Heart disease & stoke

The UK has one of the highest rates of death from heart disease in the world - one British adult dies from the disease every three minutes - and stroke is the country's third biggest killer, claiming 70,000 lives each year.
Heart attacks occur when blood flow is blocked, often by a blood clot, while strokes are caused either by blocked or burst blood vessels in the brain. A range of other conditions, including heart failure, when blood is not pumped properly around the body, and congenital heart defects can also cause long term problems, and even death, for sufferers.

HEART DISEASE
The heart pumps blood around the body carrying oxygen and other nutrients to the areas that need it. When this process is interrupted, or does not work properly, serious illness and even death can result.
The risk of heart disease is greater for people with poor diet, who smoke and do not exercise, and men are more likely to suffer from it than women.
A range of tests and treatments, including drugs, heart bypass surgery and transplants, exist to alleviate symptoms or save the lives of sufferers.


STROKE

There are two types of stroke - those caused by blood clots in the brain and those that occur when blood vessels burst. In both cases, the brain is starved of oxygen, damaging or killing cells.
Sufferers are often left with difficulty talking, walking and performing other basic tasks. The chance of suffering a stroke is cut by eating healthily, quitting smoking and drinking less alcohol. People at risk of stroke are often treated with aspirin.
After a stroke, various drug treatments are available and rehabilitation is commonly used to improve patients' speech and movement.

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Cancer: The facts

One in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer during our life.

The disease tends to affect older people - but can strike at any time.

Excluding certain skin cancers, there were more than 270,000 new cases of the disease in 2001 - and the rate is increasing by about 1% a year.

Some cancer, such as breast, are becoming more common, while new cases of lung cancer fall away due to the drop in the number of smokers.

However, while the overall number of new cancers is not falling, the good news is that successful treatment rates for many of the most common types are improving rapidly.

BBC News Online has produced, in conjunction with Cancer Research UK, a guide to some of the most common forms of cancer and the treatments used to tackle them.

To learn more about different types of cancer, and to read the experiences of patients, click on the links to the right.

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Study finds stress link to asthma

Stress 'causes asthmatic babies'

Pregnant women who suffer from stress are more likely to have a child with asthma, according to research from Children of the 90s study.

Researchers working with about 6,000 families in Bristol found anxious mums-to-be were 60% more likely to have a baby who would develop the illness.

The findings show 16% of asthmatic children had mothers who reported high anxiety while pregnant.

Mothers-to-be who were less stressed had a lower incidence rate.

Key findings

Professor John Henderson, from the Children of the 90s team, said: "Perhaps the natural response to stress which produces a variety of hormones in the body may have an influence on the developing infant and their developing immune system that manifests itself later on."

The Children of the 90s study - carried out by the University of Bristol - has been following 14,000 children.

They are regularly tested and monitored to see how different lifestyles affect growth, intelligence and health.

The aim is to identify ways to optimise the health and development of children.

Key findings to come out of the project include left-handed children do less well in tests than their right-handed peers and women who eat oily fish while pregnant have children with better visual development.

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Test 'sheds light on back pain

A simple technique could help doctors differentiate between patients with different causes of back pain and thus improve treatment, a study suggests.

Researchers writing in PLoS Medicine have devised "bedside" tests which distinguish between neuropathic - nerve damage - and other causes of pain.

Neuropathic pain is commonly described as "burning" or "stabbing" but it is often difficult to formally diagnose.

Back pain is the most commonly cited reason for being absent from work.

A team from Massachusetts General Hospital in the US and Addenbrooke's in the UK recruited more than 300 patients with chronic back pain.

Some had a known history of nerve damage caused by diabetes or shingles, while others had low back pain with or without evidence of spinal nerve root damage.

Question time

By carrying out detailed comparisons of the patients, researchers were able to formulate a set of six questions and 10 physical tests which distinguished between the two groups.


Although back pain is very common, in many cases we still have a poor understanding of where the pain is coming from
Dries Hettinga
BackCare

The results, they said, were superior to existing screening tests for neuropathic pain and even to MRI scanning of the spine, which can be misleading as many people have damage to their spinal discs without any pain.

