Hey, all you smug skinny people, guess what? A new study has found that the people who are most likely to live longest are… drum roll please… People who are carrying a few extra pounds.As we know, extreme obesity or being underweight is unhealthy. This study is the first to realize that people of a “normal” weight are not the luckiest. This does not mean that people of a normal weight should add extra weight.
It was found that underweight people are 70 per cent more likely to die than normal weight, extremely obese people 36 per cent more likely. Overweight individuals, however, are 17 per cent LESS likely to die. Read more…
People are living longer now than ever before. Here are a few surprising signs that you may live longer than you expect:
- Your Mom Had You Young
- You’re a Tea Lover
- You’d Rather Walk
- You Skip Soda (Even Diet)
- You Have Strong Legs
- You Eat Purple Food
- You Were a Healthy-Weight Teen
- You Don’t Like Burgers
- You’ve Been a College Freshman
- You Really Like Your Friends …
- … and They’re Healthy
- You Don’t Have a Housekeeper
- You’re a Flourisher
Interesting study, though I had another conclusion, which I will mention after the excerpt:
Women typically get heart disease much later than men, but not if they smoke, researchers said Tuesday.
In fact, women who smoke have heart attacks nearly 14 years earlier than women who don’t smoke, Norwegian doctors reported in a study presented to the European Society of Cardiology. For men, the gap is not so dramatic; male smokers have heart attacks about six years earlier than men who don’t smoke.
“This is not a minor difference,” said Dr. Silvia Priori, a cardiologist at the Scientific Institute in Pavia, Italy. “Women need to realize they are losing much more than men when they smoke,” she said. Priori was not connected to the research.
Dr. Morten Grundtvig and colleagues from the Innlandet Hospital Trust in Lillehammer, Norway, based their study on data from 1,784 patients admitted for a first heart attack at a hospital in Lillehammer.
Their study found that the men on average had their first heart attack at age 72 if they didn’t smoke, and at 64 if they did.
Women in the study had their first heart attack at age 81 if they didn’t smoke, and at age 66 if they did.
Read more. As crazy as it sounds, I think this is because women tend to drink white wine, while men favor red wine. And apparently, white wine and smoking is a more lethal mix than red wine and smoking.
Inegy, a drug used to treat high cholesterol could cause cancer, doctors warned last night.
Heart experts called for caution over the use of Inegy, which is taken as a daily pill.
At least one leading specialist said he would not take the drug, while others said the jury was still out.
The U.S. has ordered an investigation into Inegy, which combines the widely used statin drug simvastatin with a new medication called ezetimibe.
While statins block cholesterol in the liver, ezetimibe blocks the absorption of cholesterol in the gut.
In Britain, about 300,000 NHS prescriptions have been dispensed for Inegy in the last two years. Other patients use ezetimibe on its own.
NICE, the NHS ‘rationing’ body, last November approved wider use of ezetimibe for the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia, a condition leading to high concentrations of cholesterol in the blood.
Results from a controversial study published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine show a higher than expected number of cancer cases reported among patients taking Inegy.
It showed a total of 105 cancer cases among Inegy patients compared with 70 taking a placebo. That was an increase on the preliminary rates of 93 and 65 respectively reported in July.
The trial found no benefit of the drug in reducing aortic disease in patients with a partially blocked heart valve, and little effect on cardiovascular events such as heart attacks.
Read more here. Watch a video here, below:
Due to the pursuit of the sun kissed look, many younger women continue to receive diagnoses of the most dangerous form of skin cancer- melanoma. While the numbers are rising among young women, the cases among men have leveled off.
This is an issue of great concern and could be a foretell of a much larger number of melanoma cases in older women.
One of the culprits is the tanning bed. As it has become popular to look golden all year round, women are spending more of their free time getting their tan on. Another major cause is recreational sun bathing without proper protection. Women must remember to reapply!
“About 62,000 melanoma cases are diagnosed each year in the United States, and more than 8,400 people die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. Previous studies have shown that the rate of new diagnoses has been increasing among adults overall, but it was unclear what was happening with younger adults.”
