Diverticulosis: A Prevalent Disease In Older People

Diverticulosis -- Source: www.drmarkbowles.com/gi4.html

So you’ve had a colonscopy and found out you have diverticulosis. Your doctor prescribed Benefiber, then left the room and never returned. Now what? Will you have this forever? Are you unhealthy? How does one develop diverticulosis? And what is the difference between “osis” and “itis?”

By age 60, half of the people in North America will have diverticulosis. By the time they reach 80, this number mushrooms to two-thirds. A diverticulum is a bulge of the inner colon lining through the colon’s muscular wallto its outer surface. A diverticulum looks like a small soap bubble and is only 1/5 to 2/5 inches (0.5-1 cm) in diameter.

If you’ve been eating a diet devoid of fibrous foods, then someday soon you also will be welcomed to the world of diverticulosis. Too many foods today are refined – lacking enough fibre to effectively sweep out the colon and keep it clean. This is especially true of grains, where we throw away the bran – the outer coat. In countries where 100% whole grains are used, diverticulosis is a rarity.

“Diverticulosis has been considered a degenerative disorder in the past. However, there is compelling evidence that, in many patients, it develops as a result of longstanding irritable bowel syndrome: chronic constipation; alternating constipation and diarrhea; abdominal cramps and tenderness; mucus; abdominal bloating and gas; incomplete evacuation; etc. Many patients with diverticulosis have, unfortunately, been the recipients of bad advice regarding their diets. In many cases, high fiber foods have been severely restricted, only making the condition worse. I would submit that most of the symptoms of diverticulosis are actually symptoms of spastic colon/irritable bowel syndrome and are particularly aggravated by fatty foods and emotional stress. (www.drmarkbowles.com/gi4.html)

Bran and other fibre hold water in undigested food, making stools soft. Without sufficient fibre, undigested foods become hard and dry, causing the colon walls to strain to keep the matter moving. In some, the diverticulum breaks and causes a local infection in the colon. This condition is called diverticulitis, with subsequent pain in  the lower left corner of the abdomen. Sometimes there is also an accompanying fever and chills.

Source: www.drmarkbowles.com

“This picture shows small ulcerations in the colon representing inflammation. The two most common types of colitis we encounter are ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. The more difficult of these two to treat is Crohn’s as it may involve the small bowel as well as the large intestine.There is an increased risk of colon cancer with longstanding (10-20 years) ulcerative colitis and to a slight degree with Crohn’s.” (www.drmarkbowles.com). So practice prevention today! Eat at least 30 grams of fibre daily, consisting of fruits with edible skins, vegetables and whole grain products such as oatmeal, 100% whole grains, baked flatbreads such as Ryvita and brown rice.

Does Too Much Sun Really Cause Melanoma?

Editors Comment: The following article is from Mercola.com and properly identifies a few misconceptions about the power of the sun, Vitamin D and sunscreen. I believe there is too much hysteria circulating in our population about the supposed unhealthy effects of the sun. There is more evidence to back up the assertion that sun exposure (with its subsequent Vitamin D) is healthy, rather than the other way around. Please read this article to understand what I mean.

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Does Too Much Sun Really Cause Melanoma?

Source: Mercola.com

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/08/05/does-too-much-sun-really-cause-melanoma.aspx?source=nl

Source: blog.garymoller.com/2007/12/if-you-have-melan...

Sam Shuster, a consultant dermatologist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, argues that sun exposure is not the major cause of malignant melanoma.

Melanoma is related more to ethnicity, and in 75 percent of cases it occurs on relatively unexposed sites, especially on the feet of Africans. Melanoma occurrence actually decreases with greater sun exposure and can be increased by sunscreens.

There is also good evidence that the reported increase in melanoma incidence is an caused by the incorrect classification of benign naevi as malignant melanomas, which would explain why melanoma mortality has changed little despite the great increase in supposed incidence.

Source:

• Eurekalert July 22, 2008

Unfortunately, in the United States, as well as many other Western countries, the sun has been unfairly demonized. Many people have been convinced that it is necessary to avoid  the sun to decrease their risk of cancer, when the converse is actually true.

