Monday, May 17th, 2010

Could it Be?  Pearls and Factoids To Ponder . . . 

WHOLE GRAINS WIN HANDS DOWN:  Intact whole grains contain 6 times the nutritional value of their nutrient-stripped, processed countertparts.  That means favor cooked oatmeal, barley or raw meusli type cereals vs. pricey cereals that come in boxes not even worth  the cardboard they're packed in.

TRUE PREVENTIVE MEDICINE:  Why wait around with your doctor until you have a treatable illness?  Vaccines and screening tests such as colonoscopies and mammograms are mostly what mainstream medicine has to offer.  Drugs for diabetes don't work as well as healthy diet and lifestyle for preventing diabetes.  Statins are an expensive statistical crap shoot when it comes to preventing heart disease (one in fifty people over 3 years  . . . or more, much more).  Hydrochlorothiazide lowers bloood pressure but fails to prevent stroke or heart attacks.  The list goes on.  Would you rather stay out of trouble or have to get out of trouble once you're in it?

DRUGS RUN AMOK:  Researchers estimate that adverse drug reactions (ADRs) occur in 6% of patients who take 2 medications, 50% of those who take 5 medications, and 100% of those who take 8 medications.  For every dollar used to purchase medication in nursing facilities, $1.33 is spent in health care resources to treat an adverse drug event.  Polypharmacy in Elders  Tan and Tan, Fed. Pract. 2005:22 (11) 76 - 84

WHY FOOD MATTERS:  Among individuals aged 70 to 90 years, adherence to a Mediterranean diet and healthful lifestyle is asssociated with a more that 50% lower rate of of all-causes and cause specific mortality.  Journal Of The American Medical Association, 2004; 292; 1433-1439

YOU MAY NEED MORE EXERCISE THAN YOU THINK:  Women successful in maintaining normal weight and gaining fewer than 5 pounds over 13 years averaged approximately 60 minutes of moderate intensity activity throughout the day.  Journal Of The American Medical Association, 2010; 303 (12) 1173-1179

SO WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL OVER LDL CHOLESTEROL?  In a large cohort (136,905) of patients hospitalized with heart disease, almost half had LDL levels less than 100 mg/dL.  American Heart Journal 2009; 157:111-7 

COULD LOW CHOLESTEROL BE A CAUSE OF DEPRESSION?  Total cholesterol and depression were inversley related.   [In other words the lower the total cholesterol, the higher the likelihood of depression].  Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2008, August 33-43

SO WHAT'S IN JUNK FOOD THAT CREATES ADDICTS?  Junk food turns rats into addicts.  Shock didn't phase rats accustomed to junk foods.  They even contininued to eat, even though they knew the shock was coming.  www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48605