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December 9, 2010

Medical Minutes: As a celiac for many years...

As a celiac for many years, I’ve always lamented that you have to have either a masters degree in nutrition or a PHD in labeling to even come close to guessing the nutritive value of that thing you’re about to munch and which purports to be a food of some sort. And that’s largely because food producers and Canadian lawmakers have swamped us with tons of irrelevant information on food packages so that we really can’t easily make out the only thing that we actually do want to know when we’re opening a package of macaroni or a Twinkie: is this stuff healthy, or is it something that could easily pass for plastic wrapping when in another form.

So all of this is to say that I love a recent recommendation from a US expert group that food labeling should contain only 4 pieces of information prominently displayed on the front of a food package (imagine that, eh, on the front, where you can actually see it) and in large print: namely, the amount of calories, saturated fat, trans fat and sodium in that package.

Everything else, like students in a bus heading to UBC, should go in the back where no one will read it..

I’m Dr Art Hister

December 8, 2010

Medical Minutes: Here's something to take the fun out of skinny-dipping...

Here’s something to take the fun out of even skinny-dipping: a provocative study from Spain has concluded that swimming in indoor pools can increase the risk of cancer.

Specifically, the researchers claim that they found mutagenicity – that’s something you really don’t want cuz it means your genes are mutating and hey, they seldom mutate for the better – anyway, they found these changes in healthy subjects who went swimming in indoor pools that are, of course, loaded with chlorine, and it’s the chlorine that very likely accounts for the mutative changes seen in this study.

The researchers were quick to add that this doesn’t mean that anyone who enjoys swimming should give up that activity because the aerobic benefits of swimming, they say, far outweigh the small potential risk from these genetic changes.

The lead researcher also suggested that swimmers should, and I quote follow the rules of the pool such as not urinating in the water, and that dear listeners, is the main reason that I consider myself allergic to swimming in indoor pools.

After all, how can you ever tell if the guy in the lane beside you is following the rules, eh?

I’m Dr Art Hister

December 2, 2010

Medical Minutes: In any list of the most improbable things...

In any list of the most improbable things that could ever happen, I’d include Brian Burke admitting a mistake, Stephen Harper asking to be Jack Layton’s friend on Facebook, Lady Gaga entering a convent, and most unlikely, Bill Clinton giving up meat, except that miracle of miracles, the latter has actually happened.

Yup, Bubba Bill from Arkansas, has - can you believe this? - become a vegan.

No not a virgin – hey, this is Bill Clinton – but rather a vegan because one his daughter Chelsea’s warning that she didn’t want the Michelin Man giving her away at her recent wedding, and 2) Bill’s realization after bypass surgery that if he didn’t change his ways quickly, he’d be outlived by many years by George Bush – Senior.

So Bill now eats mostly beans, legumes, veggies, occasional fish, and protein shakes, and here’s my point: if the world’s most famous meat-eater can switch diets and lose 30 pounds, anyone – and I mean anyone – can also do it.

I know that that’s to-fu to believe, but it’s true nonetheless.

I’m Dr Art Hister

December 1, 2010

Medical Minutes: How does that slogan go again?

How does that slogan go again? If ya can’t beat em, become an Edmonton Oiler.

No, that’s not it: rather, it’s if you can’t beat em, join em, a slogan I thought of when I read that a doctor thinks fast food outlets should give out cholesterol-lowering drugs with the fast food they sell, cuz after all, he argued, you can get as much salt and ketchup and any size order of fries from jumbo to elephantine along with a deluxe calorie-choking shake at your burger outlet, all of which are key contributors to heart attacks, so why not, he asks, also get a free statin drug to partially offset that artery-clogging meal?

Now most experts have pooh-poohed this idea but if you ask me, it has merit, cuz I think it’d be a great business idea not to mention public health benefit when the next time someone who clearly shouldn’t move far without a personal cardiac resuscitation team close at hand orders a triple bacon, double-cheese burger, and the server leans over and asks, "Wouldn’t you also like a Lipitor with your house-size fries, sir?"

It’s worth a try, don’t ya think?

I’m Dr Art Hister

November 29, 2010

Medical Minutes: Australian researchers claim that ...

