Obesity Could Become Public Health Enemy #1

More than 2.1 billion people, or close to 30 percent of the global population, are overweight or obese, and obesity is responsible for about five percent of all deaths each year, worldwide. In the US, nearly one in five deaths is now associated with obesity. That obesity factors into your mortality risk isn't so surprising when you consider just how many chronic and serious disease it's associated with.

In the US, just eight obesity-related diseases account for 75 percent of all healthcare costs! Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), dementia, and cancer are among them, but there are many others as well. When you consider that two hallmarks of obesity are insulin/leptin resistance and chronic inflammation, you can begin to recognize that excess weight is fertile ground for a wide array of other ailments—many of which can cut your life significantly short.

When you’re insulin resistant, your cells have become seriously impaired in their ability to respond to the insulin your body makes. At the heart of this problem is a diet too high in sugar (especially processed fructose). While you can be insulin resistant and lean, obesity places far greater stress on your cells, which makes insulin resistance more probable. Insulin resistance is at the core of nearly every chronic degenerative disease and is typically what needs to be addressed first to turn around any disease.

Research shows that chronic overeating places stress on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)—the membranous network found inside the mitochondria of your cells. And when the ER receives more nutrients than it can process, it signals the cell to dampen the sensitivity of the insulin receptors on the surface of the cell. Thus continuously eating more than your body really needs promotes insulin resistance by the mere fact that your cells are stressed by the work placed on them by the excess nutrients. Once your insulin resistance worsens, the concentration of glucose in your blood begins to rise, and elevated glucose contributes to the development of diabetes.

For decades, smoking was one of the leading causes of cancer, but that's about to change. Obesity will likely claim the lead spot as the principal cause of 10 different types of cancer within the next decade, according to cancer specialists who discussed the trend at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in Chicago. “Spiraling rates of obesity meant that cancer – once seen as a disease of old age – was now increasingly being diagnosed up to two decades earlier than in the past. Their figures suggest one in five cancer deaths in Britain is caused by excess weight," The Telegraph reports.

The links between obesity and cancer are quite clear, and excess weight can increase your risk of cancer rather significantly. For example, obese women increase their risk of womb cancer by 600 percent. Risks for breast, prostate, colon, and all the other gynecological cancers is also elevated, primarily due to the hormone imbalances associated with obesity, which tend to fuel tumor growth. Researchers have also found a correlation between obesity and increased risk for cancer relapse. Overweight survivors of prostate cancer treatment were found to have a three percent higher rate of relapse compared to their slimmer counterparts. They also had seven percent higher odds of the cancer spreading.

If you are struggling with weight issues and are concerned about the further ramifications that are outlined in this article, please contact our office so that we can schedule you a complimentary consultation and help increase your chances for a healthy future.

Simple Help For Sinus Congestion

For many people living here in San Antonio (and pretty much any other city I’ve lived in for that matter…), allergies are a common complaint. Whether it consists simply of nasal congestion or includes a battery of additional symptoms such as sneezing, watery eyes and blowing your nose to the point of looking like Rudolph, it can be an annoying condition that affects quality of life. (Try giving a presentation when you can’t pronounce your words correctly due to congestion!) More than 29 million American adults were diagnosed with sinusitis in 2014, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sinusitis is an inflammation of the nasal cavities often caused by a virus, allergy, bacteria, fungus, or possibly an autoimmune reaction. Many times people will turn to home remedies as a first method to help deal with the congestion issues, such as using steam or some type of irrigation device like a neti pot. According to a new study, inhaling steam probably won't open your chronically clogged sinuses, but nasal irrigation may bring some relief.

To evaluate the effectiveness of these two common treatments, researchers at the University of Southampton in England followed 871 patients who had a history of chronic or recurrent sinusitis. Participants were assigned one of four treatments: daily nasal irrigation with saline plus use of an instructional video; daily steam inhalation; a combination of both; or their usual treatment. Usual care was at the discretion of the patient's physician and could include the use of antibiotic medications. Participants in the nasal irrigation group were given a neti pot, and were asked to irrigate their nose daily with about 5 ounces of saline solution in each nostril. The solution was made of 1 teaspoon salt and a half teaspoon of baking soda combined in 1 pint of water. The steam treatment group was asked to inhale steam for five minutes every day. They were directed to place a towel over their head and stand over a bowl of recently boiled water.

