Diabetes medicines increase risk of fracture

Diabetes, as you will agree, is the most common disease in urban India. Believe it or not there are more than 35 million diabetics in India and the number is expected to increase by another 60% in 2025!
What is worst about diabetes is that it does not affect the blood sugar levels alone; it slowly but surely cripples your heart, kidneys, eyes, foot infections and even blockage of arteries leading to amputations. Thanks to medical science, there are good and easy drugs for diabetes, including injections and oral tablets. However, a new report in the peer-reviewed and prestigious Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) says that some of these drugs may increase your risk to suffer from a fracture.
A paper published in JAMA says, “The insulin-sensitizing thiazolidinediones are a relatively new and effective class of oral antidiabetic agents that have gained wide use in clinical conditions characterized by insulin resistance.”
In this category of drugs, there are two—pioglitazone and rosiglitazone—which account for 21 percent of oral diabetes medications prescribed in the United States and 5 percent of those in Europe. Unfortunately, these are the drugs that increase your chances of suffering from a fracture.
A study conducted by Christian Meier of University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland, and colleagues, have found that “…after adjusting for other risk factors, individuals who were currently taking rosiglitazone and pioglitazone had approximately double or triple the odds of hip and other non-spine fractures than those who did not take these drugs. The odds for fracture were increased among patients who took the drugs for approximately 12 to 18 months and the risk was highest for those with two or more years of therapy.”
However, the authors conclude that people taking other drugs for diabetes were not at this risk.

Heart attacks most prevalent in India

It’s quite an alarming piece of news. According to a study conducted by Indian and Canadian researchers, more than 60% of patients suffering from heart diseases in the whole world will be from India by 2010. The study, published in the famed peer-reviewed journal The Lancet has set off alarm bells in the medical community in India, as well as the common man over 30! With stress levels increasing and life becoming faster and full of junk food, all of us are exposed to the risk of suffering from a heart attack. In fact, the report also points out that the average age of suffering from such disorders is also reducing. After conducting a study on more than 20000 volunteers, the researchers conclude, “Patients in India who have acute coronary syndromes have a higher rate of STEMI than do patients in developed countries. Since most of these patients were poor, less likely to get evidence-based treatments, and had greater 30-day mortality, reduction of delays in access to hospital and provision of affordable treatments could reduce morbidity and mortality.” In other words, the researchers say that our lifestyle contributes to an increased risk of suffering from heart attacks and the lack of access to easy medical care makes chances of survival even more difficult. The study even says that after suffering from a heart attack, most of us do not avail of an ambulance to go to the hospital. Most of the cases they studied had patients being transported in auto rickshaws, cars and in some cases even by carts. This led to most patients' situation worsening even before they could be administered the basic care. One feels, the stress we have in our day to live, along with accessibility issues to basic healthcare, it is not abnormal that such results are coming from studies. More than anything else, I guess it is time we stayed updated about heart disorders. Check out Web MD's Heart Disease Health Center for some good advice on how to take care of yourself.

Eat chocolate to lower cholesterol!

It could have jolly well found a place in Ripley’s believe it or not! According to a new study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrition, eating chocolate bars daily reduces your total cholesterol level by two per cent, and the levels of LDL (or bad cholesterol) by no less than 5.3%!
John Erdman, Professor of Food Sciences and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois conducted a study using a particular brand of chocolates called CocoVia and found that eating two dark chocolate CocoVia bars significantly reduced the cholesterol levels as well as the systolic blood pressure. The chocolate bars contained plant sterols and flavanols that led to this positive effect of chocolates.
However, what makes expert view the study results with slight suspicion is the fact that it was partly sponsored by Mars Inc, the company that makes these chocolate bars! Erdman is also the chairman of the Mars Scientific Advisory council. However, he has rubbished claims of partiality and bias in the study with the logic that it was published in Nutrition, one of the best and most well-known peer-reviewed biological science journals.
But that is not enough, because the authenticity of industry-sponsored research being published in peer-reviewed journals has been a raging controversy for years now. The tobacco industry being the biggest culprit and/or sufferer! An interesting debate can be read in the following BMJ article where two editors fight it out for and against publishing sponsored research papers in peer-reviewed journals.
But till you arrive at a conclusion, enjoy your bar of chocolate and brush well before you go to bed!

Do the dishes to stay healthy!

Here’s something interesting for all of you ladies who are tired of asking husbands to help in housework!
A new study conducted in Scotland and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (DOI: 10.1136/bjsm.2008.046243) says that doing just 20 minutes of housework every week is one of the best ways to get rid of depression. The better options being playing a game of tennis or any sport that involves loads of physical activity. In absence of that, there seems to be nothing better than helping in housework. Sounds unbelievable? But that is Mark Hammer and his colleagues at the University College, London, found out after surveying 20000 Scottish people.
The study was conducted as part of the Scottish Health Survey. This is conducted once every three to five years and is carried over two household visits. In the first visit, the participants provide details on their height, weight, physical activity, etc., while in the second visit their psychological stress is measured through the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The questionnaire has 12 questions which track levels of happiness, experience of depression and anxiety, and sleep disturbance in the previous month. This year’s study found 3200 participants suffering from depression and anxiety.
Hammer and his colleagues further analysed the results of this study and came to the conclusion that people who did at least 20 minutes of physical activity during a week, were the happiest. The easiest way to stay happy and get rid of depression (considering the fast pace at which we lead life), as Hammer found in the study, was to do domestic work! In fact, he concludes that 20 minutes of helping in mopping the floor or doing the dishes helped reduce depression and anxiety by 20%!
So the next time someone says ‘No’ to housework, tell him (or her!) that they should say Yes to stay healthy!

