Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

It is a good thing that there are other, even better sources of protein than eggs. Soybeans, for example, are an excellent supplier of vegetable protein. In certain areas of China soybean protein is the single most important protein available to the population. The lack of animal protein from milk and meat is critical in many tropical regions. Years ago the need for protein presented a particular problem for the growing population of China. Since meat was not produced in sufficient quantity to supply over 500 million people, China’s population at that time, it became necessary to find a vegetable substitute. The soybean was selected because it is an excellent source of protein, able to take the place of animals as the prime supplier. In many parts of the world today the Chinese custom of germinating the soybean has been adopted and the resulting product, ‘bean sprouts’, has become a popular and palatable vegetable dish rich in protein.

Remember, then, that liver patients need protein too; vegetables and cereals alone are not enough. As mentioned before, milk protein, especially in the form of cottage cheese or curds, is the best protein source available in this case.

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Comments (0) Apr 07 2009

If we are to understand this condition, we must first familiarise ourselves with the functions and processes of the salivary glands. These glands secrete a fluid called saliva which is mainly alkaline in composition and contains a variety of minerals; the body secretes these substances in accordance with the need determined by the type of food consumed. Since enzymes are important to the digestive process, these are also present in saliva. Few people may be aware of the fact that the different glands – the salivary glands in the mouth, the mucous membrane of the stomach, the liver and the pancreas – together secrete several litres of saliva every day. Saliva begins the chemical processes of digestion, making the food ready for assimilation. When the saliva has finished its task, the colon reabsorbs its valuable substances. Once again they become part of the body fluids, and through them they eventually return to the salivary glands, ready to start all over again in the digestive process.

When diarrhoea strikes, however, the valuable salivary fluids are lost. The body is depleted of important minerals, which cannot be replaced quickly enough through food intake. As a consequence the body is weakened and the mineral metabolism becomes greatly disturbed. This does not mean to say that a temporary attack of diarrhoea lasting two or three days will occasion the loss of a great amount of valuable fluid, but if the condition continues for several months it could have serious consequences and must be treated.

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Comments (0) Apr 07 2009

Sauna baths, once popular only in northern European countries, are now accepted in many other areas of the world. In northern Europe it is common for people to take a sauna and then roll in freshly fallen snow in winter. This exercise is said to build up the body’s resistance. Walking barefoot in the snow as well as snow-and water-stamping are all favourite activities. All of these activities cause the blood to be drawn from the brain, so if practised before going to bed, they make restful sleep possible. Information on variations of these methods as practised in different countries can also be useful and enlarges the list of water treatments already known to us.

Years ago I was greatly surprised to find a sauna when I visited a colony of Finnish people in Brazil, of all places. Ask yourself, what purpose is there in having a sauna in a place where the temperature reaches 40 °C (104 °F) in the shade on hot days? The answer to this is that old habits die hard and become a necessity, which was certainly true for those Finnish people who built their sauna in a hot and humid foreign land. Perhaps it even helped them to overcome their homesickness for the old country. Moreover, in the tropics the evenings are cool and I remember that the sauna gave us a pleasant feeling of well-being. After the sauna we found a nearby jungle creek for a cool dip, which stimulated the circulation and helped to make for a restful night. Perspiring in a sauna differs from perspiring in the heat of the day in that it relaxes the mind and body and enables one to sleep soundly.

In summary, it is always useful to work out which one of the different natural treatments will be the most appropriate for overcoming your insomnia. Often all it needs is a little determination to do something about the problem and you will find what is required to give you a a full night’s wholesome and restful sleep.

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Comments (0) Apr 07 2009

Iodine is also indirectly responsible for obesity. The thyroid and sex glands work together and if an obese person is given iodine as contained in plants, for example, kelp tablets, the thyroid steps up its hormone production. This, in turn, activates the entire metabolism. The gonads become more active and, as a result, the deposits of body fat decrease.

You can see that iodine is more important than one might think, because this mysterious element, even though present in minute traces, is responsible for operating the ‘gears’ of our body, not unlike the illustration in the proverb, ‘Big oaks from little acorns grow.’