In most types of neuropathic pain, all signs of any injury have usually disappeared but certain nerves continue to send pain messages to the brain.

Traditional pain killers often do not help - other options include antidepressants, and physical as well as psychological treatment.

"Currently clinicians measure pain only by asking how bad it is, using scales from mild to moderate to severe or asking patients to rate their pain from one to 10," said lead author Joachim Scholz, an assistant professor of anaesthesia.

"This approach misses key characteristics that reflect the mechanisms causing the pain.

"The treatment of neuropathic and nonneuropathic pain is quite different, and if a diagnosis is wrong, patients may receive treatment, including surgery, that does not improve their pain."

Dries Hettinga, head of research & policy at the charity BackCare, said: "Although back pain is very common, in many cases we still have a poor understanding of where the pain is coming from and how to tailor treatments to individual cases.

"This is why the diagnostic tool that the researchers developed could make a big difference to many people with back pain.

"People with neuropathic back pain need a different treatment approach than those with non-neuropathic pain and an accurate and easy to use tool to distinguish the two types of pain would not only benefit people with back pain, but also help to tailor treatments for people with back pain and thus decrease costs."

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Good Fats Can Help You Lose Weight

Good fats can help you lose weight. For over 30 years, fats have been considered responsible for the extra pounds. Diets entirely excluded the fat intake, although the human body needs fat to function properly! Persons who have excluded the fat from the menu were observed imbalances and diseases of certain organs, which until now were considered as obesity effects.

It was found that obesity and diseases have appeared because of a diet that excluded the "good "fat. Excluding fat from daily menu leads to obesity! In the United States, studies have shown that obesity has increased by 20% in the last 20 years due to the exclusion of fats from the daily menu. Although in 1960 the U.S., 45% from the calories eaten in a day were fat and only 13% of them were obese. In 2007, 33% of daily calories came from fat, but the rate of obesity has increased to 34%! Thereby, although Americans consume less fat, they tend to be much more obese than before. In other words, fat can help you maintain your weight, with the condition to know how and what to eat! The problem is that when it comes to fat, people don't know the difference between the bad one and the one that body needs. Even if only we consume good fats, you need to know that you may not make excesses! Fats are essential for a healthy body.

The human body needs fat to function normally. 60% of the brain is fat so lipids are very important for it to function properly for a fast learning, memory and an overall good mood. Fat can also protect the cells from the body and help them to regenerate and is an important source of beneficial compound to the cell membrane. All bodies need fat to function normally 60% of heart energy is produced by burning fats.

Good fat should not miss from the daily menu if you do not have heart problems! Nerves, lungs and eyes need fat to function normally and to keep away diseases. Good fat can help your digestion; slowing it and allowing the body to absorb the nutrients before the stomach digest the food. Fats can reduce the inflammations and they are very good for a strong immune system. Fats are of several types: Monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, saturated and trans fats. Monounsaturated fat comes from olives, hazel-nuts, avocados, nuts, almonds, peanuts or pumpkin seeds. Mediterranean Diet proposes a rich menu in these fats, which help those who follow this diet to be healthy and have a strong immune system, having the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease in the world!

Polyunsaturated fat derived from sunflower, corn, soy or fish. This includes Omega 3 fatty acids, which protects your cardiovascular system and brain. Saturated fat derived from red meat, whole milk, coconut oil, palm oil, and very little from the chicken and fish meat. These fats increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, because they have so much cholesterol. Trans fat (hydrogenated or fat such as margarine) are very dangerous for your health and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease! You can find these in snacks, fast food meal type and most of the foodstuff that we buy form stores (crackers, cookies, candy, instant puddings and creams, etc.).

The first two categories are considered good fats, saturated ones are not recommended (especially in excess) and the trans ones are truly dangerous to your health! What kind of fat contains your food from your store place? Many of the products we use every day contain several types of fats. Try to choose the unsaturated (mono are ideal), which will help you to have a healthy body and to maintain your form.