Click here to read more about melanoma and how you can protect yourself.
SCHAUMBURG, Ill., May 5 /PRNewswire/ — While occupational risks are inherent in many jobs, workers who make a living toiling in the sun face an increased threat of skin cancer from repeated overexposure to the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. Now, new research finds that workers who need skin exams the most by nature of their occupation — such as construction, forestry, fishing and farming workers — are the least likely to get them.
In the study published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology entitled “Reported skin cancer screening of U.S. adult workers,” dermatologist Robert S. Kirsner, MD, PhD, FAAD, professor and vice chairman of the departments of dermatology and cutaneous surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, and his colleagues used the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 2000 and 2005 to estimate the percentage of U.S. workers who had ever had a thorough skin examination in their lifetime or during an appointment with a primary health care provider in the past 12 months.
“Previous studies have shown that total-body screening examinations are not frequently performed during routine health examinations by primary care physicians, even among potentially high-risk populations,” said Dr. Kirsner. “As dermatologists, we know that the early detection of skin cancer by routine skin examinations is crucial in successfully treating this potentially life-threatening condition — particularly for workers routinely exposed to harmful ultraviolet light. This study shows that workers who need careful monitoring for skin cancer due to the nature of their jobs are less likely to receive skin exams than workers in low-risk occupations.”
Conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the NHIS is an annual, cross-sectional in-person household survey of U.S. workers. In 2000 and 2005, the Cancer Control Module was included as part of the NHIS and included questions on skin examinations that were administered to 19,702 and 18,422 employed participants, respectively. Questions included “Have you ever had all of your skin from head to toe checked for cancer either by a dermatologist or some other kind of doctor?” and “When did you have your most recent skin exam?”
Dr. Kirsner explained that data of all participants who reported a full-body skin examination were grouped into two categories — those who received a skin exam in the last 12 months and ever in their lifetime. Workers also were asked about their sun-protection behavior, if they reported going out in the sun for an hour or more, and, from their responses, were classified as “sun exposed” for the purposes of the study.
In addition, detailed employment information was coded by occupation and industry for all participants aged 18 years or older employed during the time of the survey. Occupations were grouped into four standard occupational categories — white-collar workers; service workers; farming, fishing, and forestry workers; and blue-collar workers. Workers were then subsequently grouped into eight industrial sector classifications — agriculture, forestry, and fishing; mining; construction; manufacturing; wholesale and retail trade; transportation, warehousing, and utilities; services; and health care and social assistance.
“When we examined the data for the 38,124 total worker participants interviewed from the 2000 and 2005 Cancer Control Supplements, we found that the prevalence of both lifetime and 12-month skin examinations was low,” said Dr. Kirsner. “Only 15 percent of all U.S. workers reported ever receiving a skin examination during their lifetime, and only 8 percent of those who also had seen a health care provider in the past year reported that they had received a skin exam during that time.”
In addition, the data clearly showed that the rate of reporting skin cancer screening was lowest for high-risk occupations most likely to experience increased sun exposure. Specifically, in the 2000 and 2005 Cancer Control Modules, the prevalence of 12-month skin examinations among those who had seen a physician in the past year was lowest among farm workers (5.8 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively) and blue-collar workers (3.9 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively).
“When we analyzed the data by industry sectors, we concluded that agriculture, forestry, fishing, and construction workers reported the lowest rate of skin exams in 2000,” said Dr. Kirsner. “Although the number of agriculture, forestry and fishing workers reporting a skin exam increased from 2000 to 2005 — from 4.2 percent to 13.6 percent — the prevalence of skin exams among construction workers stayed essentially the same, from 5.2 percent to 5.6 percent.”
Dr. Kirsner added that occupational groups at increased risk for exposure to UV light on the job were less likely to have ever received a skin examination in their lifetime than the average U.S. worker (15 percent). This included farm operators and managers (10 percent), farm workers and other agricultural workers (7 percent), forestry and fishing occupations (3 percent), construction and mining trades (8 percent), and construction laborers (8 percent).