Washing fruits is not enough

If you thought washing your fruits and vegetables properly, before eating them, was good enough to weed away all the harmful stuff (chemicals, bacteria, dirt) you are mistaken. According to a recent paper presented at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society (www.acs.org), washing (with water and/or chlorine disinfectants) is not enough. Bacteria, present inside a number of fruits and vegetables (like lettuce, spinach and other green leafy ones) have mastered the art of avoiding getting washed away by water or any chlorine disinfectant we use to clean vegetables.
The modus operandi of these bacteria is very simple. They get inside the leaves or surface of vegetables and fruits and organize themselves into tightly knit communities called biofilms. These biofilms form a protective layer on fruits and vegetables and save the bacteria from getting washed away by disinfectants! So no matter how much you wash a fruit or a vegetable, it has no effect on these bacteria. (And you thought only humans knew how to strategise and protect themselves!)
Sadly, the bacteria that form these films and manage to stay in the fruits and vegetables after washing are the disease-causing ones like Salmonella and E-coli. This, experts feel, can lead to serious diseases in human beings. So, isn’t there a solution in sight?
Of course, there is. Scientists from the US Department of Agriculture suggest that a technique called irradiation is the solution. It involves exposing the fruits and vegetables to electron beams. This leads to disruption of the genetic materials in the living cells and inactivates parasites and destroys pathogens hiding inside the leaves. The technique, used earlier during the 2001 Anthrax attacks, is currently being analysed by the FDA for safety in application to fruits and vegetables.
Till the time it is approved and available freely, continue washing your vegetables and fruits with water. You may not be able to protect yourself completely, but you will be able to eradicate the chances of having vomiting and diarrhea from fresh fruits and vegetables!

For more details on this, refer to the original EurekAlert Press Release: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/acs-dmw031108.php.

How much water should I drink?

Here’s a new controversy that seems to be doing rounds and making all of us worried – how much water should we drink? Is drinking water harmful to our health?
Ask this to any elderly person and they will tell you – the more the better. You should drink water because it helps you flush out all the impurities in your body, it keeps you cool and it also supplies a lot of necessary ingredients to your body.
Ask a health-savvy teenager and you may get a completely different answer (drink only when you are thirsty and only as much as you need)!
Suffering from this dilemma, I started looking for the best solution. There were articles supporting both the viewpoints. So, at the end, I was slightly more confused than I was when I started searching for similar information. But this is what I could make out – like any other good thing, drinking water is good, but not too much.
But why are scientists and experts are fighting over whether to drink water or not? First let us consider the views of scientists who suggest water is good for health. Water comprises 60-70% of a human being’s body weight. We have water in our blood, brain, lungs and even muscles, and to keep these vital components of our body up and running it is very important that we have enough water. Every day we lose a lot of water through sweating, respiration and urination, and as a result we need to replenish our body water storage to stay healthy. In short, that is why we need to drink water. An interesting article on this can be found on the BBC site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthy_living/nutrition/drinks_water.shtml.
Intake of coffee, alcohol and other diuretics which dehydrate our body make it even more important that we drink loads of water to stay healthy and ensure our body machine runs fine. Lack of enough water can lead to chronic pains in joints and muscles, lower back pain, headaches, constipation and give a strong odour to your urine, along with a yellow or amber color.
If water is so important for human beings, why is there a controversy? A recent study report by Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, published in Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, suggests that too much of water is harmful for your health. In fact, the scientist cites the example of a lady who drank too much water as part of a contest and died due to swelling of brain. Read about his study in this MSN report - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23921635/ and a Hindustan Times report - http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=0f4a4fb7-34ee-4cf9-b203-40ac1a8e3227.
But if you go through his study report in detail, he does not recommend you to stop drinking water. All he says is too much of it may be harmful and it may not be as beneficial as we thought. Considering the manner in which all aspects of our life and environment is getting polluted, little wonder that everything that we ate to keep ourselves healthy, does not have the same effect any more.
So how much water should an average individual drink? Experts suggest that it depends on your body weight, living conditions and food intake. Read this article (http://nutrition.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm%3Fobjectid=1488D60D%2DE694%2D4EE6%2DA0DFA79E4CEF5FD3%26amp%3BMOTT=AN00512) and take this interesting quiz (http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercalculator.htm) to find out how much water you should drink.
So, the moral of the story is – keep drinking water. But not just to prove a point or take part in a contest. Drink it because you need it.