Battling For Health

Happy Fourth of July to our U.S. readers.

Diabetes Events:

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, London presents:

Bangers, Mash & Bingo in aid of JDRF

Sunday 13 July - 7pm

A fun evening for all the family! Come and enjoy Bangers, Mash & Bingo on Sunday 13 July at The Domus, Beaulieu Abbey at 7pm. Tickets are priced at £10 per person which includes Bangers & Mash followed by a desert. Bingo is £1 per game. Bring your own wine & soft drinks (glass hire will be available for a small donation to JDRF).

Caribbean Black Tie Ball.

6.30pm to late - Saturday 12th July - Jurys Inn Central Milton Keynes

Friends of the Caribbean invite you to an evening of Caribbean elegance at Jury’s Inn, CMK. This inaugural charity ball is a black tie event with part of the proceeds going to help Diabetes MK. The entertainment for the night will include comedians, cabaret and a steel band. The gala evening in association with the St. Lucia Tourist Board and the Jamaica Tourist Board includes a sit down three course meal and a glass of wine.

9th Annual Lightning Run

July 25 & 26 2008
With nearly 2,500 participants, the Lightning Run is the largest charity motorcycle ride in the Midwest, U.S. Festivities start with a kick-off party on Friday night at Summit Brewing Company that includes live music, refreshments and a silent auction. The fun continues on Saturday with scenic self-led observation runs, a bike show, the awe-inspiring motorcycle parade and a drawing for a new 105th Anniversary Edition Harley Davidson® Softail® Custom. All proceeds benefit the Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation.

The Diabetes Challenge!

Last week in the Friday Diabetes News, I shared the The 30-Day Diabetes Miracle: Lifestyle Center of America’s Complete Program to Stop Diabetes, Restore Health and Build Natural Vitality (January 2008). Now check out the website!

Two leading diabetes specialists with over 25 years of experience are taking matters into their own hands. Dr. Stuart Seale and Dr. Franklin House of the Lifestyle Center of America are offering The Diabetes Challenge–a contest allowing one diabetic the opportunity to go through an all-expenses-paid, year-long treatment plan, focusing on the root causes of the disease through lifestyle changes and cognitive behavior therapy.

For someone diagnosed with diabetes, The Diabetes Challenge could be a life-changing experience. To sign up for the contest, and to see certain restrictions, visit the site and click on “Take the Challenge.”

Diabetes Headline News:

• ScienceDaily, July 3, 2008. New Discovery A Step Towards Better Diabetes Treatment. Uppsala scientists have shed light on the processes that determine the release of the blood sugar-lowering hormone insulin. The discovery is based on the development of image analysis methods that make possible the detailed study of events immediately inside the plasma membrane of the insulin-secreting cells.

• ScienceDaily, July 1, 2008. Dietary Adherence Associated With Better Glucose Control In Children With Type 1 Diabetes. study by researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center has shown that adherence to prescribed dietary recommendations is associated with better glucose control in children with type 1 diabetes.

• Houston Chronicle, June 29, 2008. New Research Poses Diabetes Problem. Diabetes doctors were disappointed recently when three studies showed that aggressive blood-sugar control did not protect people with diabetes from heart attacks and other cardiovascular complications. In fact, one well-designed study (ACCORD) showed more heart attacks and deaths among patients who kept their blood sugar near normal (New England Journal of Medicine, June 12, 2008).

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Happy Fourth of July to our readers from the States.

Cancer Events:

The Weekend to End Breast Cancer benefiting the Alberta Cancer Foundation

60km that can change the world - July 25-27, 2008

“All over Alberta, The Weekend is helping breast cancer patients get the care they need to become breast cancer survivors. Money raised by a rapidly growing number of Walkers is funding advanced research that yields life-saving new treatments. Of course, a cure is the ultimate victory. But with every dollar we raise, with every person that gets a second chance at life, and with every step we take who shows we believe we can change the world, we are on The Road to Victory.”

“The Great City Race is upon London once more as the boys and girls from the City turn out to do some seriously competitive running. Breakthrough Breast Cancer is the official charity of the Great City Race 2008 and you can do even more to raise money for their worthy cause than paying your registration fee. Pick up a fundraising pack and see how much more you can do in the battle against breast cancer in the UK.”

The Great City Race, a 5K race, takes place at 7:15pm on Thursday 17th July 2008.

The Milton Keynes 2008 Masked Ball. Saturday July 19, 2008. Jurys Inn Hotel - Tickets £18 and £23

The Milton Keynes Masked Ball is an annual event which raises money for children’s cancer charities. But this is no ordinary charity ball, this is a ball with a difference… “this one rocks!” For more info email: maskedball@dylandesign.co.uk

Cancer Headline News:

• International Herald Tribune, July 3, 2008. New Technology Could Improve Cancer Treatments. Researchers have developed a test that can identify minute amounts of tumor cells floating in the blood of cancer patients, a discovery that could lead to better treatments with fewer side effects.

• U.S. News & World Report, July 2, 2008. Smokeless Tobacco Products Do Raise Cancer Risk. Smokeless tobacco products (STPs), which include products such as snuff and chew tobacco, do increase the user’s risk of cancer — just not as much as smoking does.

