Cholesterol: the silent killer

It was after the shattering loss of her 33-year-old son to cancer three years ago that Rosemary Cross decided that she and her family should have a health screen. The 63-year-old Lisburn grandmother who doesn`t drink or smoke and who considered her lifestyle as fairly healthy was shocked to discover that she and her two daughters had high cholesterol.

Rosemary had no idea that high cholesterol could put her and her girls at risk of heart disease and stroke as over time, it can cause narrowing of the blood vessels.

According to the Department of Health, these circulatory conditions accounted for almost a third of all deaths in Northern Ireland in the last year – and they`re not the sole province of the chain-smoking, fry-eating, obese male; in fact, during 2012, stroke killed more women here than men.

Ahead of World Stroke Day on October 29, Rosemary hopes her experience will serve as a timely reminder to people to keep a check on their cholesterol levels.

Stroke is the most common cause of death in Europe. In Northern Ireland 4,000 people have strokes every year – that`s 12 every day.

One in six of us will have a stroke in our lifetimes so it is vital that everyone knows about stroke. Stroke, contrary to common belief, can happen to anyone, of any age. It happens suddenly and without warning.

High cholesterol is a common cause. Cholesterol is a rather unpleasant sticky yellow substance, manufactured by the body from the foods we eat, mainly the saturated fats from animals.

Cholesterol is vital for a range of functions in the body including metabolism, production of hormones and cardiovascular health.

But it is when levels rise that it becomes a problem, furring up the blood vessels. Rosemary didn`t know just how high her cholesterol was, until her health check. She says: "I had my health profiled as part of a corporate package through my ex-husband`s business, Delta Packaging.

"I honestly didn`t think anything was wrong with me. I wasn`t entirely happy with my weight, but show me a woman who is? I keep active – running after the grandchildren – and I eat quite healthily, so I thought I was ok.

"A safe level is anything up to five and mine was off the scale at 9.4. Two of my children Sinead (32) and Lisa (35) also had high readings. Sinead`s was 6.7 and Lisa`s was 7.2. Thankfully my son Patrick (38) who keeps fit was ok. His was 5.

"We have all started to exercise and cut out fatty foods to try to bring our cholesterol levels down."

Rosemary would never have dreamed of having her cholesterol tested but for the traumatic experience of losing her 33-year-old son David to skin cancer three years ago.

David had attended the doctor with a spot on his head which was initially diagnosed as a wart.

Cholesterol fuels breast cancer

A by-product of cholesterol can fuel the deadly growth and spread of breast cancer, according to a group of scientists.

It raises the prospect that taking cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins could prevent cancer, reports BBC.

The work, published in the journal Science, helps explain why obesity is a major risk factor for the disease.

However, cancer charities cautioned that it was too soon to advise women to take statins.

Obesity has been linked with many cancers including those of the breast, bowel and womb.

The fat in overweight people can pump out hormones, such as oestrogen, which drive the growth of cancers.

A team at Duke University Medical Centre, in the US, showed that cholesterol was having a similar effect.

Cholesterol is broken down by the body into 27HC, which can mimic oestrogen and produce the same effect as the hormone in some tissues.

Experiments on mice showed that a high fat diet increased levels of 27HC in the blood and led to tumours that were 30% larger than in mice on a normal diet.

Tumours were also more likely to spread. And human breast cancer tissue grew more quickly in the laboratory when it was fed 27HC.

One of the researchers Prof Donald McDonnell said: "A lot of studies have shown a connection between obesity and breast cancer, and specifically that elevated cholesterol is associated with breast cancer risk, but no mechanism has been identified.

"What we have now found is a molecule - not cholesterol itself, but an abundant metabolite of cholesterol - called 27HC that mimics the hormone oestrogen and can independently drive the growth of breast cancer."

Top 7 teas and their health benefits

If you`ve been wondering about all the new teas in the supermarket, then it`s high time you expand your tea knowledge. Learn more about the different types of teas and their health benefits.

