Cardiovascular
Campbell Soup With 32 Percent Less Sodium
Why would any company want to change a product that's stood the test of time for 112 years? After all, in this fast moving world most products either change every few years or perish. But Campbell soup, first produced in 1897, has finally made a healthy change in its ingredients. Each serving will now have 32 percent less sodium which will help tame one of the big killers, hypertension. High blood pressure is the leading cause of death in the world. It's estimated that 25 percent of North Americans have hypertension and five million Canadians suffer from it. But this disease is a silent killer as you're unable to see or feel its presence. Sir William Osler, Professor of Medicine at McGill,...Read More
Cardiovascular, Medicine
Rx For The Heart: Marry A Smart Woman
Thank God I married a smart woman. And one who majored in English. Commas, colons and semicolons are a puzzle to me. I'd still be, were it not for her, wondering whether to use "a" or "an", "affect" or "effect", "escapee" or "escaper". I'll die before I know the meaning of a compound noun. This column wouldn't have lasted one year if I'd married a not-so-literate wife. But, just as important, I might have died long ago from heart disease. A new study shows that marrying smart is good for the heart. Investigators from the Institute of Nutrition Research at the University of Oslo analyzed 20,000 married men over a 14 year period. The men, ages 35 to 56 years were...Read More
Cancer
Has Anyone Felt Your Testicles Lately?
How many women will have their breasts examined this year? I don't know the exact figure but it will be in the millions. But how many men will have their testicles examined during 2009? Again, I don't know the exact number but it will be miniscule compared to that of the fairer sex. Is this sexual discrimination? If so, we need a class action lawsuit to protect men's rights or, more to the point, our testicles. But more important, an increase in TSE (testicular self examination) would increase the survival rate of this malignancy. Testicular cancer is the number one malignancy in young males. Worldwide there are 48,500 males diagnosed with this disease and 9,000 will die of it. This is...Read More
Alcohol
What You Don’t Know About Moosehead Beer
In my medical column I've written for years that beer, used in moderation, provides health benefits. Many beer drinkers don't know that Moosehead beer contains no sugars, a huge benefit in fighting obesity. Moosehead beer does not contribute to heart disease as it contains no fat, cholesterol or triglycerides. Also its alcohol content increases the good cholesterol that removes cholesterol from the blood. And it greases blood platelets making them less likely to stick together, forming a fatal blood clot. And let's not forget the relaxing effect of beer on the mind. Moosehead beer contains only 25 milligrams of sodium compared with 900 milligrams in a cup of soup, and 3,270 mg in a Rueben sandwich. The greater the amount of salt...Read More
Nutrition
Chickens Decrease Risk of Macular Degeneration
"Don't you worry about cholesterol in eggs?" a friend recently asked me. I had ordered ham-and-eggs for breakfast which I often enjoy. But my friend was sure that eggs were a nutritional relic of the past, only good for a display at the Smithsonian Institution. I told him he was suffering from "cholesterolphobia" and should upgrade his thinking about eggs. And that if he would order the same breakfast this would decrease his risk of heart disease and macular degeneration. I've stressed for years that we should trust the farmers, hens and cows and caste a suspicious eye at manufactured processed foods. I have not changed my mind after researching this matter for many years. Blaming the farmers and hens for the...Read More
Genitourinary
Erectile Dysfunction : The Window To The Heart
Mae West, the sex queen of long ago, had a great one-liner when she greeted males, "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you happy to see me?" This line always triggered a barrel full of laughs. But today it's no laughing matter that an increasing number of male are suffering from erectile dysfunction. A report in the British Medical Journal indicates that there's more to this problem than meets the eye. Dr. Geoffrey Hackett, a urologist at Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham, England, says most doctors are uncomfortable asking their male patients if they can have an erection. This oversight amounts to negligence as the onset of ED doubles the risk of heart attack. In fact, it can...Read More
Cardiovascular
PAD Prelude to Heart Attack
