Showing posts with label prevention. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prevention. Show all posts
Facts About Vitamin D For Skin Cancer Prevention
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Facts About Vitamin D For Skin Cancer Prevention
This Vitamin D facts show that the real network between skin cancer and ultraviolet rays is overexposure. Our body produces Vitamin D when the skin we have is exposed to this rays of natural sun light. The beneficial rays regarding natural sunlight cannot enter glass. In our home or in the car, we cannot receive the beneficial Vitamin D from the sun.
It is quite hard to receive adequate degrees of Vitamin D from our diet. Sunlight is one of the most reliable ways. It would take no less than ten large glasses regarding Vitamin D fortified milk daily just to secure a very minimum level regarding supply. The further your home is from the equator, the longer sun exposure is necessary to generate Vitamin D. Europe, the UK and most US states are not even close the equator.
If you have dark pigmented skin you may want 20 to 30 times as often exposure as fair skinned visitors to generate the same level of Vitamin D. Because in this sunlight deficiency, prostate cancer malignancy is prevalent among black men.
A sufficient higher level of Vitamin D is required for absorption of calcium in your intestines. A deficiency in this vitamin renders calcium products useless. Chronic deficiencies of Vitamin D takes many weeks of supplementation and sunlight contact with reverse and rebuild the bones and nervous process.
One of the Vitamin D facts that a lot of people wouldnt suspect will be that overuse of sunscreen blocks your ability to generate Vitamin and mineral D by 95%. This can create a deficiency and actually cause disease. Note i said "overuse of sunscreen", as sunscreen and safety clothing are necessary beyond a lot of exposure.
It is impossible to generate too much Vitamin D into the body from exposure to the sun. Your body will normally only generate what it needs. A word of warning is that beyond this point you are overexposing you to ultimately the UV rays which is when damage occurs on your skin.
Press on your sternum firmly of course, if it hurts, you might be suffering from a serious Vitamin D deficiency at this time. Before your body is able to use Vitamin D it is activated by your kidneys and liver. In case you have kidney disease or hard working liver damage, the ability of your body to activate Vitamin D might be greatly impaired. Vitamin D from natural sunlight is among the most healing influences in the human body and it is for nothing.
Again, if youre cannot obtain enough sunlight publicity, do take good quality Vitamin D supplements as well as any other vitamin/mineral supplements you may want. Any qualified holistic doctor could help to determine any deficiencies in the human body.
Knowing these Vitamin D facts ahead of time in life and having them throughout your lifetime is a wise decision for any individual. So receive the health advantages of Vitamin D without having to be afraid. Just be smart.
Aspirin for Primary Prevention in Men When Cancer Mortality Benefit Added
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
While aspirin has been shown to be effective in preventing heart attacks in men, it also increases the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and possibly stroke, even at low doses. As such, national guidelines suggest that aspirin be used for prevention only in men at higher risk for cardiovascular events, so that the benefits of aspirin are greater than its adverse effects.
Recent data suggest that aspirin may also be effective for reducing cancer deaths. Would the possible combined health benefits of reducing heart attacks and cancer outweigh the risks of gastrointestinal bleeding and stroke for middle-aged men?
A research team, including UNC scientists, reports that including the positive effect of aspirin on cancer mortality influences the threshold for prescribing aspirin for primary prevention in men. The benefit of aspirin for cancer mortality prevention would help offset the risks and thus lower the age and increase the number of men for whom aspirin is recommended.
Their results were published in the June issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Michael Pignone, MD, MPH, and study lead author, says, “We found that including a risk reduction for cancer deaths had a substantial impact on the overall benefits of aspirin, especially for early middle-aged men from 45 to 55 years of age. Based on this effect, several million men who were not previously good candidates for aspirin prevention would now become eligible.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, of which Dr. Pignone is a recently appointed member, recommends aspirin for primary prevention in men “when the potential benefit of a reduction in myocardial infarctions outweighs the potential harm of an increase in gastrointestinal hemorrhage.” This recommendation was issued in 2009, before the potential benefits for cancer reduction were recognized.
Prevention Not So Lucrative For Insurers
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Diabetes education is effective, but sure doesnt pay ... at least for providers. Ask Dr. Bernstein (at right), former president of the American Diabetes Association, and director of one of 3 hospital-based diabetes centers in New York City that recently closed.Dr. Jerry Bernsteins diabetes clinic at Manhattans Beth Israel Medical Center was reporting a 60% success rate for patients controlling their blood glucose - when news came from the hospitals president, "Jerry, ... were going to have to close your program."
In one of a series of articles the New York Times is running on diabetes, the plight of prevention, and the demise of Dr. Bernsteins clinic, is explored:
"[These clinics] did not shut down because they had failed their patients. They closed because they had failed to make money. They were victims of the byzantine world of American health care, in which the real profit is made not by controlling chronic diseases like diabetes but by treating their many complications."