Green tea: This tea is considered the best tea, if you want to lose weight. It is made from steamed tea leaves. Green tea contains a high dose of EGCG. This compound has powerful properties, which prevent various diseases like cancer of the bladder, breast, lung, stomach etc. It is also helpful in preventing Alzheimer`s disease, and is a great fat burning and stress killing tool.

Black tea: This tea is very popular, and is widely consumed. It is made from fermented tea leaves. Black tea contains high levels of caffeine. According to various studies, black tea is very effective in controlling the damage to the lungs caused by smoking. Besides, it also lowers the risk of stroke.

Oolong tea: This tea is more or less similar to black tea, but the only difference is, this tea is fermented for a longer duration, which gives it a stronger taste. Due to a certain enzyme present in this tea, it helps in melting triglycerides, and hence aids in weight loss.

White tea: White tea is one such tea, which undergoes minimum processing, so it has a high level of antioxidants. These antioxidants, which are present in white tea, help in preventing damage by free radicals. Besides, regular consumption also helps in lowering the risk of cancer, blood pressure and cholesterol problems.

Pu-erh tea: Pu-erh tea is made from the leaves and stems of the Camellia sinensis plant. During its preparation, it goes through both fermentation and then prolonged storage. This tea is useful for improving overall mental health and helps in reducing high cholesterol in the body.

Flavoured tea: Flavoured tea is nothing other than your normal black, white or green tea, which is paired with various flavours like cinnamon, lavender etc. They have the same level of antioxidants like their counterparts, but the addition is you will also be getting the health benefits of those flavours, which are added to your tea. Choose the sugar-free variants, to keep your blood sugar levels in check.

Herbal tea

New HIV strain found in West Africa

Swedish researchers have identified a new strain of HIV recently discovered in West Africa, which progresses to AIDS more quickly, reports AFP.

The A3/02 strain combines the two most common HIV strains in Guinea-Bissau and develops into AIDS within five years, up to two-and-a-half years faster than either of its parent strains, said Angelica Palm, one of the scientists behind the study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. This type of strain, a recombinant, appears when a person becomes infected by two different strains, allowing DNA to fuse and create a new one.

Researchers from Lund University warn in the study that recombinant strains may spread more rapidly, in part from immigration to the United State or Europe, and that there are likely many more that still haven’t been identified. But with this particular strain that was discovered in Guinea-Bissau in 2011, Palm says, “The good news is that as far as we know, the medicines that are available today are equally functional on all different subtypes of variants.”

The study comes on the heels of a new report by the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control that found about 131,000 people in Europe had contracted HIV in 2012, an 8% increase from the year before. As reported AIDS cases in Western Europe dropped 48% between 2006 and 2012, the number of new diagnoses in the eastern region rose by 113%.

Cholesterol: the silent killer

It was after the shattering loss of her 33-year-old son to cancer three years ago that Rosemary Cross decided that she and her family should have a health screen. The 63-year-old Lisburn grandmother who doesn`t drink or smoke and who considered her lifestyle as fairly healthy was shocked to discover that she and her two daughters had high cholesterol.

Rosemary had no idea that high cholesterol could put her and her girls at risk of heart disease and stroke as over time, it can cause narrowing of the blood vessels.

According to the Department of Health, these circulatory conditions accounted for almost a third of all deaths in Northern Ireland in the last year – and they`re not the sole province of the chain-smoking, fry-eating, obese male; in fact, during 2012, stroke killed more women here than men.

Ahead of World Stroke Day on October 29, Rosemary hopes her experience will serve as a timely reminder to people to keep a check on their cholesterol levels.

Stroke is the most common cause of death in Europe. In Northern Ireland 4,000 people have strokes every year – that`s 12 every day.

One in six of us will have a stroke in our lifetimes so it is vital that everyone knows about stroke. Stroke, contrary to common belief, can happen to anyone, of any age. It happens suddenly and without warning.

