The other day I was listening to an interview on National Public Radio with Dean Oshler who has just written a book called From Square One: A Meditation, with Digressions, on Crosswords. During the interview I was surprised to hear Mr. Oshler challenge the widely held belief that regularly doing crossword puzzles is good for your brain fitness and can help stave off Alzheimer’s disease. Oshler’s problem with crossword solving is twofold: first, he believes the clinical data showing an advantage for puzzlers is both weak and only observational (”[The researcher] never said that there was a cause-and-effect relationship. He said there was a correlation. Maybe it just so happens that people who are mentally fit have a tendency to want to do crosswords in the first place”); second, we need variety in our mental exercise (”[Crosswords are] kind of the same activity over and over again. But the Alzheimer’s […]
Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com
While the media fans the flames of mass hysteria over swine flu, which has infected only a small number of people and killed almost none, they routinely ignore the more common, if not widespread, causes of death, many of which are completely, or nearly completely, preventable if only people were educated and motivated enough to make changes to their lifestyles. Imagine if just a fraction of the energy that people are putting into avoiding swine flu were put into efforts to reduce smoking, high blood pressure and obesity, which together are responsible for over one million premature deaths every year. “To have hundreds of thousands of premature deaths caused by these modifiable risk factors is shocking and should motivate a serious look at whether our public health system has sufficient capacity to implement interventions and whether it is currently focusing on the right set of interventions,” said Majid Ezzati, PhD, […]
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The current swine flu outbreak has many people worrying, and even more wondering, about how to avoid getting sick. And because of all the media photos and videos of people in Mexico walking around wearing face masks, people in this country naturally want to know if these are an effective means of prevention? Unfortunately, however, as with many aspects of this unusual epidemic there aren’t adequate answers for all the questions. It turns out, that there just haven’t been enough studies to say whether or not wearing a face mask would help prevent infection.
Some people will doubtless say that it’s obvious that wearing a mask would reduce the chance of your inhaling a respiratory virus that can be spread by coughing and sneezing. But it’s not nearly as obvious as they would have you believe. There are several reasons why you could still become infected in spite of wearing a […]
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As of today, Monday April 27, I agree completely with President Obama when he says that while swine flu is an issue of concern, it is “not a cause for alarm.” There are several reasons why you should not panic in spite of the incessant media drum beat and the minute by minute updates. First, so far this is an extremely uncommon illness affecting a very small number of people in the United States, all of whom had mild illness and recovered without incident. Yes, it might spread further, but even so, let’s take a step back and remember that we’re talking about influenza, not Ebola or smallpox. And while full-blown influenza is no walk in the park, for most people it’s not even remotely life-threatening. It’s an unpleasant upper respiratory illness with systemic symptoms of fever, weakness and body aches, that can knock you out for a week, but […]
Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com
As of today, Monday April 27, I agree completely with President Obama when he says that while swine flu is an issue of concern, it is “not a cause for alarm.” There are several reasons why you should not panic in spite of the incessant media drum beat and the minute by minute updates. First, so far this is an extremely uncommon illness affecting a very small number of people in the United States, all of whom had mild illness and recovered without incident. Yes, it might spread further, but even so, let’s take a step back and remember that we’re talking about influenza, not Ebola or smallpox. And while full-blown influenza is no walk in the park, for most people it’s not even remotely life-threatening. It’s an unpleasant upper respiratory illness with systemic symptoms of fever, weakness and body aches, that can knock you out for a week, but […]
Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com
March is National Colon Cancer Awareness Month and as it’s such an important issue I’d like to bring it up today. I’ve written on this topic several times before but according to the American Cancer Society it is the third most common cancer found in men and women, and the second most common cause of cancer death in the United States so I think it warrants attention.
If you are over the age of 50 (or over 40 with risk factors), you should be screened for colon cancer on a regular basis. The schedule for the various screening methods is shown here (discuss this with your physician and decide which one is best for you):
Tests that find pre-cancer and cancer:
• Colonoscopy every 10 years
• Flexible sigmoidoscopy every 5 years
• Virtual colonoscopy every 5 years
• Double-contrast barium enema every 5 years
Tests that mainly find cancer:
• Fecal occult blood test (FOBT) every year
• […]
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Last time, I wrote about Ginkgo biloba being ineffective for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, which may have led you to wonder what actually can prevent it? In your Internet search, you might have been drawn in by the headline at CNN: “Five ways to keep Alzheimer’s away.” Unfortunately, that article, as with many similar ones that abound on the Internet, is long on hype and short on hard evidence. The article is so misleading, in fact, that before I tell you what’s really known about preventing Alzheimer’s I’d like to briefly puncture that particular hot air balloon.The CNN list of five ways to prevent Alzheimer’s begins with antioxidants, and in particular, vitamins A, C and E. They quote a psychiatrist who claims that “There are studies that suggest antioxidants might prevent dementia.” Yes, but those studies are seriously flawed and by no means definitive. […]
Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com
Diabetes is common and increasing in prevalence. About 24 million Americans already have diabetes, and millions more are at risk. Moreover, if current trends continue, one in three Americans (one in two for minorities) born in 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetimes. In fact, recent research has found that the rate of new cases of type 2 diabetes, which is the most common type, has nearly doubled in the last 10 years while spending on diabetes medications has also nearly doubled, but in just the last six years. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney disease, blindness and amputation. And since 1987 the death rate due to diabetes has increased by 45%, while the death rates due to heart disease, stroke, and cancer have declined.
Is it any wonder then that during November, American Diabetes Month®, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) is asking, “Why should […]
Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com
Yesterday was the first Monday of May, and although it happens this year to coincide with the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo, it is also known in the skin cancer community as Melanoma Monday. Melanoma Monday, the first Monday in May, officially kicks off the American Academy of Dermatology’s month-long awareness program called National Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month. This year, the Academy’s campaign is called “See Spot…Check Spot…Save a Life.” It emphasizes the importance of self-examination of the skin, as well as having a partner check the parts of your body that are difficult to see like the back and the scalp.
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, with over one million new cases detected each year. About one in five Americans will develop some form of skin cancer in their lifetime. Fortunately, most types of skin […]
Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com
My father will turn 89 in early April and he was recently described by a visiting physical therapist as “a fall waiting to happen.” So the March 7, 2008 article in the CDC’s “MMWR” publication about seniors falling is one of personal interest to me. And since the CDC reports that falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injury in persons 65 years and older, it’s likely that this subject will resonate with HealthTalk readers concerned with their personal risk of falls as well as with the risks to their parents, friends and other loved ones. The CDC has estimated that in a three month period in 2006, about 5.8 million persons over 65 fell and of those about 1.8 million sustained some type of fall-related injury. The overall estimate is that each year in the United States, nearly one third of older adults […]
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