To drive home the point:
"Not surprising, as the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes has grown, more than 100 dialysis centers have opened in the city."
The article ran in the New York Times yesterday. You can read it at:
In the Treatment of Diabetes, Success Often Does Not Pay
American Heart Association 2007 Guidelines for Prevention of CVD
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
The American Heart Association last week published an update to their guidelines for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Their paper addressed women specifically.
Here is the table of recommendations included in their paper:
You can click the pictures above for a larger version, or you can download their entire paper at:
Evidence-Based Guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women: 2007 Update
For people with diabetes, heart disease looms as the most fatal complication. The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) describes some links between the two:
- CVD is the leading cause of early death among people with diabetes - about 65% of them die from heart disease and stroke.
- Adults with diabetes are 2 to 4 times more likely to have heart disease or suffer a stroke than
people without diabetes. - High blood glucose in adults with diabetes increases the risk for heart attack, stroke, angina, and
coronary artery disease. - People with type 2 diabetes also have high rates of high blood pressure, lipid problems, and obesity,
which contribute to their high rates of CVD. - Smoking doubles the risk of CVD in people with diabetes.
- NDEP, The Link Between Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease
In addition to their recommendations for all women (e.g. dont smoke, be physically active, eat a healthful diet), the AHA 2007 Guidelines gave some special advice for women with diabetes.
- * Achieve an HbA1c of <7% through medication (and lifestyle)
- * Blood pressure of >130/80 mm Hg should be treated with medication (and lifestyle)
- * LDL cholesterol of >100 mg/dl should be treated with medication (and lifestyle)
- * Aspirin (75 to 325 mg/day) should be used in high risk (i.e. diabetic) women unless it cannot be tolerated.
- * ACE inhibitors or ARBs (for blood pressure management) should be used.
If you fall into any of the above categories and are not receiving treatment, you may want to discuss your therapies with your doctor. You could even bring the above AHA Tables, or their entire paper, with you.
Skin Cancer Prevention Is Your Child Sun Protected
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
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| Skin Cancer Care |
Skin Cancer Prevention - Is Your Child Sun-Protected ? - The depleting ozone layer seems to be contributing to the increase of skin cancer. An estimated 1.3 million new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer are diagnosed within the United States each year, outnumbering all other cancers combined.
As with most children, they tend to spend time outdoors from 10:00am to 4:00pm when UV rays are at their highest. One blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence more than doubles a persons chances of developing melanoma later in life."¹ "A persons risk for melanoma doubles if he or she has had five or more sunburns at any age."². Is your child sun protected?
Skin cancer can be prevented and it is never too late to start taking better care of your skin! Clothing appears to provide one of the most convenient forms of protection against ultraviolet radiation (UV). However, not all clothing is sufficiently protective against UV radiation. The average T-shirt only provides an ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) equivalent to a SPF 7 sunscreen.
Sun protective clothes are specially engineered clothing, swimming suits or hats that have been specially developed to include chemical UV absorbers that prevent penetration of UVA and UVB rays. UVA, the "Ageing Ray" which makes up 95% of UV light energy, has the power to penetrate deep into our skin where it can do permanent harm to the skin cells. UVB, the "Burning Ray" which makes up 4-5% of the UV light energy, is one of the foremost causes of skin cancer.
UPF is like the sun protective factor SPF used on sunscreen lotion bottles and fabrics today, in that both UPF and SPF measure sunburn protection. A lot of companies will kind of bounce back and forth between SPF and UPF so lets take a moment to clarify what exactly each of these acronyms means.
UPF is the measurement of how much UV light it blocks. The amount of protection fabric provides depends on the type of fabric and the weave or knit of the fabric. Generally, these fabrics have a tighter weave or knit and are usually darker in color. A 1 over the UPF number demonstrates the maximum amount of UV rays coming through the fabric. A UPF 15 rating allows 1/15 of UV rays through the fabric.
SPF on the other hand measures how long you can stay in the sun without burning. If you normally burn in 10 minutes, a sunscreen with a 15 SPF would protect you 15 times as long, or 150 minutes, assuming you dont sweat or get wet. If a fair-skinned, blond headed person burns in five minutes under the noon day sun, a SPF 10 would enable her to remain outside for fifty minutes before burning -- ten times longer than without sunscreen. A darker-skinned individual who might burn in 20 minutes without sunscreen could stay out for 200 minutes.
The best protection or prevention of skin cancer for your child is to use a combination of sun protective clothing and the appropriate SPF level of sun screen.