“Socioeconomic factors also were significant predictors of having a skin exam in the past year,” said Dr. Kirsner. “Specifically, younger black or Hispanic women with no health insurance, who were service, farm or blue-collar workers, and who did not use sun protection were the least likely to report ever having been screened for skin cancer. All patients, especially those that have occupations where they are exposed to UV light, should request that their physician provide skin exams during their routine exams.”
“In addition, developing and implementing local community health fairs that include screening programs targeting high-risk workers who are reporting low skin examination rates could help reverse this alarming trend,” commented Dr. Kirsner. “One way to receive a free screening is through the Academy’s National Melanoma/Skin Cancer Screening Program, where dermatologists volunteer to provide free skin cancer screenings in their communities. The public can visit http://www.aad.org to find a free skin cancer screening in their area.”
For more information about skin cancer, please visit the SkinCancerNet section on http://www.skincarephysicians.com, a Web site developed by dermatologists that provides patients with up-to-date information on the treatment and management of disorders of the skin, hair and nails.
Extracts from a mushroom used for centuries in Eastern Asian medicine may stop breast cancer cells from growing and could become a new weapon in the fight against the killer disease, scientists said on Tuesday.Laboratory tests using human breast cancer cells show the mushroom called Phellinus linteus has a marked anti-cancer effect, probably by blocking an enzyme called AKT. AKT is known to control signals that lead to cell growth.
Phellinus linteus — called song gen in Chinese medicine, sang-hwang in Korean and meshimakobu in Japanese — has previously been shown to have anti-tumor properties on skin, lung and prostate cancer cells.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Feb. 29 /PRNewswire/ — CNN’s recent expose on asbestos in children’s toys demonstrates the shocking reality that the deadly carcinogen is virtually everywhere in our environment.
For decades, asbestos was used heavily in Navy ships and shipyards; in workplaces; in common building materials including drywalls, flooring, roofing materials, and cement pipes; in automotive products like brake pads; and even in common consumer products like hair dryers. As a result, the carcinogen has permeated our homes, offices and schools. The EPA estimates that one asbestos product alone — a highly toxic “vermiculite” insulation — is present today in 35 million U.S. homes.
Tens of millions of Americans have already been exposed to asbestos, whether they knew it or not. Ten thousand Americans are now dying each year from past exposures that are too late to prevent. Deadly exposures will continue long into the future, because of all the asbestos already in our environment and the impossibility of remediating it. The tragedy of 9/11 demonstrates the continued, long-term threat. Estimates of the amount of asbestos released around Manhattan range as high as 1,000 tons. The impact pulverized the asbestos material into microscopic, easily respirable fibers to which the firefighters, rescue workers and other heroes were exposed. In the ensuing months, workers, residents and school children in the area continued to be exposed.
For all those who are now sick, who have already been exposed and are at risk, or who will inevitably be exposed in the future, the only hope is research now to develop effective medical treatments. But research on the asbestos-cancer, mesothelioma, lags far behind other cancers. As a result of the limited treatment options, most mesothelioma patients die within one year of diagnosis.
The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (Meso Foundation) therefore is dedicated to promoting the research critically-needed to develop treatments for mesothelioma. As the nation’s only independent, scientifically-based source of private mesothelioma research funding, The Meso Foundation has awarded over $5 million in research grants to stellar projects around the world.
Additionally, through The Meso Foundation’s advocacy, research funding for asbestos-related diseases has been included in the “Bruce Vento Ban Asbestos and Prevent Mesothelioma Act” which is currently in the hands of Congress. A strong effort on the federal level is needed now to develop treatments for asbestos-cancer. Says, Meso Foundation Executive Director Chris Hahn, “We have accomplished a lot with limited, private funding. It is time for the federal government to partner with us in the search for a cure before more lives are lost.”
Source: The Meso Foundation
That can’t be good news. I actually bad meat twice last week when I was in the US… that’s can’t be good, at all!
Federal officials are trying to track down the 143 million pounds of beef recalled Sunday, but they say that most of it has probably been eaten.
(…)
Federal officials called the recall by Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Company the largest beef recall in U.S. history.
read more.
PLAY
