Archive for May, 2007
Naturopathy: Fatty Liver Linked To Alcohol
I have been diagnosed with a fatty liver. I’m 34 years old and I’m on the heavy side. What can I do to improve my condition?
Fatty liver is not a liver disease. It simply means there are more fats in the liver than normal. It may be caused by various diseases, including chronic alcoholism and obesity. Fatty liver can also occur in diabetes mellitus and in pregnancy (acute fatty liver of pregnancy).
Identifying the underlying cause is necessary in the treatment of fatty liver. For instance, nutritional causes are treated by altering the availability of fat coming into the liver. This is accomplished by providing available carbohydrates or by adding protein to overcome a complete or large deficiency in protein needed to make lipoproteins (proteins linked to fat and not capable of being dissolved in water).
You can reduce the incidence of getting a fatty liver by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, in order to decrease the rate of metabolism and secretion of fat, leading to the condition. Overweight patients may have a fatty liver, so watch your weight and increase your physical activities. It is a good idea to watch your diet; excess dieting and protein malnutrition can also result in a fatty liver.
Supplementation with lecithin may be helpful. The main constituent of lecithin, phosphatidyl choline, has the ability to increase the solubility of cholesterol and break down the fatty deposits in the bloodstream. A regular intake of high PC-lecithin will help reduce liver damage and protect the organ.
Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated that milk thistle can help improve liver function by cleansing it of dangerous toxins, as well as stimulating the formation of new liver cells. Together with milk thistle, dandelion enhances the flow of bile and thus dramatically improves conditions such as bile duct inflammation, liver congestion and a fatty liver.
It could be nerve damage or old age
I often experience pain at the ball of the foot in the morning until I have to limp. My uric acid levels are within the normal range. Please help.
Pain in the ball of the foot may have many different causes (including arthritis, poor circulation, pinching of the nerves between the toes, abnormal metatarsal length and posture problems, and various diseases). However, most often the pain is caused by nerve damage or by an age-related change that affects the foot, called metatarsalgia.
The first step in treating pain in the ball of the foot is to determine the cause of the pain. If improper fitting footwear is the cause, then the footwear must be changed. Unloading excessive pressure in the ball of foot and redistributing weight from the painful area to more tolerant areas with orthotic may be beneficial.
Supplementing with herbs with anti-inflammation properties may be helpful too. Celery seeds have been proven to contain the substances that exert anti-inflammatory properties. Together with guaiacum, which also have the same properties, they can be very helpful in helping people suffering from joints pain.
Antioxidant nutrients such as beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, selenium, zinc and particularly alpha lipoic acid may help to alleviate nerve damage.
Applying an ice pack on the inflamed area may help to control the inflammation and relieve pain. Take breaks.
Alternating repetitive tasks with breaks are encouraged to relieve the pressure on the foot. Don’t perform one activity continuously for hours at a time.
New Straits Times
FDA Approves ‘No Period’ Birth Control Pill
CHICAGO: A new birth control pill which eliminates a woman’s monthly periods gained approval from the US Food and Drug Administration Tuesday.
Unlike traditional oral contraceptives which deliver pregnancy-preventing hormones with a 21 days on and seven days off cycle, Lybrel provides a steady low dose of hormones over 28 days.
The continuous delivery of the hormones prevents the stimulation of a menstrual cycle.
This is the first time that federal regulators have signed off on the practice of eliminating the pill-free or placebo interval which stimulates a menstrual cycle.
Doctors have long allowed women to skip their periods by starting a new pack of pills on the 22nd day of their cycle rather than waiting a week to resume the hormones.
“For those women seeking contraceptive options and who are interested in putting their period on hold… Lybrel may be an appropriate choice,” said Ginger Constantine, vice president for Women’s Health Care at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals which developed Lybrel.
Women who want to do without their periods have had other approved options before now, however.
A pill which cuts the number of menstrual cycles down to just four a year, Seasonique, has been available for some time. And women who want to skip their periods completely could also use the hormone injection Depo Provera every three months.
The FDA warned that 41 percent of women using Lybrel in a clinical study experienced unscheduled bleeding, although these occurrences declined over time.
“Health care professionals and patients are advised that when considering the use of Lybrel, the convenience of having no scheduled menstruation should be weighed against the inconvenience of unscheduled bleeding or spotting,” the FDA said.
The elimination of a regular period could also make it difficult for women to recognize if they have become pregnant, the FDA warned.
But some critics say the elimination of a period as a “lifestyle choice” could be bad for women’s health.
“Menstrual suppression is unnatural,” health psychologist Paula Derry wrote in an editorial in the British Medical Journal.
“A drug (that) chronically over-rides the physiological changes associated with the menstrual cycle (is) creating a hormonal environment that is not found in nature,” she wrote.
Derry argues that not enough research has been done to determine the long-term impact of menstrual suppression and notes that healthy women menstruate, while illness, stress and malnourishment often lead to skipped periods.
Wyeth said 97 percent of gynecologists “thought it is safe to use oral contraceptives continuously, without a placebo phase, in the appropriate patient population,” according to a Gallup survey of 205 obstetrician-gynecologists and 200 nurse practitioners.
Lybel is expected to generate 40 million dollars in sales in 2007 and 235 million dollars a year through 2010. It will be available in the United States in July. - AFP/sh
Channel News Asia
Viagra Helps Jet-Lagged Hamsters, Maybe Humans, Too: Study
WASHINGTON: A shot of Viagra may one day help shift workers and flight crews recover their normal sleep cycles, according to a study on hamsters released Monday.
Viagra, otherwise known as sildenafil, could be “useful in other circadian disorders that involve poor synchronization with the environment, including delayed sleep-phase syndrome and adaptation to changing light schedules,” said the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers at Argentina’s National University at Quilmes in Buenos Aires injected male hamsters with small amounts of the drug and switched off the lights six hours earlier, which researchers compared with taking an eastbound flight, as would occur from the Americas to Europe.
Hamsters receiving a dose of the drug adapted 20-50 percent more quickly to the new schedule than hamsters receiving a placebo, the study said, as judged by how quickly they resumed running on their exercise wheels.
However, the trick worked only when moving the schedule ahead, as on the so-called eastbound change, without helping hamsters shifted six hours in the other direction.
Mammals, such as humans and hamsters, regulate their circadian rhythms by releasing chemicals in the brain, such as melatonin. However, repeated injections of melatonin are required to achieve a shift in sleep-wake cycles, compared with the single-dose effectiveness of sildenafil.
The drug interferes with an enzyme that reduces the levels of cyclic guanine monophosphate in the brain, which helps regulate circadian rhythm, the body’s inner clock.
The National Academy of Sciences was established by the US Congress in 1863 to advise the United States on science, medicine and engineering matters. - AFP/fa
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