And, EVEN IF increased sun exposure does not decrease your risk of melanoma specifically – the most dangerous and rare form of skin cancer — why would anyone in their right mind want to exchange the risk of a few harmless skin cancers with that of serious life-threatening challenges like breast-, prostate- and colon cancers?

Reduced Overall Cancer Risk Outweigh Any Risk of Melanoma

In fact, other studies have confirmed that the benefits of moderate sun exposure FAR outweigh its risks. For example, people who live in sunnier, southern latitudes and have higher vitamin D levels as a result of their increased sun exposure, are less likely to die from any type of cancer than people in northern latitudes.

Optimizing your vitamin D levels can help you to prevent as many as 16 different types of cancer including pancreatic, lung, breast, ovarian, prostate, and colon cancers. And vitamin D does not just impact your cancer risk slightly. It can cut your risk by as much as 60 percent!

Its protective effect against cancer works in several ways, including:

• Increasing the self-destruction of mutated cells (which, if allowed to replicate, could lead to cancer)
• Reducing the spread and reproduction of cancer cells
• Causing cells to become differentiated (cancer cells often lack differentiation)
• Reducing the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones, which is a step in the transition of dormant tumors turning cancerous

Previous studies have found that more than one million people die every year from lack of sun exposure and subsequent vitamin D deficiency, so you really need to overcome your fear of the sun if you want to stay optimally healthy.

The Cumulative Benefits of Sun Exposure FAR Outweigh Your Risk of Skin Cancer

But the benefits don’t end with reduced cancer risk. Appropriate sun exposure has also been linked to:

• Fewer aging-related changes in your DNA
• Lowered inflammatory responses
• Lowered insulin resistance
• Reduced heart disease risk

Northern countries (with less intense sunlight and colder winters) have higher levels of heart disease than sun-filled southern countries, and more heart attacks occur in the winter months, when sunlight is scarce.

One study even discovered that low vitamin D levels more than doubled the risk of heart attack and death. That’s big!

Past studies have also found that getting a daily dose of vitamin D boosts your natural anti-inflammatory response, which can help treat congestive heart failure.

Just how does vitamin D help your heart?

There are a number of mechanisms triggered by vitamin D production that help fight heart disease, including:

• An increase in your body’s natural anti-inflammatory cytokines
• The suppression of vascular calcification
• The inhibition of vascular smooth muscle growth

What May Be a Greater Risk Factor for Melanoma Than the Sun?

In 2001, the National Academy of Sciences published a comprehensive review showing that your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio was the key to preventing skin cancer development.

If you’re like the average American, you’re likely consuming far too many omega-6 fats, and far too little omega-3.

If you want to reduce or virtually eliminate your risk of skin- and other cancers, it will be vital to radically reduce your consumption of most vegetable oils, as they are high in omega-6 fats. Just 100 years ago, the average American consumed less than one pound of these oils per year, and today that amount has exploded to 75 pounds per year.

Another Australian study showed a 40 percent reduction in melanoma for those who ate fish, which is rich in omega-3.

This is one of the many reasons why I highly recommend taking krill oil or fish oil as a safe and effective alternative to increase your intake of beneficial omega-3s, considering the fact that most fish is now heavily contaminated with high levels of mercury.

To Prevent Skin Damage You Have to Protect Against the Most Damaging Rays

Ultraviolet light from the sun comes in two main wavelengths – UVA and UVB.  It’s important for you to understand the difference between them, and your risk factors from each.

Consider UVB the ‘good guy’ that helps your skin produce vitamin D.

UVA is considered the ‘bad guy’ because it penetrates your skin more deeply and causes more free radical damage.  Not only that, but UVA rays are quite constant during ALL hours of daylight, throughout the entire year — unlike UVB, which are low in morning and evening, and high at midday.

If you’ve ever gotten a scorching sunburn on a cloudy day, you now understand why; it’s from the deeply penetrating UVA!

Since UVA’s are inherently more damaging, AND persistently high during all daylight hours, wearing a sunscreen that doesn’t protect you from UVA is going to give you virtually no benefit and be detrimental to your overall health, while increasing your risk of melanoma since you’re more likely to stay out longer and suffer deeper damage.

Two non-toxic ingredients that scatter both UVB and the more damaging UVA rays are titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. They’ve been used all over the world for over 75 years as safe sunscreens. These two natural minerals form the base of my Natural Sunscreen.