Australian researchers claim that specialized medical reporters write much better medical stories than journalists with no specialized medical skills, and medical stories, by the way, are health reports, not novels by Dan Kalla or plays by Anton Chekov, who was, of course, a doctor first but who was also smart enough to abandon taking care of filthy Russian peasants to write dour and depressing plays instead.

Anyway, according to these researchers, in this economic downturn, media sources’ve scaled back the use of specialized health reporters, and that, these authors say, is why so much of the lay public doesn’t understand medical data and why they can’t make much sense of their medical choices, and hey, as a specialized medical reporter, I say "amen" to all that.

By the way, the next time you can’t sleep, instead of reaching for an Imovane, take this advice from a specialized medical reporter: reach for a copy of a play by Chekov instead.

Trust me, deep sleep in minutes, even faster than watching Coach’s Corner.

I’m Dr Art Hister

November 23, 2010

Medical Minutes: To look and sound so ...

To look and sound so amazingly good every morning, I need 8 hours sleep every night, so roughly once a week, I use a sleeping pill to get to sleep, so I was certainly taken aback at a recent headline screaming that "sleeping pills can increase the risk of death".

"Yikes", I thought, and I so wanted to still be around in 2050 when TransLink finally builds that Evergreen Line.

Now, I’s pretty easy to link the use of sleeping pills with premature death because for example, those pills make you drowsy and affect reaction time which increases the risk of being in an accident and raises the risk of falling, and falling is a major health hazard, especially for seniors with a recent study showing that seniors who suffer even a minor fall have an increased risk of death over the next month. That said, I’m not throwing my sleeping pills away just yet, cuz hey, for me, lack of sleep is a bigger health threat right now than falling on the way to the toilet at 1 AM.

And 3 AM. And 5 AM.

But then, at my age, that’s all the exercise I need for the day.

I’m Dr Art Hister

Medical Minutes: For the millions of people out there...

For the millions of people out there who take bisphosphonate drugs
(most well-known one is Fosamax) to reduce the risk of suffering a fracture
by strengthening the bones (the drugs slow the loss of bone that is pretty ineveitable with age), news today that is a bit sobering: 2 reports indicate that long-term use (in these studies that meant longer than 4 years of continuous use) can lead to microscopic damage in the femur (the large bone in the thigh) which can in trun result in a sudden fracture or collapse of the femue without much pressure.

It's still not clear how common this problem is (these were both small studies), and the US FDA, says it's going to monitor the situation, but if you're on one of these drugs long-term, keep your eyes posted for follow-up on these reports.

I’m Dr Art Hister

March 11th, 2010

Medical Minutes: Here's a "duh" moment for the world.

According to an item in a very prestigious publication, the lab rats that are used by so many of the world's scientists to do studies that they can't yet do on humans, are "metabolically morbid": obese, sedentary, intolerant to insulin, and on the road to "premature death".

Now, you may argue that so, too, are most of us, so it may still be worth working on those rats becasue hey, they are so similar to your husband or next-door neighbour (not you, of course).

But hey, if we really want to know what's best for us, and if we really want valid, univesrsally-applicable results, maybe we ought to be working on somewhat healthier specimens.

I figure I'd be more lkely to believe results from a study done on 30 healthy young volunteers than one done on 30 retired plumbers who sit in a pub all day.
No wonder science comes up with so much (you fill in this blank).

I’m Dr Art Hister

March 10th, 2010

Medical Minutes:

I'm sure that everyone saw the headline that "Drinking Moderately Helps Women Control Weight", and I'm sure that lots of young women (this study was done on women under the age of 50; to me that's very young) will be tempted to run out to drink themselves under the table to help control their weight ("Hey, Art, it sure beats dieting"), so please be aware of a couple of key limitations in this study.

Although the authors always try to account for other confounding factors to account for odd outcomes, I believe they can never really do that well.
So although there may be something in alcohol that helps women (and not men) control their weight, it seems to me much more likely, from using a bit of common sense about potential differences between women who drink and those who don't, that women who drink may be more likely to eat less, to eat healthier, to be more well-off (alcohol is expensive), to be peppier, to exercise more, to be happier (hey, I'm sure they're happier), and it's likely, I think, that such undiscovered factors 9and not the alcohol intake per se) are really what make for the differences in weight control detected in this study.

Just as important, though, alchol is a carcinogen, especially perhaps on breast tissue, so any woman who decides to drink for her health should always weigh that important factor. too.

I’m Dr Art Hister