Health news blog

NUTRITION FOR PEOPLE WITH DIABETES: SALT Salt is another nutrient that has been garnering headlines. Persons with diabetes are more at risk than the general copulation for problems with two kinds of salt – sodium chloride (table salt) and potassium salt.In general Westerners get more than enough salt in the foods they eat – naturally in some foods and added in processed foods. Adding salt at the table is not necessary and certainly can be harmful in persons who are salt-sensitive. Too much salt ingested by these persons may contribute to the development of high blood pressure (hypertension) with the increased risks for strokes.Cookbooks are chock full of salt-free recipes, and grocery shelves contain many reduced-salt or salt-free products. Read the labels before you buy. Use spices other than salt to perk up the taste of food. However, watch out for salt substitutes that can contain minerals, such as potassium, that may be harmful to you. Some people with diabetes, especially those with kidney disease, have problems with potassium. Potassium can build up in the bloodstream because the kidneys fail to get it out. Medication to bring potassium down to normal may be prescribed if this condition occurs.In people with high blood pressure, the medication used to lower blood pressure may result in a deficiency of potassium. This then requires the use of dietary potassium supplements or the addition of high potassium foods, such as bananas, to the diet.*17/210/5*

CONTROLLING RISKS FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES: EXERCISE, LOSE WEIGHT AND CONTROL OF DIABETES RISKS Exercise According to the American Heart Association and the Surgeon General, inactivity is a definite risk factor for CVD. Sound like nothing new to you? Fortunately, there is something new. The good news is that you don’t have to be an exercise fanatic to reduce your risk. Even modest levels of low-intensity physical activity are beneficial if done regularly and over the long term. Such activities include walking for pleasure, gardening, housework, and dancing.
Lose WeightLike exercise, diet and obesity are believed to play a role in CVD. Researchers are not certain whether high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie diets are a direct risk for CVD or whether they invite risk by causing obesity, which forces the heart to strain to push blood through the many miles of capillaries that supply each pound of fat. A heart that continuously has to move blood through an overabundance of vessels may become damaged. In fact, people who are overweight or obese are more likely to develop heart disease and stroke even if they have no other risk factors. If you’re overweight, losing even 5 to 10 pounds can make a difference, especially if you’re an “apple” (that means you’re thicker around your waist than around your hips and thighs) rather than a “pear” (thicker around your hips and thighs). Your waist measurement divided by your hip measurement should be less than 0.9 (for men) and less than 0.8 (for women).
Control Diabetes RisksDiabetics, particularly those who have taken insulin for a number of years, appear to run an increased risk for the development of CVD. In fact, CVD is the leading cause of death among diabetic patients. Because overweight people have a higher risk for diabetes, distinguishing between the effects of the two conditions is difficult. Diabetics also tend to have elevated blood fat levels, increased atherosclerosis, and a tendency toward deterioration of small blood vessels, particularly in the eyes and extremities. Through a prescribed regimen of diet, exercise, and medication, diabetics can control much of their increased risk for CVD.*14/277/5*

CANCER: SUNLIGHT – CAUSE OF MALIGNANT MELANOMAAs we have indicated, melanoma is commoner in sunny climates and, in particular, in hot sunny areas occupied by fair-skinned immigrants such as Western Australia or the southwestern United States. If we take people of similar skin types, we can say that the closer they live to the equator, the more likely they are to get malignant melanoma. The risk increases when people migrate into sunnier climates. This is particularly so for children, and most studies suggest that emigrating from northern latitudes to hot sunny climes before the age of fifteen puts people at greater risk of malignant melanoma than emigrating later in life. Location of malignant melanomas on the skin does not suggest a simple relationship to sun exposure, in that melanomas are not commonest in the areas that get moat sun (mainly the face and hands). In men melanomas occur most commonly on the trunk, whereas in women they occur most commonly on the leg. These are the areas that get only intermittent exposure to sunlight on the occasions when the man takes off his shirt or the girl puts on her shorts. This is probably a very important clue.Much detailed analytical epidemiological work has been carried out to find out what particular pattern of exposure to sunlight is dangerous, and the results are now fairly conclusive. It is not total outdoor exposure to sunlight that puts people at risk of melanoma. This cancer is not associated with working outside. Indeed, careful studies have shown that malignant melanoma is less common in people who have a great deal of total outdoor sunlight exposure, or outdoor occupations, than in those who have indoor occupations and less continuous sun exposure. The pattern of sunshine exposure which is most strongly associated with cutaneous malignant melanoma is intermittent exposure of the skin among people who otherwise work indoors, Studies in Europe, Australia and North America have all shown that it is this intermittent exposure, particularly when its purpose is that of obtaining a sun tan or taking part in outdoor recreations like swimming and boating, that tends to increase the risk of melanoma. There is a very strong association of malignant melanoma with the frequency of painful sunburns in childhood.These findings fit in very well with the distribution of melanoma in the different sexes and show a sufficiently strong link to suggest that important efforts should be made to modify behaviour in an acceptable way to reduce the risk. They suggest that the risk of the epidemic of malignant melanoma in fair-skinned people has followed from changes in our social behaviour that have prompted us to take off our clothes in public and also produced a range of incentives to get into the sun. Some of these incentives are cosmetic (tans have become fashionable), some are recreational and some result from increasing leisure time and growing opportunities for foreign travel. Most of these would be considered desirable changes and we therefore have to ask how we can retain these enjoyable activities but not run the risk of an epidemic of malignant melanoma.*70\194\4*

