, but if not then you can buy it online at www.shopforhealth.co.uk

An Apple A Day Keeps the Doctor Away – but Why?

You remember that ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ phrase, probably devised by the Apple Marketing Board, but have you ever wondered what the basis of it is? Danish microbiologists think they have the answer as after feeding rates on a diet rich in whole apples, juice, or purée they found that this diet increased the amount of ‘friendly’ bacteria in the gut.

Certain bacteria are good not just for our digestive health but may also influence our risk for cancer. It is apparently the pectin, part of the dietary fibre found in apples that produces an increase in the amount of beneficial bacteria in the gut and apples also produce a chemical called butyrate,. an important fuel for the cells of the intestinal wall.

The part to bear in mind is the ‘a day’ part of the phrase as you need to eat apples regularly and over a prolonged period of time but as apples are adult’s favourite fruit then that shouldn’t be too much of a hardship. What about apple and mango puree with your breakfast?

Can Plasma Jets Replace the Dentist’s Drill?

Sounds like science fiction, but it could soon be a reality to avoid those painful sessions and target the dental bacteria that cause cavities. Scientists and dentists from Leipzig and Homburg in Germany collaborated to test the effectiveness of plasma against the bacteria that form a film on the surface of teeth and erode tooth enamel and the fibrous tooth structure underneath the enamel coating (dentin) and cause cavities. Firing low temperature plasma beams at dentin was found to reduce the amount of dental bacteria by up to 10,000-times.

These bacteria can cause you to have toothache, cavities, and sometimes severe gum infections. The researchers exposed infected teeth to plasma jets for 6, 12 or 18 seconds, and the longer the exposure then the greater the amount of bacteria that were eliminated.

Using plasma jets are a painless alternative to the drill and they could be used to remove infected tissue in tooth cavities. The low temperature of the plasma ray means they can kill the microbes while preserving the tooth and avoiding damage to the blood supply and nerves around it. and heat damage to it must be avoided at all costs.”

If you want the scientific bit; plasmas are produced when high-energy processes strip atoms of one or more of their electrons which then forms high-temperature reactive oxygen species that are capable of destroying microbes. There are hot plasmas already in use to disinfect surgical instruments and the recent development of cold plasmas with temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius show great promise for use in dentistry.

Don’t rush to your dentist just yet though, as although this is groundbreaking work it is not likely to be widely available for at least three years.

Could Mangos Prevent Cancer?

Ever since I learned how to eat a mango – courtesy of Hercule Poirot demonstrating how to take the skin off with a dessert spoon – I have loved their flavour with both sweet and savoury foods. They make a wonderful smoothie and add sweetness to a lamb tagine but now it seems their rich blend of vitamins A and C could help prevent some types of cancer, but are particularly effective for colon cancer.

Food scientists Dr. Susanne and Steve Talcott undertook a study at Texam A&M University on five varieties of mangos that are most common in the USA. Kent, Francine, Ataulfo, Tommy/Atkins and Haden, in case you are interested, and they specifically tested polyphenol extracts from the fruit on colon, breast, lung, leukaemia and prostate cancer cells.

Polyphenols are natural substances in plants that are antioxidants with the potential to protect the body from disease and this research focused on polyphenolic compounds in mangos known as gallotannins, a class of natural bioactive compounds believed to help prevent or block the growth of cancer cells.

The results are encouraging as the mango extract demonstrated some cancer fighting ability when tested on lung, leukaemia and prostate cancer cells, but really were impressive when tested on the most common breast and colon cancers where they were found cause cancer cells to undergo apoptosis, or programmed cell death.

The researchers documented that the division process cancer cells go through was interrupted by mango extract. This is crucial information, for cells that may be on the verge of mutating or being damaged, mango polyphenolics could prevent this and so prevent cancer.

The scientists have conducted additional research on the colon cancer cell lines because mangos contain small molecules that are readily absorbed in the colon as well as larger molecules that are not absorbed and remain present longer in the colon. That could potentially make eating mangos a potent way to help prevent colon cancer.

Time to add mangos to one of your five a day?

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