The Ulcer Diet

Do you have gnawing stomach ulcer? Or hyperacidity that creeps up when you skip meal?

Today’s hectic lifestyle has made more people prone to having stomach ulcers and hyperacidity. Stress takes its toll on the body, and so do activities like smoking. Regular use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen also increases the risk of getting an ulcer. Infection by Helicobacter pylori bacteria is also a main culprit. Hyperacidity, also called hyperchlorhydria, is the excessive amount of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. This may lead to peptic ulcer.

Ulcers happen when the protective lining of the gastrointestinal tract gets damaged. Stomach acid and enzymes then make this worse, causing a sore in the wall of the stomach (gastric ulcer) or in the upper part of the small intestine (duodenal ulcer).

Those who have ulcers may do well to skip the spices, especially black pepper and red pepper. Avoid alcoholic beverages, too, which increase stomach acid. Try eating smaller meals but do so frequently. Don’t skip meals. And lastly relax. Live a stress-free lifestyle for a healthier you. -Karen Galarpe

Treat Migraines Early

If your teen constantly complains of headaches, it may be more than an excuse to skip school. The onset of migraines can coincide with the start of puberty, and a study reveals that they affect more than 2 million kids in the U.S. “We hope that if we treat adolescents, then these kids won’t have more frequent headaches when they’re adults,’ says Paul winner, D.O., director of the Palm Beach Headache Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. If your teen doesn’t get relief from pain within two hours of taking an over-the-counter medicine, make an appointment with his doctor or a headache specialist (find one at achenet.org). – Bethany Gumper

Wine is Good for your Heart

Moderate alcohol intake—in any form, not just wine—is associated with a 25 to 30 percent reduced risk of heart disease in women, according to Rimm. “Alcohol raises HDL, or good, cholesterol levels”, says Dr. Apstein. “Like aspirin, it also thins the blood a little, so it protects against clot formation, which is one cause of heart attacks and stroke.” Young women who drink moderately may also be less likely to have high blood pressure, says a recent study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Much of the research in this area looks at men or postmenopausal women, but studies haven’t confirmed alcohol’s protective effect in young women. “Still, heart disease doesn’t develop overnight, so it’s reasonable to assume that drinking moderately before you hit menopause can help lower your risk down the road.” – Bree Scott

Visual source: usyd

Low-fat diet may protect against liver cancer

Good morning everyone. Those who are not aware of how to care for your liver, low fat diet may protect against liver cancer. This is a good news to many.

A new study finds switching over to a low-fat diet might provide protection against liver cancer.

Team of researchers from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Case Western Reserve University found that a high-fat diet influenced the cancer-susceptible strain to liver cancer, and that by switching to a low-fat diet early in the experiment, the same high-risk mice avoided the malignancy.

Senior co-author Dr John Lambris, the Dr. Ralph and Sallie Weaver Professor of Research Medicine at Penn believes that a similar change in diet may have important implications for preventing liver cancers in humans. The connection between obesity and cancer is not well understood at this point.

The team hopes that the results will lead to the development of blood tests that can detect precancerous conditions related to diet. The investigators focused their study on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a type of liver cancer that is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide.

They tested the long-term effects of high-fat and low-fat diets on males of two inbred strains of mice and discovered that one strain, named C57BL/6J, was susceptible to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and hepatocellular carcinoma on a high-fat, but not a low-fat diet.

The other strain, called A/J, was not at risk to disease on a high-fat diet. The mice were fed their respective diets for close to 500 days, weighed periodically, and then analyzed for the presence of disease.

At the end of the experiment, mice susceptible to cancer showed characteristics of NASH such as inflammation and fibrosis, and, in some cases, cirrhosis as well as hepatocellular carcinoma, in their liver.

A switch from a high-fat to a low-fat diet reversed these outcomes in groups of C57BL/6J mice that were fed a high-fat diet early in the experiment. The switched mice were lean rather than obese and had healthy livers at the end of the study.

Health Watch

Much like beef, pork is a good source of quality protein. It also provides the body with fat used not just as a source of energy, but also as a source of essential fatty acids that help in the utilization of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Pork is a source of the B vitamins thiamin and niacin needed for normal digestion and nervous system. It is also a source of minerals such as iron (especially the liver) and phosphorous. One hundred grams edible portion of lean pork has about 17 grams protein and about 19 grams fat. Loin chop or pork chop has a high fat content of about 50 grams per 100 grams edible portion and about 10 grams protein. – Cris Abiva

Coffee for your health

Coffee for your health! It is not often that you hear anything good about caffeine, but there’s a report in The Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that the chemical may protect against Parkinson’s disease. In a study that spanned 30 years, researchers found that men who drank 3 to 4 cups of coffee a day were only one fifth as likely to develop Parkinson’s as those who abstained. This is exciting information (and reassuring for those of us who need that jolt of caffeine in the morning). But it is only one study. And whether we can extrapolate the results to women, Nancy Snyderman, M.D., just don’t know, and don’t think anyone else does either. – Stella G. de Dios, M.D

The diabetes threat

For years, doctors have warned about the consequences of the epidemic of obesity in this country. Now one of the most serious, diabetes, is on the rise. Type 2 diabetes jumped 70 percent in the past decade among people in their 30s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention. (In the same period, obesity increased 61 percent.) many of the estimated 8 million women with diabetes don’t even know they have it. “Not everyone will have symptoms when diabetes is in its earliest stages,” says Christopher D. Saudek, M.D., president of the American Diabetes Association (ADA).. the ADA urges women who have risk factors or symptoms to get tested. “Women must take charge before it’s too late.”

At risk are the obese or those with a family history of diabetes or who developed gestational diabetes while pregnant. Early symptoms include fatigue, excessive thirst or urination, or recurring yeast infections. Left untreated, diabetes can damage eyes, kidneys, nerves and arteries.

Saudek says at-risk women need to exercise and maintain a balanced diet. A study found that high-risk people who walked 30 minutes a day and lost 15 pounds cut their diabetes risk by 58 percent. – Meredith Franco

Clues That You Have Hearing Loss

● You have to ask people to repeat what they said—two or three times.

● Your husband or children seem to be mumbling.

● People say that you turn up the TV or radio too high.

● You hear words, but have trouble figuring out exactly what people are saying.

● You have difficulty hearing people on the telephone.

● Your ear suddenly feels clogged or full, or sounds seem muffled. This can be the beginning of sudden hearing loss. Call you doctor right away.

● After a concert or a loud aerobics class, your ears ring, or all sound seems muffled. This will usually go away in an hour, but if you have this experience repeatedly, the damage may become permanent.

● You find yourself always concentrating hard on people’s mouths and body language as they talk. – Christine Woodside