"Have you ever heard of Matthew's Law?" I asked a journalism student who recently interviewed me. Her assignment was to find out what young people could do to prevent health problems. The timing of the interview was good because at the time I was writing a column about peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a prime example of Matthew's Law. And did she, or readers, know about the ABI test? A report from the Mayo Clinic says that 10 million Americans have PAD. Another study from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, claims that five percent of men and two percent of women over the age of 50 have PAD. This increases the risk of heart attack six times. Mayo Clinic says 80 percent...Read More
Philosophy
Reader Reaction : Debbie’s Death and Euthanasia
Several weeks ago I wrote that Debbie, the world's oldest polar bear, had suffered a number of strokes. Her zoo keepers in Winnipeg decided she had suffered enough and painlessly ended her life. I also mentioned a good friend who, unlike Debbie, had endured an agonizing death. And I asked readers whether we needed a Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Humans (SPCH). I've spent hours reading the huge response, surprised by the reaction. H.F. wrote, "Thanks for your wonderful column that appeared in the Windsor Star. Yes, Yes, Yes, it's my prayer you will receive overwhelming support for it and that the law changes by the time I see the grim reaper. From The Winnipeg Free Press JY said, "My...Read More
Sex
Off-With-Your- Panties-Video’s At Age Six ?
"Do you know where your children are this evening?" It's a comment we often hear these days about parents who fail to keep an eye on their children's whereabouts. But suppose you're a diligent parent and they're in your own home. How safe are they when watching television? The question of how much in-your-face sexuality on TV adversely affects teenagers has been debated by psychologists for years. Now Anita Chandra, a behavioral scientist at the Rand Corporation, answers this question. She reports in the Journal of Pediatrics that the amount of time teenagers spend turning the channel to risque T V increases the risk of pregnancy before age 20. To reach this conclusion Chandra and her colleagues carried out a three-year survey of...Read More
Orthopedics, Surgery
What You Should Know About Ankle Replacement
"Should I have surgery to replace my painful ankle?" a friend recently asked me. He added, "I now wear an ankle support to play tennis and I want to get rid of it." Today, we all know friends who have had surgery to replace a worn out hip or knee. But an increasing number of people are also getting new ankles. What should my friend and others know before they make this decision? The majority of ankle replacements are due to osteoarthritis, the wear-and-tear type that occurs with aging. But, an arthritic ankle can also develop following injury to the joint many years earlier. Cartilage between bones deteriorates and finally bones grind on bones. Replacing an ankle is not minor surgery. Surgeons...Read More
Medicine
Torture at @ 2:00 am
What's the worst torture of all? Ask Thomas Sydenham and he would quickly say "gout". Sydenham, often referred to as the English Hippocrates, died in 1698 of gout. To my knowledge, no one since that time, has better described the intense pain associated with this disease. He wrote, "The victim goes to bed and sleeps in good health. About 2:00 A.M. he is awakened by severe pain in the big toe. The pain becomes intense, violent, tearing and so exquisite the big toe cannot bear the weight of bedclothes or the jar of a person walking into the room. The night is passed in torture." Gout has often been referred to as the "blue-blooded disease". It's easy to see why since it's...Read More
Philosophy
A Society For The Prevention of Cruelty To Humans
Who was Debbie? If you missed her death notice, she was the world's oldest polar bear at Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park Zoo who died at 41 years of age. Due to a number of strokes, zookeepers decided she had suffered enough and painlessly ended her life. But unlike polar bears, a friend of mine recently experienced an agonizing death which has prompted this column. I've often written that if I were allowed a committee to oversee my final hours I'd want a veterinarian to be part of that group. I'm hoping he or she would treat me the same way as Debbie, or a loving pet. Critics of active euthanasia say that allowing a lethal injection for those who only have days or...Read More
Genitourinary, Gynecology, Infection
Myths About Herpes
"How could it happen to me I'm often asked?" My answer? Genital herpes can infect anyone very easily. Especially if they fail to make love like the porcupine, very, very carefully. Today it's estimated that 50 million North Americans have genital herpes and each year another 500,000 are diagnosed with this infection. But there are many misconceptions about this common and worrying problem. Myth # 1- You can't get herpes from sitting on a toilet seat. Doctors have said for years that the herpes virus dies quickly on exposure to air. But Dr. Trudy Larsen, a researcher at the University of California, startled the medical world several years ago. She had a patient with an active herpes lesion sit on a toilet...Read More
Miscellaneous
Do You Need A Walletectomy?