Sunscreens May Not Prevent Melanoma Either…

Although sunscreen can prevent the most common types of skin cancer — basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas — it does not protect against melanoma, according to research from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

They found that those who used sunscreen did not have a lower risk of melanoma, even though it has been theorized that using sunscreen to prevent sunburns in childhood might lower your risk of cancer.

Based on the evidence, researchers concluded that sunburn, in and of itself, probably does not cause melanoma, but that sunburn is an important sign of excessive sun exposure that can cause melanoma in people who are genetically susceptible because of their skin type. Since sunscreen prevents sunburn it might encourage light-skinned individuals to spend more time in the sun, possibly increasing their melanoma risk.

Believe It Or Not: Fat Snacks Make For A Lean Belly

A Spanish research team has found that certain types of food actually removes belly fat. It removes not only the visual fat that we see on our stomachs but also the dangerous fat around our intestines.

Surprisingly, the food is: Fat – Monounsaturated fat that is.

Who would have thought that fat would hold the key to a fat stomach. So don’t worry about low fat anymore go for right fat instead.

One thing about foods that are high in mono unsaturated fats is that they are great as snacks. Always keep a bag of raw nuts in your purse, your car and your office drawer. Munch on marinated olives in front of the TV. And eat avocados and guacamole as often as you can.

Here are ideas for 7 days of flat tummy snacks. Eat them during the day or in the evening, maybe in front of the TV. Snacking is healthy! Just watch what you snack on.

7 days of healthy snacks:

• Monday: ½ cup of peanuts and 1 apple
• Tuesday: Whole meal rye bread and mashed avocado (mash the avocado with a fork and spread on your sandwich)
• Wednesday: Herring on 100% whole wheat toast topped with halved cherry tomatoes
• Thursday: 1/2 cup of pistachio nuts and 1 banana
• Friday: Marinated olives, your favorite raw nuts and some cucumber pickles.
• Saturday: Baby carrots with guacamole dip. Try Leslie’s recipe with great instructions.
• Sunday: Flat stomach smoothie: ½ cup of natural yogurt, 200 grams frozen berries, ½ banana, 1 tablespoon rolled oats, 4 cup of your favorite juice, a pinch of natural vanilla.

If you are very serious about getting a flat tummy fast you might want to look at your whole diet. I suggest that you follow these flat tummy diet guidelines:

1. Eat plenty of mono unsaturated fats
   • Olives and olive oil
   • Avocado and avocado oil
   • Oats
   • Raw nuts
   • Lin seeds and linseed oil
   • Sesame seeds and sesame seed oil
   • Herring
2. Choose 100% whole grain products. The dietary fibers will ensure a good digestion and remove bloating
3. Eat as much fresh fruits and vegetables as you can. They will give you plenty of nutrients without a lot of calories
4. Add some meat and fish to provide you with proteins to give you a full feeling.
5. Avoid sugar, white flour, white rice and alcohol.

Source: http://yournaturalwellness.com/2008/06/29/snacks-for-a-flat-belly/

Deadly Fats: Why Are We Still Eating Them?

Hydrogenated vegetable oil has been banned in two European countries but not ours.

They are the cosy, friendly foods that present us with a rosy image of our childhoods: Quality Street chocolates and Angel Delight dessert; Horlicks instant night-time drink and Knorr stock cubes.

As brands, they endure. Not quite as cutting edge as their more sophisticated and modern supermarket-shelf counterparts, perhaps. And certainly not as healthy. Because the truth is that some of the leading comfort foods we remember from our youth are doing their very best to kill us.

The culprit is one item, usually tucked away in tiny lettering on the ingredients label. It’s called hydrogenated vegetable oil. It sounds harmless enough, but it is one of the most dangerous products ever to be mashed into the food we eat.

Food scares are, of course, nothing new, but hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) elevates health risk to a whole new level. Recent scientific research suggests that it may be responsible for an unknown, but certainly very large, number of heart attacks.

Clinical researchers have discovered that ingesting just two grams a day of HVO – the amount contained in just one doughnut fried in this type of fat – increases an individual’s risk of heart disease by 23 per cent. This makes HVO much more dangerous to health than the saturated fats such as butter it often replaces. It distorts cholesterol levels, encourages obesity, causes inflammatory conditions, and can even be a cause of infertility.