By looking at the plant kingdom we can see similarities in the working of natural laws, there being the same powerful drive to adapt and produce forces for defence and immunity. As an illus­tration of this, let us consider our experience with DDT. Some years ago, this chemical could kill all but two species of insects in Switzerland. Today, however, we know of at least forty species that have become immune to DDT. While I was staying in California I observed that it was necessary to keep on increasing the strength and toxicity of insecticides in order to obtain the desired results. The deplorable outcome of this process was that millions of birds and bees died, whilst the insects for which it was intended quickly became immune to the increased doses of poison. A few years ago, a friend of mine in Guatemala told me that an industrial firm near where he kept his beehives started using very potent insecticides, with the unintentional result that his bee population was deci­mated.

When the biological processes of nature are disturbed by chemi­cals, the interference is bound to bring about undesirable damage in its wake, yet the innocent victims are rarely given any compen­sation by those responsible for the losses.
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Life’s constant changeability sometimes presents us with rather unusual questions. For example, is it not strange that, in some parts of the world infectious diseases are declining whereas the death toll from metabolic disorders and other ailments associated with living in an industrialised society is showing a sharp increase? Could this, perhaps, be attributed to our having acquired increased resistance to certain infections? On the other hand, what is it exactly that makes us so vulnerable to metabolic and other dis­orders? While all this is somewhat puzzling, if we carefully review what experience and observation have taught us, we will find the explanation.

During the time I spent in the Amazon area, an outbreak of measles took the lives of thousands of Indians living there. Yet in Europe and North America, for instance, it is practically unheard of for a child or an adult to die as a result of this disease. Why should that be so? The virus is just as toxic and virulent as ever, but nature is always a step ahead of human wisdom. The layperson as well as the physician should become familiar with the body’s inherent defence mechanisms and their capacity to face up to and adapt to new situations, and learn to respect them. Thanks to the wonderful generosity and benevolence of our Creator, these automatic mechanisms or ‘laws of nature’, given time, are able to produce an effective counterforce to any violent attack by invading organisms and substances. In the beginning a virus causes wide­spread disaster among people and takes numerous lives, but the very next generation is born with a degree of immunity and after a few more generations the illness has only negligible consequences. The history of tuberculosis provides a good example of this. Only sixty years ago tuberculosis was a major cause of death everywhere. Diphtheria and other infectious diseases, likewise, are no longer the scourge they once were.
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Often parents will seek advice from friends or neighbours. Local government, community nurses, and other local agencies will also be able to recommend daycare facilities. Many services have quite long waiting lists and so you need to make these enquiries well in advance. If you plan to return to work soon after your baby is born, you should try to arrange the childcare late in your pregnancy. After checking that the location is convenient, it is important that you visit the centre to check it out and meet with the director and the staff. Here is a checklist of some of the things you may want to assess. You may want to add other points of your own. These points are relevant also to family daycare.

• What is the physical setting like? Is there a good atmosphere? Is there sufficient space, and is it clean? Pay particular attention to the bathroom and kitchen facilities. Is there an outdoor space, properly fenced, for children to play in?

• What are the play areas like? Are they large enough? Is there a variety of toys, which are sturdy and safe, as well as appropriate to the ages of the children enrolled?