• ScienceDaily, July 2, 2008. New Way to Predict Prostate Cancer Spreading. New data, generated by John Martignetti and colleagues, at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, has identified a specific form of the protein KLF6 (KLF6-SV1) as indicative of poor survival in men with prostate cancer.

• The Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2008. Cancer Surgeons Learn Breast Reconstruction Techniques. A small but growing number of cancer surgeons are learning to remove a tumor and cosmetically repair the breast during a single surgery.

• Times Online UK, June 29 2008. Baby to Be Born Free of Breast Cancer After Embryo Screening. A woman has conceived Britain’s first baby guaranteed to be free from hereditary breast cancer.

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The Traffic Light Diet is a simple diet plan that may help adult diabetics as well as children get started on the road to healthy eating. While called a diet it is really a lifestyle plan. It is easy to follow which means long term compliance in any situation. This may be a perfect educational starter to teach newly diagnosed diabetics healthy choices.

The Traffic Light Diet or Stop Light Diet was developed by Leonard H. Epstein and colleagues for use in their family-based childhood overweight research. It has been since copied (as noted in Battling Books!).

Green foods are low in carbohydrate density and high in nutrition, fruits and vegetables that you need five servings of per day. Yellow foods include, proteins carbs and dairy. Red is foods high in sugar, or fat or alcohol.

The ”traffic-light diet,” divides the four basic food groups into three categories. ”Green” foods, almost exclusively vegetables, have a maximum of 20 calories a serving, and dieters can have all they want. Both the ”yellow” and the ”red” categories include dairy products, grains, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, but yellow foods, such as an apple or a serving of baked fish, have an acceptable ”nutrient density” - meaning they provide a lot of nutrition for the number of calories - while red foods, such as a doughnut or a serving of fried fish, have a poor nutrient density. Dieters can have limited amounts of yellow foods, depending on the number of calories per portion, but only four servings of red foods each week.

Source: The New York Times

In the UK, ministers are beginning Traffic Light Labeling (spelled Labelling in the UK) for supermarkets to help the nations obesity crisis. Based on the Traffic Light Diet plan with some variations of implementation.

From the UK Telegraph :Supermarkets could be forced to place “traffic light” health warnings on food packaging as part of an aggressive anti-obesity drive by ministers.

See the Traffic Light Labeling Plan in the UK so far in this video.

“Each food you buy will have 4 different dots on representing Fat, Saturated Fat, Salt and Sugars. The dots will be either red, amber or green. ” Red means high, amber means medium amount and green means low. “So the best possible healthy food has 4 green dots and the worst is 4 red dots.”

In the UK the Traffic Light system has even moved to restaurant menus . So what do you think?

Battling Books:

The Traffic Light Diet by Judith Wills

Versions of the Traffic Light Diet Online:

Five For Life

Eat Well

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Apparently eating more servings of broccoli turns on the genes that fight prostate cancer says a new study.

The study comes from Richard F. Mithen, PhD, of the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, England.

“It is important to stress that we did not directly measure cancer incidence,” says Mithen. “But the gene changes we saw were consistent with a reduction in prostate cancer risk.”

Source: WebMD

This is good news as prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men after lung cancer, affecting one in six men in the U.S.

Overcooking broccoli decreases the nutritional value.

From the World’s Healthiest Food: Broccoli Preparation:

Did you know that cutting the florets into smaller pieces and the stems into thin slices and letting them sit for 5 to 6 minutes before cooking will enhance their cancer protective properties? Cutting broccoli into smaller pieces breaks the cells and activates an enzyme called myrosinase. The myrosinase converts some of the sulfur-containing chemicals found in broccoli (call glucosinolates) into other sulfur containing chemicals (called isothiocyanates) which research has shown to contain cancer preventive properties not found in the glucosinolates . Studies have actually pinpointed specific mechanisms, like changes in cellular genetic processes, which are involved in increasing cancer protection.

Broccoli is way underestimated as far as nutritional value. It contains Vitamins B1 (Thiamin), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin), B5 (Pantothenic acid), B6, B9 (Folate), Vitamin C and A, and calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc.

While this new information does give exciting information on the health potential of broccoli, National Cancer Institute researcher Richard B. Hayes, PhD, says the new research strengthens, but does not prove, the hypothesis that a healthy diet can protect against prostate cancer.

Source: CBS News

So while it looks like a broccoli a day may not keep the prostate cancer away it certainly does trigger anti cancer agents in the body. And that is a good thing.

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Okay, this is my last post on the whole dementia, Alzheimer’s and sex subject. But this subject really has me thinking about the rights of people with dementia.

Is a 14 or 15 year old any more able to give consent than a person with dementia?

Is it actually possible for caregivers to discuss this issue and come to a conclusion when the loved one is in the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s disease?

Should long term care facilities/nursing homes make provision for spouses or “friends” to have sexual relations?

How does the dynamic change is one person has dementia and the other does not? Does it matter if the affected person is a male or female?

Should families or facilities make arrangements for safe/clean sexual encounters between residents?

