Eggs are not the villains

We’ve always been told that eggs are bad for our heart, and especially for raising cholesterol levels. But now researchers have reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that they can reduce high blood pressure, another risk to heart health. Boiled and fried eggs act as a natural ACE inhibitor, which reduces blood pressure levels – and fried eggs are the more powerful of the two. This new study follows recent papers that suggested healthy people can eat eggs without increasing their heart disease risk, and just to celebrate I am off to have egg and chips!

Astrological health profiles – Virgo

Virgo 24 August – 23 September

Virgoans have a strongly self-critical nature, and you are rarely are satisfied with your achievements. This can lead to a number of potential health problems and you need to watch out for:

* Excessive worrying and anxiety which can lead to high stress levels

* Your stomach reflects your mood and you can have digestive problems, particularly when upset

* Constipation and diarrhoea are particularly common

You can see that one of the first places to start is to make a conscious effort to be kinder and less critical of yourself. Stress affects every area of your life, including your physical, mental and emotional health and being overly critical and judgemental of yourself is setting yourself up for trouble.

No one is perfect, so try to tackle your worry through counselling, calming practices such as yoga and meditation and never, ever eatwhen you are upset. Don’t ratchet up your anxiety levels through over use of stimulants such as alcohol and caffeine but drink some calming green tea instead.

Male infertility can pose increased testicular cancer risk

Testicular germ cell cancer is the most common cancer among young men living in industrialized countries. The rate of increase has almost doubled from 1972-2002, and has been accompanied by a decline in semen quality and male fertility during the same period.

Many factors have been cited, including environmental pollutants, and this new research linking infertility and testicular cancer comes from a study of men who have come with their partners to get treatment for their infertility.

The study found that the men who had male factor infertility were nearly three times as likely to develop cancer as those free from the condition though the researchers are keen to stress that the absolute risk of developing testicular cancer remained low in this study and the link has yet to be confirmed but that compared with what would be expected among the general population, men with male factor infertility showed a trend toward an increased risk of testicular cancer.

If a man is undergoing fertility treatment this could be an early warning to watch for any physical signs of testicular cancer though it cannot be diagnosed on symptoms alone, so it is important to also see a doctor if you are concerned.

The most common symptom of testicular cancer is a painless lump on a testicle. In some cases the lump is uncomfortable, but severe pain is rare. Sometimes the testicle may be enlarged or swollen without a lump. Men with testicular cancer may also have a heavy or aching feeling in the lower belly or scrotum. Each normal testicle has an epididymis, which feels like a small bump on the upper or middle outer side of the testis. Normal testicles also contain blood vessels, supporting tissues, and tubes that conduct sperm. These can feel bumpy and are sometimes confused with cancer if doing a simple self-examination.

If you have any doubts, ask your doctor.

Foods to avoid with kidney disease

Anyone with kidney disease must avoid foods that have a high level of phosphorus such as such as certain meats, dairy products, whole grains, potatoes and nuts because their kidneys have difficulty in processing and expelling it. The risks are not small; a high level of phosphorus in such patients can lead to heart disease, bone disease, and even death.

That’s all very well if you know which foods contain it, as most patients do, but new research from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland has discovered that a great deal of processed and fast food actually contains phosphorus additives which can be just as dangerous. Apparently it has become an increasingly common practice by food manufacturers to include phosphorus additives, such as sodium phosphate or pyrophosphate, to processed foods. The reasons are the usual commercial ones; to improve the flavour and extend the shelf life, particularly in meats, cheeses, baked goods, and drinks.

The law requires labels to state calorie, fat, and sodium content but not phosphorus which makes it impossible for kidney disease patients to know how much phosphorus they are eating. One ‘culprit’ is chicken from fast food chains or restaurants although chicken is listed as a ‘safe’ food for dialysis patients.

Although this is primarily of concern to those with severe or moderate kidney disease, it also affects the population as a whole. Previous research has found that high phosphorus diets appear to lower bone density and increase fracture risk because they decrease the level of calcium in your blood.