1. "Squamous Cell Carcinoma." MayoClinic.com. 8 March 2007. 15 April 2008
2. Pfahlberg A, Kolmel KF, Gefeller O. Timing of excessive ultraviolet radiation and melanoma: epidemiology does not support the existence of a critical period of high susceptibility to solar ultraviolet radiation-induced melanoma. British Journal of Dermatology, March 2001; 144; 3:471
Malaria Symptoms and prevention
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite, is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito. Attacks of fever and malaria cause symptoms of the disease often kills one million people each year worldwide.
In this World Malaria Day (25/04), youll want to listen to more about the symptoms and prevention of the disease as reported by the Health Me Up below.
Symptoms after being bitten
In some cases, the cause of malaria parasites in the human body can survive for several months.
Meanwhile, an infection caused by the parasite P. falciparum is usually more serious and life threatening. So when feeling these symptoms, doctors handlers early is highly recommended.
Prevention
Do not forget, keep your own health by eating nutritious foods and exercising regularly to improve the immune system and prevent malaria attack!
In this World Malaria Day (25/04), youll want to listen to more about the symptoms and prevention of the disease as reported by the Health Me Up below.
Symptoms after being bitten
- shiver
- high fever
- Excessive sweating but decreased body temperature
- headache
- throw up
- limp
- other symptoms
- hacking cough
- muscle aches
- back pain
- enlargement of the spleen
In some cases, the cause of malaria parasites in the human body can survive for several months.
Meanwhile, an infection caused by the parasite P. falciparum is usually more serious and life threatening. So when feeling these symptoms, doctors handlers early is highly recommended.
Prevention
- Avoiding mosquito bites by wearing protective clothing
- Use mosquito repellent cream
- Installing mosquito nets
- If you will be traveling to a place where lots of mosquitoes threatening, consult your doctor
- Do not leave the house after dusk
- Spraying insect repellent in the bedroom and the house of
Do not forget, keep your own health by eating nutritious foods and exercising regularly to improve the immune system and prevent malaria attack!
Avandia� for Prevention
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
GlaxoSmithKlines Avandia® (rosiglitazone maleate), a drug currently used to treat type 2 diabetes has shown to be preventative for that disease.Researchers reporting in last weeks Lancet found that after 3 years, 10.6% of people with a pre-diabetes condition1 who took 8 mg. Avandia daily progressed to type 2 diabetes, compared to 25% of a similar high-risk control group. Both groups received standard counseling on healthy eating and exercise.
Avandia reduced the risk of developing diabetes by 62% relative to a group that received just standard counseling.
For Comparison
The Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group found similar reductions although without medication.
Reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2002, they estimated that 14.4% of people with a pre-diabetes condition who received intensive lifestyle intervention, but no drugs, progressed to type 2 diabetes after 3 years, compared to 28.9% of a similar high-risk control group who received just standard counseling on healthy eating and exercise.
Intensive lifestyle counseling reduced the risk of developing diabetes by 58% relative to a group that received just standard counseling.
Choices
Drugstore.com places the retail price for Avandia at $205 for a months supply (30, 8mg tablets).
If your sugars have been running high and youre determined to avoid a diagnosis of diabetes - and money is no obstacle - Avandia may prove helpful.
If youre looking to avoid the cost or side effects (in the study, Avandia increased the risk for heart failure) of taking a drug, keep in mind that lifestyle changes, of the type described below, have proven highly effective at delaying the onset of diabetes.
The goals for the participants assigned to the intensive lifestyle intervention were to achieve and maintain a weight reduction of at least 7 percent of initial body weight through a healthy low-calorie, low-fat diet and to engage in physical activity of moderate intensity, such as brisk walking, for at least 150 minutes per week. A 16-lesson curriculum covering diet, exercise, and behavior modification was designed to help the participants achieve these goals. The curriculum, taught by case managers on a one-to-one basis during the first 24 weeks after enrollment, was flexible, culturally sensitive, and individualized. Subsequent individual sessions (usually monthly) and group sessions with the case managers were designed to reinforce the behavioral changes.
- The Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group, Reduction in the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes with Lifestyle Intervention or Metformin
1 Participants had either impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), defined by a glucose level of 140-199 mg/dl, 2 hours after a 75 g glucose challenge; or impaired fasting glucose (IFG), defined by a fasting glucose level of 100-125 mg/dl; or both. Both of these conditions increase the risk of developing diabetes.
For The Lancet study (abstract available with free registration):
Effect of rosiglitazone on the frequency of diabetes in patients with impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose: a randomized controlled trial
For The Diabetes Prevention Program Research Groups study (full article available with free registration):
Reduction in the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes with Lifestyle Intervention or Metformin
For GlaxoSmithKlines press release (scroll down to September 15):
Avandia® reduces risk of progression from pre-diabetes to type 2 diabetes by 62 percent in largest ever diabetes prevention trial
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