Although the effect of watercress is less marked than that of seaweed, nevertheless it contains a modest amount of iodine and can thus be of good service to the thyroid. Other excellent remedies are the Topinambur tincture Helianthus tub. and homoeopathic Graphitis 6x.

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Comments (0) Apr 07 2009

It is imperative that people should be warned against any harmful, unnatural treatment of varicose veins. Why go in for dangerous methods when the veins can be regenerated by natural means? When varicose veins appear, the body is in need of a good calcium preparation, for example Urticalcin, as well as a preparation called Aesculaforce, made from horse chestnut, witch hazel, arnica and yellow melilot (sweet clover). Hypericum perforatum and Millefolium, too, are very good for this condition. The veins are regenerated in a wonderful way by means of these remedies. To alleviate a painful inflammation, take Lachesis lOx and 12x. Moreover, pay attention to an appropriate natural diet rich in calcium. In this way, even where heredity plays a part, varicose veins can be made to recede and can sometimes be completely removed, or at least regenerated to such an extent that they will not give you any further trouble. This advice is especially important for expectant mothers because it is not only helpful to the circulation but also prevents complications during confinement. These remedies stimulate the venous system and remove obstructions so that there will be no danger of embolism or thrombosis.

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Comments (0) Apr 07 2009

Bile acid sequestrants act by bonding with bile in the small intestine, preventing its normal reabsorption. The liver must now use body stores of cholesterol to replace the sequestered bile, which is eliminated in the feces. Over time this process lowers the cholesterol level in the blood, especially the LDL form, by as much as 20 percent. Bile acid sequestrants come in powder form and are mixed with water, juice, or soup.

The most common side effects are gastrointestinal, including constipation, bloating, heartburn, and nausea. A high-fiber diet or psyllium supplement at each meal usually relieves these symptoms.

Cholestyramine (Questran, Cholybar) and colestipol (Colestid) may also decrease the absorption of certain vitamins (A, D, E, K, folic acid), minerals (iron and calcium), and drugs (digoxin, acetaminophen, phenobarbital, thiazide diuretics, thyroxin, warfarin). If needed as supplements, these should be taken two to six hours before a meal where a bile sequestration drug is used.

Because they reduce LDL significantly, the bile acid sequestrants are only prescribed for patients known to have a high LDL cholesterol level, known as Type 2 hyperlipidemia. They are not used in hyper-lipidemias due to elevations of other forms of lipids, such as triglycerides. After six weeks of taking bile acid sequestrants, your cholesterol level will be measured again to see if the drug is working. The target LDL level is less than 130 mg/dl if you have other risk factors in addition to elevated cholesterol or less than 100 mg/dl if you have actually already had a heart attack. If a bile sequestrant hasn’t done the job after three months, another kind of cholesterol-lowering drug can be substituted or added.

Probucol (Lorelco), although not strictly a bile acid sequestrant, has similar results to cholestyramine and colestipol, in that it increases the excretion of cholesterol in the bile. It, too, should only be used in Type 2 hyperlipidemia. It persists for many weeks in fatty tissues, and should be stopped at least six months before a planned pregnancy.

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Comments (0) Apr 02 2009

Now you are a nonsmoker, should you be a nondrinker, too? Here the evidence is not so clear. Many studies have tried to relate alcohol consumption to heart disease, and the results have often been surprising. So surprising, in fact, that the message has spread that regular drinking of moderate amounts of alcohol might actually be good for the heart, and that total abstention can raise your risk of angina and heart attack.

Sadly, I have to disabuse the reader of that opinion. Although the evidence does suggest that heart attack deaths are more common in teetotalers than in drinkers, the difference, if it truly exists, is very small, and is more than made up for by deaths from other causes that are directly caused by alcohol.

In theory, alcohol should help the heart. Alcohol tends to open up arteries—hence the drinker’s rosy cheeks (and nose!)—so that some doctors have argued that a little alcohol might benefit patients with coronary problems.

However, much depends on how we define “a little,” and on whether the patient can stick to the advice. “A little” can very easily become “a lot”!

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Comments (0) Apr 02 2009

Today, doctors aim to keep people with angina as active as their condition allows. You will be asked to walk on a treadmill, a moving, endless surface that can be set at different speeds, either flat or on an upward slope, to assess how much you can do, initially, before the heart begins to complain.