How right were mothers and teachers when they told us to sit up straight? What can we do to improve brain function? Is it necessary to take antibiotics before dental procedures when you have a faulty heart valve? And if you have back pain do you need a walletectomy? For years doctors have prescribed antibiotics to patients with heart problems who are scheduled for dental procedures. It was believed that cleaning the teeth, or other dental work, would create small cuts in the gum allowing bacteria to invade the blood stream and cause further injury to heart valves. This condition, infective endocarditis, is rare, but dangerous complications and can result in abnormal heart rhythm, heart failure, stroke and death. A recent study...Read More
Nutrition
How To Get A Big Gut
"How did it ever happen?" You wonder when you look in the mirror. Your stomach used to be flat. Your pants weren't tight. The conclusion is obvious. You've developed a large gut, like millions of other North Americans. And if you're unaware of how this happened, a report in Nutrition Action Health Letter provides the answer. It lists several sure-fire ways to develop a gut. One - Surround Yourself With Food Always have goodies in the house that are loaded with calories. Cookies that sit in a jar on the kitchen counter containing 150 calories per cookie. It's so easy to put your hand in the cookie jar and so why not enjoy four of them? Now you've already used up 600...Read More
Cardiovascular
Zona Plus : A Hand Held Device To Treat Hypertension
Could experiments on F-16 fighter pilots help to decrease the need of blood pressure pills? In the 1960s an Air Force study was conducted in an endeavour to increase a pilot's ability to withstand the huge G-forces and prevent him from them from blacking out during aerial combat. Researchers discovered that exercises to strengthen the abdominal muscles could decrease the effect of gravitational forces. They also demonstrated that hand gripping exercises could fight hypertension. Now, because of this research a hand-held computer device called "Zona Plus" is available to lower blood pressure. The Harvard Medical School initially thought the Zona device was a hoax and carried out research to prove it was fraudulent treatment. But to its embarrassment and amazement it discovered...Read More
Miscellaneous
Medical Myths That Should Die
A sage African American once remarked, "It's not the things you don't know that gets you into trouble, it's the things you know for sure, that ain't so". So here are some medical myths that just ain't so. Myth # 1 - Wearing a copper bracelet cures arthritis. Those who promote copper bracelets say that copper is absorbed through the skin and helps cartilage regenerate. But this fact has never been proven. There's no evidence that copper can regenerate the damaged cartilage that's causing pain. Our bodies need only small amounts of copper and we get this in our daily diet by eating vegetables such as potatoes, beans and peas. Copper is also present in nuts and grains such as wheat and...Read More
Alcohol
Cabernet Sauvignon And The 99 % Brain
This New Year's Eve would you like a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon to prevent Alzheimer's Disease. Several months ago I suggested that this might be a good practice to stop the ravages of this disease. But was it questionable advice? Researchers at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital spiked the drinking water of female mice with Cabernet Sauvignon for seven months. Another group was given just water. Both groups were then placed in a maze. They discovered that the Cabernet Sauvignon mice found their way out of the maze quicker than teetotaler mice. I couldn't resist sending along this news for wine lovers. Now another study shows I'd better take another look at the effects of alcohol on the brain. Carol Ann Paul,...Read More
Philosophy
Do You Have A “One Problem” Doctor?