At what point, if any, should facility staff/management get involved in relationship between patients?

Was there a relationship prior to the dementia (as in the case of a spouse or a person who entered the facility for something other than dementia, but now has dementia)

What part do the persons past morals and values play in the decision?

Should the caregiver’s morals be considered?

I suppose all of these questions mean that it’s an area that must be carefully studied, that there are as many answers as there are individual situations. In many religious traditions, sex outside of marriage is forbidden. The “rule” is usually enforced for the young or for divorcees. Does it actually apply to the elderly as well?

Please, I’ll give you a virtual penny for your thoughts. What’s your opinion?

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What’s not to love about blueberries?

They are the number one antioxidant fruit and they’re delicious.

Need a refresher on antioxidants and cancer ? See the Battling Cancer archives here .

Basically an antioxidant is capable of counteracting the normal damaging effects of oxidation by neutralizing free radicals in the body. The balance of antioxidants to oxidants is disturbed by poor diet, smoking, disease, normal aging, x-rays and many other things. When an antioxidant neutralizes a free radical, the antioxidant becomes oxidized and the body needs to be resupplied with antioxidants.

Blueberries contain high levels of polyphenals which provide antioxidant activity.

Blueberry Trivia:

• 90% of the world’s blueberries are grown in North America, specifically 38 U.S. states and provinces of Canada
• Blueberries were grown by American Colonists and were a staple during the Civil War.
• Today’s blueberries are known as "cultivated" or "highbush" blueberries
• Hammonton, New Jersey is the Blueberry Capital of the World.

Check out this short informational video on Blueberries from the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council .

Blueberry Recipes from the Highbush Blueberry Council:

Blueberry Crumble

4 cups fresh or thawed, frozen blueberries
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
3 packages (1.5 ounces each instant oatmeal with maple and brown sugar)
3 tablespoons butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375º F. In a 9-inch pie plate, toss blueberries with sugar. In a small bowl, combine oatmeal and butter until mixture forms coarse crumbs; sprinkle over blueberries. Bake until mixture bubbles around the edge and topping is light brown, 30 to 35 minutes.

Yield: 6 portions
Per portion: 197 calories, 3 grams protein, 7 grams fat, 33 grams carbohydrate

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat lemon yogurt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 egg white
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly spray 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well blended. In a small bowl, whisk yogurt, eggs, the egg white and melted butter until blended. Stir yogurt mixture into flour mixture just until combined. Stir in blueberries. Into each muffin cup, spoon about 1/4 cup batter; sprinkle each with about 1 teaspoon of granola, if desired. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove muffins from cups; cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining batter, partially filling empty cups with water.

YIELD: 18 muffins

Per muffin: 131 calories, 3 g protein, 3.5 g fat, 22 g carbohydrate

Battling Books:

Very Blueberry by Jennifer Trainer Thompson

Check out a Blueberry Festival near you.

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The ‘master switch’ gene that has been to play a role in some varities of rheumatoid arthritis in adults has now been identfied in all types of childhood arthritis.

Such were the findings of pediatric researchers at The Children’s Hopsital of Philadelphia. We all know arthritis isn’t an age-related condition anymore.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joint. Of course the old notion that the condition is age-related still prevails. Well, even my own mother cannot believe that arthritis can happen to younger people. But then it really can.

Autoimmune diseases are illnesses that occur when the body tissues are mistakenly attacked by its own immune system. The immune system is a complex organization of cells and antibodies designed normally to “seek and destroy” invaders of the body, particularly infections.

Going back to the above findings. Researchers are claiming that the gene identifies may be the master switch’ that helps turn on rheumatoid arthritis.

Researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia reported on the link between the gene region and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), formerly called juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The genetic variant is on chromosome 9 in a region housing two genes, TRAF1 and C5.

The TRAF1 gene codes for a protein that regulates tumor necrosis factor, a chemical strongly associated with JIA. However, the researchers say further study is needed to determine whether the TRAF1 gene or the C5 gene is altered in the disease.

According to Terri H. Finkel, M.D., Ph.D — the chief of Rheumatology at Children’s Hospital and one of the study’s lead author:

“There are only a few genes that may act as master switches like this to regulate autoimmune diseases. This switch we discovered probably has to be an ‘ON’ gene and when it interacts with other genes and environmental triggers, a child may get juvenile arthritis.”

What are the implications of the above findings? For one, hopefully better targeted treatments that will benefit both children and adults suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. In children the condition is called juvenile idiopathic arthritis (formerly juvenile rheumatoid arthritis).

Edward M. Behrens, M.D. , a pediatric rheumatologist at The Children’s Hospital, said:

“We think this finding may be a clue to the specific disease pathway that leads to arthritis. We currently use medicines called tumor necrosis factor blockers to treat children with JIA.

However, not all children respond to these drugs, and other children may develop severe allergic reactions and other side effects. If we can fully identify all the genes that interact with environmental risk factors, we might develop more targeted treatments with fewer side effects.”

The abovementioned study appears in the July 2008 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

Indeed this is an exciting development worth watching out for, don’t you think? We’ll see how this goes.

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