Red Meat, Obesity Raise the Risk of Colon Cancer
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Two new research studies have added weight to the evidence that both the consumption of red meat and excess weight contribute to the increased risk of developing colon cancer.
A team from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Rockville MD reviewed data from a cohort of over 300,000 men and women and reviewed the detailed questionnaires by the participants about the types of meat that they consumed and how it was cooked. After seven years of follow-up, there were 2,710 cases of colon cancer in the group.
Those who ate the most red and processed meat showed a significantly higher risk of developing colorectal cancer than those in the bottom quintile who consumed the least amount of meat.
LSUHSC researcher finds first inherited prostate cancer genetic mutation in African-American men
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Shahriar Koochekpour, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Genetics at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, led research that has discovered, for the first time, a genetic mutation in African-American men with a family history of prostate cancer who are at increased risk for the disease. Dr. Koochekpour, who is also a member of the LSUHSC Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, identified an inheritable genetic defect in the receptor for the male hormone, androgen (testosterone), that may contribute to the development of prostate cancer and its progression. Scientific reports linking inheritable androgen receptor mutations to prostate cancer in Caucasians are rare, and this is the first one that focuses on the African-American population. The study is available in the advance online publication of the Nature Publishing Group’s Asian Journal of Andrology.
Dr. Koochekpour and his laboratory discovered this genetic change by testing DNA extracted from white blood cells of African-American and Caucasian men from Louisiana who had a proven medical history of prostate cancer in their families.
“We detected this mutation only in African-American men with prostate cancer,” notes Dr. Koochekpour.
Novel stroke treatment passes safety stage of UCI-led clinical trial
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A clinical research trial of a new treatment to restore brain cells damaged by stroke has passed an important safety stage, according to the UC Irvine neurologist who led the effort.
Dr. Steven C. Cramer said patients showed no ill effects after the sequential administration of growth factors encouraging the creation of neurons in stroke-damaged areas of the brain. All new drug treatments must pass this safety stage before doctors can study their effectiveness in subsequent studies.
Results of the phase IIa trial appear on the Web site of Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association.
N.Y. health dept. slams sugary drinks
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New York’s commissioner of health criticized the beverage industry for “ceaseless marketing” in its campaign against a proposed tax on sugary drinks.
Speaking at a symposium on obesity in Albany, N.Y., Richard F. Daines said the tax, included in the executive budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, is a battle to reduce obesity. He detailed the efforts of the beverage industry to market cheap soda, especially in low-income and minority communities; manipulate pricing to promote greater consumption; rally opposition to government efforts to reduce consumption of sugary beverages and blame the rise in childhood obesity on parents, while denying any link between obesity and non-diet soda consumption.
Different strokes help tissue heal
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Using simple handheld tools, physical therapist Laurie Eickhoff carefully rubs patient Lisa Maharry’s leg to treat her Achilles injury with a new therapy intended to stimulate the body’s normal healing process.
Maharry has received augmented soft tissue manipulation, or ASTYM, at Ingersoll Physical Therapy since January. The clinic, affiliated with Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers, is one of a few providers in the metro area and about 30 in Iowa that offer the treatment.
Eickhoff has used the technique on a dozen patients since November. Some were referred by physicians, while others were existing patients she transitioned into the therapy after trying other measures.
Unhealthy foods become less popular with increasing costs
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Adults tend to eat less pizza and drink less soda as the price of these items increases, and their body weight and overall calorie intake also appear to decrease, according to a report in the March 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
“To compensate for food environments where healthful foods (i.e., fresh fruits and vegetables) tend to cost more, public health professionals and politicians have suggested that foods high in calories, saturated fat or added sugar be subject to added taxes and/or that healthier foods be subsidized,” the authors write as background information in the article. “Such manipulation of food prices has been a mainstay of global agricultural and food policy, used as a means to increase availability of animal foods and basic commodities, but it has not been readily used as a mechanism to promote public health and chronic disease prevention efforts.”
Kiyah J. Duffey, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues assessed the dietary habits of 5,115 young adults (age 18 to 30) beginning in 1985 to 1986 and continuing through 2005 to 2006. Food price data were compiled for the same timeframe. Participants’ height, weight and blood levels of glucose and insulin were also collected and a measure of insulin sensitivity was calculated.
Let’s Move! The Obama Campaign against Childhood Obesity
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Childhood overweight and obesity is a serious problem globally. One of the hardest hit countries is the United States, where half of children are overweight for their age. As such, First Lady Michelle Obama has launched an important program called Let’s Move to try to find ways to deal with the problem - and it deserves a lot of attention!
Let’s Move aims to help families manage and prevent childhood obesity from four vantage points:
* helping parents make healthy choices for their kids
* finding ways to make the school environment healthier
* increasing physical activity
* finding ways to access healthy and affordable food
Obesity Epidemic leads to Bariatric Surgery and Post Bariatric Surgery
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The American obesity epidemic statistics are staggering. Nowhere else in the world is there a country with such a wide spread obesity problem. Approximately 11 million Americans are morbidly obese. Obesity and related problems are the leading cause of death in America. According to the American Heart Association at http://www.americanheart.org, 71% of non-Hispanic white men and 57.6% of women are overweight and of these 30.2% of men and 30.7% of women are obese. Of non-Hispanic blacks 67% of men and 79.6% of women are overweight and of these 30.8% of men and 51.1% of women are obese. Of Mexican Americans 74.6% of men and 73% of women are overweight and of these 29.1% of men and 39.4% of women are obese. Because of these staggering statistics, the prevalence of bariatric surgery is very high.