Have you seen this sign in your doctor's office? It reads, "One problem per visit, please." An editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal says this sign is popping up in the offices of some family physicians. So how will the one-problem- doctor affect your medical care? How did this asinine situation happen? One evening I attended a dinner to hear the President of the Ontario Medical Association announce an upcoming meeting with provincial health officials about the OMA fee schedule. The President gave the usual rally-the-troops speech but left immediately to catch a plane as she had to see patients the next morning! Can you imagine the uproar from Canadian Auto Workers if their president was a part-time leader who...Read More
Orthopedics
Rotator Cuff Injury and Damn the Exercise
Why is it so hard for me to have a good night's sleep? Like most people I'm not as wealthy as I was since the stock market developed terminal cancer. But that isn't causing my insomnia. Rather, every time I roll over in bed both shoulders remind me that they're not in great shape. So what have I done to end up with two painful shoulders? Several years ago I gave up tennis due to a back problem. So I decided to take up trap shooting where I can stand still. I've enjoyed this activity more than any sport. And for most of the time God was in heaven, the sun was shining and birds were singing. But then I got careless....Read More
Orthopedics
Single Injection Treats Osteoporosis For One Year
There's a major problem with human behaviour. Unlike elephants, humans have a great propensity to forget. In fact, they often forget to do the simplest of tasks such as taking medication on a regular basis. This pitfall can have dangerous consequences. Now, due to advanced technology, it's possible to treat postmenopausal osteoporosis (brittle bones) with just a single injection every year. And that's pretty hard to forget! The figures are frightening. Studies show that one in four women and one in eight men over age 50 has osteoporosis. Today over 1.4 million Canadians suffer from it. And due to an aging population, we can expect more hip and spinal fractures the result of osteoporosis in the years ahead. Who develops this crippling...Read More
Philosophy, Psychiatry
Why Do You Laugh ,There Is No One With You?
What prescription could I write to ease this patient's trouble during the holiday season? I knew that Prozac or St. John's Wort was not the answer. Nor could any of the other drugs that I normally prescribe ease her suffering. Finally, I realized the best prescription was staring me right in the face. So as she left the office I wrote a few numbers down on my prescription pad. And I hope that some readers will do the same thing. What diagnosis did I write in her record? It was Loneliness. I've never seen it in the index of any medical textbook. But at this time of year, and at other times as well, it's one of the worst medical problems....Read More
Philosophy
Coping With The Mother Of Economic Disasters
Sheer chance had me aboard the Holland America Line in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when the stock market crashed with devastating results. If I'd been in Canada I could have cried on my financial investor shoulder's while asking why so much hard earned money was going down the drain. And as the news became progressively worse I wondered if I could even afford a canoe to return to Canada. So how did my psyche cope with this "mother" of all economic disasters? Hopefully it will help others who have seen their finances melt. One I knew that unless I could walk on water there was no way of getting off the ship until it reached Honolulu. I concluded that there...Read More
Eyes, Ears, Nose & Throat
Don’t Fire Until You See The Whites of Their Eyes – Macular Degeneration
What do people fear the most? It's often said that giving a speech tops the list. But a recent survey shows it's losing one's sight. Today, with an aging population, an increasing number of people face the ultimate fear, a condition called, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) that destroys vision and can even lead to blindness. For the first time a new medication, Lucentis, is available that stops and can even reverse vision loss caused by the most serious form of this debilitating disease. "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" was a command given the British soldiers. But if these soldiers had AMD they wouldn't have fired a single shot. AMD destroys the macula, a tiny spot in...Read More
Gastroenterology, Nutrition
Detox Diet – It’s Like Sticking A Potato In The Car’s Exhaust Pipe!
"Do you think my daughter and me should agree to a "detox diet?" a reader asked me. She added that several friends had already undergone detoxification and had never felt better. So does it make sense to purify our body? After all, who doesn't want to feel healthier. Proponents of this therapy have a rationale that's appeals to medical consumers who are apprehensive about our polluted world. They contend were'e constantly accumulating toxins in the body from air, chemicals in the water, processed foods, perfumes, artificial drinks and a host of other things. And, that in today's society, it's virtually impossible not to have a polluted large bowel. And that if you think you're an exception, think again. Web sites provide detox...Read More