Eliminate trans fat from your daily menu and you'll keep away cardiovascular disease! Although you thought that margarine helps you stay in form, you ware wrong because they are rich in trans fats and it was a real danger to your health and can lead to obesity! Omega 3 are a real source of health! Omega 3 fatty acids should not miss from the menu of healthy diets! Recent studies have shown that Omega 3 acids protect you from cardiovascular disease, liver cancer, depressions and neurological disorders (including Parkinson, Alzheimer or Dementia). Whether you choose to eat fish meat (salmon or tuna) or you choose fish oil supplements, Omega 3 acids will help you to have a healthy body and maintain your weight and form.

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Fasting Tips For Managing Obesity

Are you looking for fasting tips that will help you enjoy a life free of unsightly fat? Chances are, you have uncovered all kinds of information that may appear contradictory. For example, some references may indicate that you should only drink water when fasting. Or, you may read about fruit juice fasting, and special recipes dedicated to cleaning out your internal organs. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that you feel puzzled about which fasting regimen to use.

Typically, the best fasting tips will help you eliminate toxins from your body, as well as ensure that your metabolism gets shaken up enough to burn fat. In many cases, fasting regimens last too long, or they are scheduled in such a way that your body adapts to the routine. Therefore, it will be to your advantage to look for routines that enable you to make use of intermittent fasting. You may also want to look for a plan that makes use of exercise to burn fat even faster. This will help preserve and build muscle tissue, as well as ensure that you are gaining the most benefit from fasting.

Depending on your interests, you may want to look to other cultures for fasting tips. Among other things, you will gain all kinds of information about the best times of year for fasting, as well as the kinds of foods to avoid. Chances are, if you dig deeper into the history of these traditions, you may find information about diseases specific to certain geographic locations. As may be expected, if you discover that the foods you eat are imported from certain areas, it may also be of some help to avoid specific foods at certain times. You may even be able to align metabolism boosting fasts with these time periods for an optimal effect.

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Diabetes Mellitus is #6 cause of death by disease in U.S.

By: Pamela Egan, FNP-C CDE

I am diagnosing more and more new diabetics each week in our clinic. Diabetes and cardiovascular disease pose significant threats to our health and well being. When is the last time that you were screened for diabetes?

Diabetes mellitus ranks as the sixth leading cause of death by disease in the United States today. Over 20 million Americans have diabetes, and this number is growing. It is estimated that nearly one-third of those with diabetes are not diagnosed and therefore not receiving care for this disease.

Since 1990, the prevalence of diabetes has increased by 61%. Not surprising, this increase in diabetes corresponds with the increase in obesity. I was walking in my neighborhood this morning and noted that the school bus stopped to pick each child up at their driveway. When I was a child, we had to walk one block to meet the school bus. Are we really helping them by doing this? It’s no surprise that the obesity epidemic is essentially triggered by excess calorie consumption and sedentary lifestyles.

Obesity, especially abdominal fat, has become an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It is also a sign of insulin resistance, vascular inflammation, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

We are seeing more and more children who are overweight classified as both Type 1 & Type 2 diabetes. Many are treated with insulin but without treatment for their insulin resistance. This lack of treatment is compounding their complications.

Type 1 is an autoimmune disease of the pancreas resulting in a lack of insulin and comprises about 5 – 10% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. People with type 1 diabetes in childhood have a high risk of early heart disease.

Type 2 comprises about 90 – 95% of all diabetics. Plasma insulin levels are normal to high. Many have insulin resistance that needs to be reversed. Insulin is the fat storing hormone and an inflammatory hormone. Too much insulin in the blood can actually lead to coronary artery disease. Adults with diabetes have a 2 -4 fold increased risk of stroke and a 3-fold increased risk of heart disease, not to mention peripheral arterial disease, chronic kidney disease and many other disorders.

Diabetes and cardiovascular disease cause nearly 1 million deaths per year and result in over $620 billion in health care costs.

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