Yet, despite the dangers, many major UK food producers continue to use it in everyday products. Brands that include it in their manufacture include Cadbury Heroes, some Nestlé and Mars confectionery, Batchelors Cup a Soups and even Haliborange Omega-3 Fish Oil capsules for children.

Nor is its use confined to retail food goods. Hydrogenated vegetable oil, or trans-fat, as it is sometimes called, is also widely used in bakery products, and by restaurants and takeaways, where it usually does not have to be labelled and declared as being present.

Given the risks, why do some of the country’s leading food companies continue to lace their brands with this deadly ingredient? The answer is predictably simple: cost and convenience. Trans-fats were discovered back in 1903, when oil was boiled to more than 260C in the presence of a metal catalyst such as nickel. The result was that its molecular structure mutated, turning the oil into a hard, greasy, grey lard-like substance looking, as one observer described it, like “the skin of a corpse”. The original purpose in making it was to create a cheap form of candle wax as an alternative to the more expensive tallow. That this wax could also be used in mass food production was a commercially sensational secondary discovery.

“Hydrogenated vegetable oil may look and sound disgusting, but in many ways, it’s a food scientist’s holy grail,” explains the health writer and author Maggie Stanfield, whose recently published book, Trans-Fat: The Time Bomb in Your Food tells the full story of its acceptance by the food industry.

“It can be used as an alternative to butter – it’s a lot cheaper, is taste-free, gives what the industry calls ‘good consumer mouth feel’, and lasts a long time. A very long time. An American TV programme recently featured a fairy cake made more than 25 years ago. It still looks perfect.”

These days, far less harmful substitutes are readily available, and some UK food producers now take advantage of them. Others, though, persist in their use. And why shouldn’t they? Trans-fats keep production costs down, and most consumers remain unaware of their dangers, believing, wrongly, that the real peril to their health lies in saturated fats such as palm oil and butter, which are actually far less harmful.

Given the weight of scientific evidence that has now built up against trans-fats, there is an overwhelming case for the Government to ban their use. This has already happened in Denmark, where legislation removing HVO from the food chain was introduced five years ago. Since then, the rate of heart disease among Danes has dropped by a staggering 40 per cent. The only European country to follow suit since then is Switzerland, which introduced a ban this April. Britain has no plans to take action, instead being content to leave the industry to get its own house in order.

Will it do so? There is little evidence of any enthusiasm for change. Legally in the UK, HVOs must be identified on ingredients labels, but to most shoppers it is just another meaningless name. There is nothing to indicate that it is hazardous to health. A voluntary deal was forged last year by major food retailers, but it only commits them to removing HVOs from own-label products. There is evidence that the deal is already being broken.

Professor Steen Stender, the Danish cardiologist who led the drive to ban trans-fats, says that voluntary codes never work. “Why should people need to know terms such as ‘hydrogenated vegetable oil’? The EU must ban their use.”

Having researched the topic thoroughly, Maggie Stanfield is convinced that the only safe amount of HVO we should be eating is no HVO at all. “When we eat trans-fats, our cells get confused. They identify the fat as unsaturated – it comes from vegetable oil, after all – but because of the industrial process involved, they can’t handle the fat as they would a truly unsaturated one.

“Instead, HVO actually changes the cell structure, making the wall soft, and acts like a pincer, raising bad cholesterol on the one hand, lowering good on the other. So the gap is widened, making us more vulnerable to heart disease.”

Stanfield believes that it suits the food industry to keep trans-fats a trade secret, doing little or nothing to flag them up. “They’re hugely useful to the industry as they have a shelf-life of years, don’t add unwanted flavour, don’t need to be chilled, and are very cheap, unlike the natural alternative. A chip shop can deep fry in HVO for a month, for example, where vegetable oil must be changed every few days.”

Given that there is conclusive evidence of the damage HVO does, Stanfield adds, an EU-wide ban is imperative. “What are we waiting for? Denmark has led the way, and the rest of Europe needs to get rid of these killer fats now.”

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/healthy-living/deadly-fats-why-are-we-still-eating-them-843400.html