Archive for the ‘Body Health’ Category
Is Avian Flu the Next Bioterrorism Risk?
01.21.2012
Two separate research teams were forced to temporarily halt their studies which showed how to produce a version of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu virus that is easily transmissible in mammals. The findings led a U.S. government agency to request that only the results be published, leaving out the methods.
The H5N1 virus, although easily transmitted among birds, is not very contagious among humans. But the virus is very dangerous when do humans catch it – 343 of the infected people have died of the disease.
As a result, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (part of the National Institutes of Health) requested that the methods used in the experiments not be published.
Stay away from rice and potatoes, macular study says
01.10.2012
A study conducted at the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University reveals that a diet that is low on the glycemic index (GI) could help delay the onset of AMD.
Middle-aged mice that were fed either a lower or higher GI diet were evaluated in the study. The mice that were fed the lower GI diet developed fewer and less-severe age-related lesions in the retina than those that were fed the higher GI diet.
Those lesions that developed included basal laminar deposits which usually develop in the human retina after the age of 60. These deposits are the earliest warning sign of AMD. This is the first study to demonstrate a connection between a delay in the development of AMD-like lesions and a lower GI diet.*
Smoke gets in your eyes… Way, way in!
12.13.2011
Add losing vision to the list of reasons why you need to stop smoking. And make it this year’s New Year’s Resolution.
Heart disease, emphysema, bronchitis, cancer, stroke, wrinkled skin…every year the effects of getting just a wee bit less oxygen and a teeny bit of poisonous carbon dioxide in the bloodstream take their toll by inducing body damage through oxidative stress.
I’ve heard all the excuses…
“It gives me something to do.”
“I need to smoke at the end of a meal.”
“I’ve been doing it so long, I can’t stop.”
“It relaxes me.”
“Uncle Charlie smoked and he lived to 99 years old!”
“Well, something’s gotta kill you. I might as well enjoy myself.”
But here’s what your non-smoking friends and family are saying, often behind your back…
“I hate that you stink of cigarette smoke.”
“I hate that you’re always coughing.”
“I hate that I have to breathe in your smoke.”
“I hate the filthy ashtrays.”
“Your voice always sounds hoarse.”
“Even your ear lobes are getting wrinkled.”
“I love you, and I’m going to miss you.”
Still not convinced?
Well how about the fact that smoking has now been shown to dramatically increase the risk of advanced Macular Degeneration, a blinding eye disease?
This week, the esteemed professional journal, Archives of Ophthalmology, published the study. Check it out.
Then promise me you’ll try to get un-hooked off cigarettes in 2012!*
If you can’t get off them, make sure that you are taking the VisiVite formulas specifically developed for smokers that do not contain beta-carotene.
–
Paul Krawitz, M.D., President and C.E.O.
VisiVite.Com
Diabetics getting fewer eye problems, but experts still worried.
12.11.2011
A recent study released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows a decline in diabetics reporting vision problems. Researchers found a drop from 26 percent in 1997 to 18.6 percent in the number of diabetics reporting vision problems.
Better blood glucose control, blood pressure control and cholesterol management seem to be the factors contributing to the decreased incidence in vision problems among diabetics.
While the report is encouraging, researchers caution it may lead to a false sense of reassurance. The percentage of diabetic patients with impaired vision might increase substantially after newly diagnosed diabetics have lived with their condition for five or ten years. Researchers point out that one deficiency in the study is that the data was self-reported so the seriousness of the vision problems are unclear.
The study which was published in the November 18, 2011 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report evaluated data from the 1997-2010 National Health Interview Survey. This survey of diabetics asked if they had any trouble with their vision and if they had seen an eye care professional in the last year.
In the United States, diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and the best way for diabetics to lessen their risk of vision problems is to regulate their blood sugar and see their eye doctor once a year.*
Controversial Study Result: An aspirin a day linked to wet macular degeneration
11.20.2011
A recent European study reveals that seniors who are on a daily aspirin regimen are twice as likely to develop wet macular degeneration compared to people who never take aspirin. Researchers emphasize that the data doesn’t show that vision loss is caused by aspirin but that it does cause concern that aspirin might aggravate the eye disorder.
Researchers collected personal information about health and lifestyle from almost 4,700 people over the age of 65. What they found is that almost four of every 100 daily aspirin users had wet macular degeneration. Only two out of every 100 people who took aspirin less frequently had wet macular degeneration.
Larger studies that follow people over a period of time and document their aspirin use and vision will help to determine the role that aspirin plays in macular degeneration. Meanwhile, researchers stress that it’s a good idea to caution people that aspirin might exacerbate macular degeneration, but that the benefits of taking the aspirin outweigh any risks to their vision.
In addition, the association may not be causal. People with high cholesterol and heart disease, which is associated with macular degeneration, are the very same people who have been instructed by their doctors to take aspirin.*