High cholesterol is a common cause. Cholesterol is a rather unpleasant sticky yellow substance, manufactured by the body from the foods we eat, mainly the saturated fats from animals.

Cholesterol is vital for a range of functions in the body including metabolism, production of hormones and cardiovascular health.

But it is when levels rise that it becomes a problem, furring up the blood vessels. Rosemary didn`t know just how high her cholesterol was, until her health check. She says: "I had my health profiled as part of a corporate package through my ex-husband`s business, Delta Packaging.

"I honestly didn`t think anything was wrong with me. I wasn`t entirely happy with my weight, but show me a woman who is? I keep active – running after the grandchildren – and I eat quite healthily, so I thought I was ok.

"A safe level is anything up to five and mine was off the scale at 9.4. Two of my children Sinead (32) and Lisa (35) also had high readings. Sinead`s was 6.7 and Lisa`s was 7.2. Thankfully my son Patrick (38) who keeps fit was ok. His was 5.

"We have all started to exercise and cut out fatty foods to try to bring our cholesterol levels down."

Rosemary would never have dreamed of having her cholesterol tested but for the traumatic experience of losing her 33-year-old son David to skin cancer three years ago.

David had attended the doctor with a spot on his head which was initially diagnosed as a wart.

Rice increases exposure to arsenic!

An unprecedented probe into high levels of arsenic in groundwater strengthens suspicions that eating rice boosts exposure to the poison.

Samples provided by 18,470 volunteers living in an arsenic-contaminated district showed that those who ate large amounts of rice had higher levels of arsenic in their urine than those who ate little rice, scientists said.

In addition, the big rice-eaters also had more symptoms of arsenic toxicity, such as skin lesions.

The paper, published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, is the biggest-ever probe into whether arsenic-tainted groundwater in Bangladesh poses a risk for people who consume rice, the staple food.

The study demonstrates "arsenic in water and the food chain is a serious problem", said Parvez Haris, a specialist in environmental biomedicine at De Montfort University in the central English city of Leicester.

"(It) also shows that exposure to arsenic from rice can have harmful effects on human health, as it correlated with increased prevalence and incidence of skin lesions."

Arsenic in groundwater in parts of Bangladesh is a growing concern, say watchdogs.

The toxic element occurs in water naturally -- the problem is that tens of millions of rural dwellers are exposed to it through shallow wells drilled in the 1970s in "access-to-water" programmes.

Most investigations have focused on the risk from drinking water, but there is now widening interest in whether the poison can also be passed on in rice, through irrigated fields.

The study was conducted in the district of Araihazar, Dhaka state.

Arsenic levels in the local rice were not determined in the study, although contamination of the area`s water is well known. There are nearly 6,000 wells in an area of just 25 square kilometres.

The work could also have implications for other parts of the world where there can be relatively high levels of arsenic in rice, said the authors. Parts of Cambodia, China, India and Vietnam fall into this category.

"We recommend people in Araihazar and other parts of Bangladesh, who consume as much as 1.6 kilos of cooked rice daily, to reduce their dependence on rice as their main source of calorie intake, to diversify their diet by for example increasing their intake of wheat and consuming rice varieties that are low in arsenic," said Haris.

"We have previously shown that rice from (the) Sylhet region of Bangladesh has lower arsenic content as does aromatic rice.

Source: b

10 pc people will have diabetes by 2035

The International Diabetes Federation released a report Thursday that said that 10 percent of the global population will have diabetes by 2035.

The report, which was released on International Diabetes Day, said that 382 million people will have diabetes by the end of this year, and that 592 million will be diabetic by 2035, CBS news reports.

Many of those millions will be living in developing countries.

The IDF report also estimates that the percentage of diabetic Americans will jump from 8 percent to 11 percent by 2035.

One person dies from diabetes every six seconds, which amounts to 1.5 million annual deaths.

Bangladesh-Health-News

Bangladesh-Health-NewsBangladesh-Health-NewsBangladesh-Health-NewsBangladesh-Health-NewsBangladesh-Health-News