Phosphorus is already abundant in naturally-occurring foods and these are some of the highest sources that you might want to limit in your diet:

* Milk and milk products

* Whole grains, including bread, crackers, cereal, rice and pasta

* Dried beans, peas and lentils

* Potatoes

* Organ meats, including liver, tongue, kidney, heart and giblets

* Nuts and seeds, including peanut butter and other nut butters

* Chocolate and other sweets made with milk, such as caramels

* Cola soft drinks

New Vitamin D treatment for Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a skin condition that can bring not just physical, but emotional and social challenges for sufferers. News is just in of new topical treatments that are about to become available in the USA for psoriasis. Of the new options, one is a calcitriol ointment and one is a Hydrogel Patch, but this has only limited availability. What is really exciting is the calcitriol option that was presented by the vice chairman of dermatology at the University of California at a recent Skin Disease Education Foundation Dermatology Seminar in Hawaii.

Calcitriol is a vitamin D ointment that was approved by the FDA earlier this month and will be on general sale in pharmacies within two months. It has been shown to be successful in treating moderate to severe psoriasis of the scalp, when applied twice daily over a period of eight weeks. When extended to use twice daily for a year, there was a good improvement in 64% of patients.

Astrological health profiles – Leo

Leo 24 July – 23 August

Unfairly known as the ‘show-off’s’ of the zodiac as Leo tends to love the spotlight, but there is a lot more to you than that. Leo’s blend creativity and authority with courage and like to take on a great deal of responsibility – which can be a direct cause of some of their health problems, particularly as you don’t like admitting to any weakness. Watch out for:

* Stress – it is your number one enemy and you can be too proud to ask for help

* You can be rather self-indulgent in your eating habits.

* High blood pressure and high cholesterol are your particular dangers.

* Mental and physical rigidity is common in your sign, so beware a lack of flexibility in joints and muscles.

You love life, and all it offers, but that tendency to indulge yourself can backfire unless you balance it with a really good self care regime. You can eat anything you want, in moderation, which is not really how Leo’s like to function. Stress – particularly if unacknowledged and allowed to flourish – will damage your health so a sensible eating and exercise regime is a must to tackle thosepotential heart problems. Yoga or tai chi would be excellent to help those stiff joints, and has the double benefit of helping alleviate stress.

Breast cancer natural preventives

As I always believe prevention is better than cure, I am happy to report two new pieces of information this week on easy, natural and enjoyable ways to reduce breast cancer risk.

Breakthrough 1 gives you even more reasons to enjoy a nice cup of tea. If you are a regular black or green tea drinker then you are already helping to reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke and endometrial cancer. Regular tea drinking has two important functions: it inhibits uncontrolled cell growth, known as cell proliferation, and encourages the death of cancer cells, known as apoptosis. A recent study found that smokers who drank four cups of decaffeinated green tea per day showed a 31 percent decrease in oxidative DNA damage in white blood cells as compared to those who drank four cups of water. Oxidative DNA damage is implicated in the promotion of many forms of cancer. Now a new study has also linked tea to a substantial decrease in breast cancer risk. Particularly for women under 50, the risk is reduced by 37%, and as this is the group in whom the cancer can be particularly virulent and fast acting this is very worthwhile news. In fact, let’s raise a cup together, preferably green or white tea as these are the least processed. The darker the tea, the more processing as a rule, but these two have even more health benefits, and up that to three cups a day to boost your immune system and lower your cancer risk.

Breakthrough 2 concerns another favourite staple, and that is olive oil. Australian researchers have reported that that olive oil has a host of positive health effects, and now researchers from the Catalonian Institute of Oncology (ICO) in Girona have discovered specifically that extra virgin olive oil appears to be a powerful weapon against breast cancer.

The key ingredient is the polyphenols that are present in extra virgin olive oil. These are powerful natural antioxidants found in abundance in olive oil and are highly active against both HER2-positive and HER2-negative breast cancers cells. Polyphenols in the oil not only inhibit the activity of cancer-promoting HER2 activity but also promotes the protein’s degradation.

As Jamie Oliver would say, give it a good glug and not only will your food taste better, but your cells will thank you.

How running could help your eyesight

Yet another good reason to get out the old running shoes has come a study done at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that tracked approximately 41,000 runners for more than seven years. They found that vigorous exercise, particularly running, can help reduce the risk of both cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness and macular degeneration can cause irreversible vision in older people and so far there have been few suggestions as to how to avoid these conditions. Running, or any vigorous cardiovascular exercise, may be one excellent preventive measure and certainly worth investigating by anyone with a family history of eye disease.