While on the treadmill, your heart is monitored by EKG, to pick up changes before the pain starts, and, especially if you have diabetes, to pick up any periods of silent ischemia. You will then be given a program of exercise to start that will allow you to exercise up to the correct limit, and not beyond. Don’t let that scare you. When you add regular exercise to all the other actions you have been taking, such as eating more healthily, stopping smoking, and lowering your blood pressure, you will be improving your heart’s supply-demand equation all the time. Even people with severe heart failure have been helped by exercise. You will be amazed how quickly you will be able to step up your exercise, and how much better you will feel.

Primary care doctors also know that “soft” risk factors can affect the cardiovascular health of their patients. For example, social isolation can affect your health negatively. For that reason, many communities and health plans offer angina support groups or cardiovascular rehabilitation groups. Consider joining and making friends while you get support for other lifestyle changes.

It is also a good idea to discuss your sex life with your primary care provider. You may be limiting it consciously or unconsciously more than is necessary and this can weaken your relationship with your partner. Your partner may be hesitant to complain for fear of making your heart condition worse. Sex with a new partner is considered more taxing on the heart, but an exercise stress test may demonstrate to you that exertion during sex is safe enough for you to form new relationships.

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Comments (0) Apr 02 2009

Can atheroma actually be reversed, once established in an artery? Professor R. W. Wissler of Chicago showed that atheroma in monkeys and pigs can be made to regress towards normality after one to four years of a low-fat diet. Their blood cholesterol levels became normal, the plaques became smaller, and the plaques themselves contained less cholesterol. There was less risk of thrombosis on the surface of the plaques, many of which healed over, so that the arterial inner surface was much smoother. Professor Wissler’s findings appear in A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine (1984).

The implication of this study is that a similar reduction in dietary fats in people should improve angina and help prevent heart attacks. But does it? It has been difficult for researchers to produce hard evidence that it does.

Since the 1950s there have been many large trials to determine whether reducing blood cholesterol levels will improve coronary heart disease and prevent heart attacks. They have used diet and drugs, mostly in middle-aged men, and their results have been mixed. Perhaps this is because it is overly optimistic to expect that a small change in blood cholesterol levels will improve, in a short time, a disease that has been present for many years (usually since childhood).

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Comments (0) Apr 02 2009

Angina starts when the supply of oxygen and glucose does not keep up with demand. If something impedes the easy access of oxygen and glucose to the myocardium, and the heart needs to continue beating, then it will try to find its energy source from other substances, like fats, and it will try to burn them up without using oxygen. Most people, when they were children, have felt the results of this anaerobic energy process in the stitch felt in the side during running.

The pain of a stitch is caused by the accumulation of lactic acid in muscles in the side and back that have been overused. (Fats do not burn all the way down to carbon dioxide, but only get as far as lactic acid, a more complex substance, that is more difficult to remove from the tissues.)

The pain in angina has the same root. Lactic acid also builds up in a heart trying to beat without a good enough oxygen supply: the pain of angina can be similar to that of a stitch. The difference between the two is that you can tolerate a stitch, because back muscles are not as important, and eventually recover with rest. The heart muscle needs a much faster resupply of oxygen if it is to survive.

This supply of oxygen comes from the coronary arteries—so called because they form a crown around the top of the heart, passing their branches over the heart surface to feed the muscles that form the walls of its four chambers. In the normal heart, the three main coronary arteries and their branches are wide, strong, elastic tubes, which can expand enormously to cope with any extra flow of blood needed when the demand rises.

Naturally, this demand for a flow of blood varies hugely. When you’re asleep or at complete rest, the heart rate falls to sixty beats per minute or below, and the blood pressure falls accordingly. At such times, the-heart’s demand for oxygen and glucose is low. At the opposite end of the demand spectrum are times of extreme exercise. Sprinting, whether it is to catch a train or bus or to win an Olympic gold medal, can increase the heart’s need for oxygen by twenty times or more. And if the heart is beating at or above a rate of 180 per minute, the time for recovery between beats shortens to a tenth of a second. The myocardium must be very efficient, and awash with oxygen and glucose, in order to cope with that.

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Comments (0) Apr 02 2009