• What sort of food is given to the children? Is it nutritious, well prepared, and of sufficient variety?

• What is the ratio of staff to children? What are the qualifications of the staff, and the director?

• Is there a lower age limit for babies, e.g. 6 months?

• What sort of attitudes are held about daycare? Is it seen as simply childminding, or do staff attempt to engage the children in educational activities appropriate to their ages?

• Observe the care-giving styles of the daycare workers, and attempt to get an idea of the atmosphere of the centre. Are the staff warm, gentle and friendly with the children? How do they handle discipline, conflict and disagreements?

• What sort of written records are kept for each child? Is there a medical and developmental history obtained for each child at enrolment?

• Do the hours of opening suit you? How flexible is the centre about hours and days of attendance? What happens if you are late in picking the child up, as will happen sooner or later?

• Does the centre have particular policies which may affect your child (e.g. are toys such as guns banned; may children bring toys from home; how are gender differences and religious questions treated; does your child need to be toilet-trained to attend; and so on)?

• What is the fee structure, and what arrangements are in place for payment? Is it in advance, or on a weekly or monthly basis?

• Talk to other parents who have children attending the centre. Use the space below to write down any other things you may want to check, or impressions, or things you want to talk to your partner about.

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There is no love triangle in our marriage. There are more people involved than that. My wife knows almost everybody in the world. The police should call her if anyone is missing. She either knows them or would know someone who did.

HUSBAND

One of the most difficult tasks for the thousand couples was balancing commitment to their spouse while maintaining outside friendships. Our society seems to divide itself into “married couples” and “single people.” When a married person tries to have other married and single friends separate form the marital relationship, problems can result.

Each couple has to find its own solution to how many “other” people can be included into the marital life. There were two major dangers that seem related to this problem in the interviews.

First, when one of the partners is searching for more and more friends or is turning almost exclusively to a “friends advisory group,” this outside focus signals marital problems. What needs are being met outside the marriage that cannot be met from within it? Friends are necessary for healthy living, but marriage is the one place for total vulnerability and intimacy. If you are telling your friends things you will not or feel you could not tell your spouse, you will never achieve super marriage or super marital sex, for both of these require exclusive intimacy rights.

Second, if the couple factor is decreasing, with any social event creating more distance than mutual enjoyment, problems may be brewing. When you go to a party, do you see as much of your spouse as you do other people? Or do you and your spouse split up only to “meet up” at a prearranged time to leave? Do you have to search out your spouse and almost drag him or her away from others? Does your spouse seem more “on” and “up” when she or he is with others than with you? These are signs of problems that may require a system re-evaluation.

“I only ask that he gives me what he gives to others. Everyone loves him. I love him, too. He seems to value their love and respect more than mine. He just takes mine for granted. Maybe he just doesn’t care anymore.” This report from one of the wives illustrates the “polygon” issue. This is not the “love triangle” affair discussed when I reviewed the two types of extramarital sex. A polygon is a many-sided figure with no real base, and the issue here is multiplicity, extent, and priority of involvement with others outside of the marriage, resulting in dilution of intimacy.

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All of us can recall one girl or boy who became a friend, our first encounter with “one of them.” It was not a sexual encounter, it was a boy/girl relationship that taught us a little about the person-hood of the other gender. Perhaps then we were just immature enough to see people as persons first, gender second, and the lessons we learned became a part of our life and our loving.

One wife reported, “He was really cute. If I met him now, I’d find him irresistible. We talked, rode bikes, just hung around together. It was not a boy-and-girl thing, just two kids. My parents called him ‘my little friend,’ and next to an imaginary friend I made up for a while, he was one of the closest persons to me at that time of my life.”

A husband stated, “She was a real friend. She could play football better than any boy in the neighborhood. I learned to throw a spiral from her. We would sit and drink pop together. A real friend. I’d love to find a woman friend like that now.”

I often ask a question of audiences to whom I lecture. I ask first how many women were “tomboys.” Usually several hands go up. Then I ask, “How many men were sissies?” Not a hand goes up. Love maps are very influential, not only now and for the future, but even when we look back. Somehow, we learn to fear that combination of maleness and femaleness within all of us. Perhaps we lose our ability to de-genderize or fail to work hard enough to maintain it. We lose that innocent, open exchange between children, and it leaves a barricade somewhere within us and between us.

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