The benefits of bariatric surgery often outweigh the risks. Patients typically lose well over a hundred pounds. The health benefits are astounding, though the risks are high. With recent technological advances and changes in the way surgeries have been performed, the risks are slowly decreasing, but with old methods, serious problems exceeded 30% of those who underwent surgery. For those without complications though, bariatric surgery is a life giving procedure.
After losing over a hundred pounds, patients tend to notice the way their skin hangs in empty folds.
L.A. obesity summit will feature Schwarzenegger, Clinton
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former President Clinton are scheduled to attend a summit on health, nutrition and obesity in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
The governor, a former bodybuilder who has long advocated healthy living and exercise, will join with health professionals, educators and others to discuss ways California can combat obesity and promote physical fitness.
In a statement, the governor cited several efforts he has supported to combat obesity in California, including requirements that some vending machines include healthy foods, that larger restaurant chains have nutritional information on menus and that some junk foods be removed from school campuses.
Obesity, Lack of Exercise Heighten Arthritis Risk for Women
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Higher levels of obesity and inactivity, especially among women, explain why arthritis is more common in the United States than in Canada, according to a new study.
Researchers at the Toronto Western Research Institute analyzed 2002-03 data from both countries and found that the prevalence of arthritis in the United States was 18.7% and the prevalence of arthritis-attributable activity limitations (AAL) was 9.6%. In Canada, the rates were 16.8% and 7.7%, respectively.
Women in the United States had a higher prevalence of arthritis (23.3%) and AAL (13%) than Canadian women (19.6% and 9.2%, respectively). Men in both countries had similar rates of arthritis (14%) and AAL (6%).
How to wage war against obesity
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Dr. Valerie Taylor doesn’t believe that most people with a weight problem would say, “This is not my fault,” or, “This is because of McDonald’s.”
“Absolutely, they take responsibility,” says Taylor, an assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioural neuroscience at McMaster University in Hamilton, and director of the Canadian Obesity Network mental health program. Many people feel guilty about their weight, she says, “and they struggle to accept treatments like surgery because they really feel they should be able to control this problem themselves.
“Some don’t even think they deserve the kinds of treatment and care that other medical conditions receive.”
Treating daughter’s eating disorder must involve entire family
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My lovely daughter, now 24, is bright and personable and she graduated with excellent grades from a private high school and a well-known college, but for the past eight years she has suffered from anxiety, has been in therapy and has struggled with an eating disorder.
She now works full time at a job she loves, shares an apartment with a college friend and lives near us, so we see her often. She is close to us and her siblings and gets support at home and at work, but she seems more anxious and weighs less than she ever has.
We have discussed residential treatment since the beginning, but her doctors thought she would recover and it was never something she wanted to do. It is heartbreaking to watch her decline and we are feeling more and more desperate. How can we help her get over anorexia nervosa?
Obesity and Diabetes–The Missing Link?
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As some of you may recall from an earlier post here, inflammation appears to be a common link in the body between obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. There are substances in the body called pro-inflammatory cytokines that, as their name implies, promote the inflammatory process. This can be helpful when a foreign organism such as a bacterium or virus is the target; however, sometimes things go awry and these same cytokines may involve themselves in an assault on healthy tissue.
It appears that fat cells may be one of the primary culprits here. The thinking is that the more fat cells you accumulate, the greater your inflammatory cytokine level will be. Inflammatory cytokines in turn have been shown to be a risk factor for coronary heart disease (by promoting the development of plaque in the walls of the coronary arteries) as well as for diabetes. In the latter, it seems that they bind to insulin receptors on cells, blocking the action of insulin.
Which Comes First, Obesity or Depression?
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People who are obese are often diagnosed with clinical depression, but which comes first - the increased weight gain or the depression symptoms? Researchers from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands have found that it is actually a two way street and each condition influences the other.
Floriana Luppino MD and colleagues reviewed medical literature up to March 2008 on overweight and obese conditions and their link to depression. In total, the researchers screened almost 3,000 articles. They performed a more intense meta-analysis on 15 of those studies which covered 58,745 subjects.
They found that those subjects already overweight or obese were more likely to be clinically depressed and that those who were depressed had an increased tendency to become obese.
Bill Clinton fights childhood obesity after his 2nd heart surgery: South Florida schools fight too
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“More than ever, we as parents and a nation must do something about the growth of obesity in our children. We must do more than just talk, we must be concerned enough to act.”—Lee Haney
Former President Bill Clinton received a second wake up call three weeks ago warning him to change his lifestyle and eating habits. After an emergency trip to the hospital and an hour long, life saving heart surgery to unclog his blocked arteries, he is doing amazingly well. Six years after a quadruple bypass heart surgery, Ex-president Clinton was given a second chance at life that he is now taking very seriously.
Clinton stated, “I have been working too hard and sleeping too little and not exercising too little.” So what will he change? The former president stated, “I’m exercising more, I’m sleeping more and I’m trying to be even more rigorous about the diet… Lots of fruits and vegetables and salads.”