The trial was conducted with both men and women runners they found that men who ran more than 5.7 miles per day had a 35 percent lower risk of developing cataracts than men who ran less than 1.4 miles per day. The study also analyzed men’s 10-kilometer race performances, which is a good indicator of overall fitness. The fittest men had half the risk of developing cataracts compared to the least-fit men.

In the case of macular degeneration the results were even more remarkable. Runners who averaged between 1.2 and 2.4 miles per day had a 19 percent lower risk for the disease, and people who ran more than 2.4 miles per day had an impressive 42 percent and 54 percent lower risk.

If you aren’t keen on running, then the scientists involved in the study believe that it is quite likely that the studies’ results might apply to a lesser extent to smaller doses of more moderate exercise such as walking.

Scientists take the mystery out of kissing

Trust a scientist to take the romance out of life – and as we have just celebrated Valentines’ Day I saved this story until now as I didn’t want to take the fun out of it for you.

A professor of neuroscience at Lafayette College, Louisiana has examined what exactly happens during a kiss. You think she would have known from her own experience, but hey ho. In case you are wondering, kissing releases chemicals that ease stress hormones in both sexes and encourage bonding in men, though not so much in women. Personally I don’t find kissing always eases stress, but maybe I am kissing the wrong people.

If you are a sloppy kisser then you get even more stress release as it is the chemicals in saliva that change the levels of chemicals in the body. Some lucky pairs of college students got drafted for this research which involved kissing a partner for 15 minutes while listening to music. Presumably Mantovani and not Meatloaf, as it was found they experienced significant changes in their levels of the chemicals oxytocin, which affects pair bonding, and cortisol, which is associated with stress. Their blood and saliva levels of the chemicals were compared before and after the kiss which must have taken some of the romance out of it. Though as the experiment took place at the Student Health Centre that’s probably not the most atmospheric of settings.

Every subject showed a decline in cortisol when their 15 minutes was up which showed their stress levels had gone down also. In the men, oxytocin levels increased, indicating more interest in bonding, while oxytocin levels went down in women. Just to be sure they also tested couples that just held hands, and they had similar changes in body chemicals – but not to the same extent.

As proof that scientists can be just as obvious as the rest of us, I will leave you with the good professor’s final observations: “When you kiss an enormous part of your brain becomes active,” Oh really, just the brain? And to reassure you as you dust off that Valentine card, “Romantic love can last a long time if you kiss the right person.”

Bone marrow transplants – Good news

Finding a compatible bone marrow donor can be a heartbreaking process. Even if family and friends come forward they are not always an ideal match and the wait for the perfect donor can sometimes be longer than the time available to the patient.

Now there is good news from the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation which can effectively bypass the bone marrow route in appropriate cases by using a unit of mismatched blood from umbilical cords.

This work was presented by Duke University Medical Center who reported on a ten year study on children with malignant and genetic disorders, including leukaemia. Using cord blood for transplants offers some advantages over bone marrow because it is more widely available, has more immature cells, involves fewer complications, and donor match is not as important.

The study found that there was a four of six HLA matches of blood given to children and this meant low rates of failure and graft-related disease from the patient’s own body. Survival rates over one, three and ten years were also impressive for this type of patient, being 54.8%, 46.6%, and 43%, respectively which is comparable to those achieved with unmatched bone marrow transplants and substantially better than if the patients had not received transplants at all. In many cases the patients would have died without a transplant and although there was a failure rate in 6.7% of the patients, a slightly higher figure than the norm for bone marrow transplants, this is still low. Nor is that the end of the road for those patients as in many cases they can get a second transplant, something that is rarely available with bone marrow.

The time element is also an important factor and for patients who need an urgent transplant it could be a lifesaver. On average it takes two to three months for an unrelated bone marrow donor to become available and only about two weeks for an unrelated cord blood donor.

This breakthrough opens up the possibility of transplant to many more patients and although considered to be at a preliminary stage will make surgery available for those who previously were unable to find a matched donor.

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