Using the Rhinosinusitis Disability Index, researchers evaluated at three and six months and found that patients who used nasal irrigation reported improvement. Those using steam inhalation said headaches had eased, but they appeared to have no congestion relief. The study authors also noted that fewer participants in the nasal irrigation group (compared to no-irrigation patients) took over-the-counter medications, had headaches, or intended to consult a doctor in future episodes. Lead researcher Dr. Little also added that people suffering from sinusitis often get repeated courses of antibiotics, which may not help much and may contribute to the development of antibiotic resistance.

If you suffer from chronic sinus congestion, adding an irrigation routine daily may prove beneficial in helping keep it under control. Also, keeping foods out of the diet that promote inflammation or sensitivity reactions is another way to help decrease the systemic inflammatory responses in the body so that you can lead a congestion-free, comfortable life.

5 Tips to Beat the Texas Heat

Isn’t this Texas heat something? Did you know over half of the human body is made up of water? With a high heat index, it is so easy to lose fluids. We have yard work to do, errands to run, and workouts to accomplish! Right now, more than ever it is crucial for us to stay hydrated. So many of our systems become disrupted and unable to function optimally when you not become dehydrated. To help you get through the rest of summer, here are a few ideas to help keep track of your water intake and give you ideas on how to overcome the same taste!

· When outside, or doing workouts try weighing yourself before, then after. This helps you get an idea of how much fluid you may have lost, and know to replenish. This will also help you gauge how much to drink during activities where you know you may be losing more fluids than usual.

· Avoid caffeinated drinks. I know, this may be hard for some. Yet, drinking caffeine causes you to urinate more since it is a diuretic. Although there may be water in some of the drinks, most of it is expelled when you use the restroom anyway.

· Always bring water with you. You never know how long that extra errand more take, or how thirsty that long walk to your car may make you. Always keep something with you, that way you don’t have to worry so much on drinking those extra fluids.

· Avoid doing anything outdoors during the peak heat times of the day. Try mowing the lawn earlier in the morning or in the evening.

· Keep bottled water in stock that contain electrolytes like Core or Smart Water.

· When outside, try sticking to cool spots in the shade. This will help keep you from sunburn too!

Tired the Plain Taste of Water?

Here are some things you can try adding to give that extra flavor:

· Lemons

· Strawberries

· Cucumbers

· Limes

· Mint leaves

· Watermelon

· Blueberries

· Raspberries

Keep Your Discs Healthy For Life

I’m sure everyone has heard someone make mention at some point that they feel like they’ve shrunk as they’ve gotten older. While this is definitely a very real possibility, it can also be one that doesn’t have to come to pass to the extent that some people experience. First and foremost, posture will be the biggest determining factor of this phenomenon. If we frequently spend time each day in hunched over positions (at the computer, reading, looking at phones, etc.), we train the spine to adopt that as more of our normal posture and, as a result, later in life we lose the ability to fully straighten up as the muscles and joints have gone through permanent change. Next on the list would be the health of your intervertebral discs, which is what we will discuss here today. The discs serve many functions in our spine, primary of which is to allow motion in the neck and back so that we can bend, twist, rotate and do all the normal movements of everyday life. They also act as “spacers” between the vertebrae to allow passage of our spinal nerves that come off the spinal cord so that the brain can communicate with all parts of our body.

Our discs are made up of two components: the nucleus pulposus and the annular fibers. Imagine if you took a hardboiled egg in an egg carton and sliced off the top; that is roughly what a disc would look like. The yolk would represent the nucleus, which is a jelly-like material that provides shock absorbency, fluidity and distributes the pressure that we put on our bodies. The white would represent the layers of annular fibers that surround the nucleus. These are similar to other ligaments we have in the body and run horizontally, vertically and diagonally all around the nucleus. They give strength and support to our spine and serve to protect the nucleus and keep it centered in the disc.

One of the two most common injuries we hear of is a bulging disc. When the spine is subjected to more force than it can handle, either quickly as with an accident or over time from repetitive stress, the annular fibers can begin to tear and the nucleus will push outwards, leading to a bulge or rupture. If it causes pressure on the nearby nerves, then we can experience pain, numbness, weakness or loss of function. The other main issue would be degenerative disc disease, which is a “wear and tear” effect on the discs over the course of a lifetime and will be dictated by how much stress we put on our discs and how well we take care of them. Since degeneration is an irreversible process and can lead to chronic pain and neurological issues, we need to make sure we are doing all we can to keep them healthy.

First would be to simply keep moving! Discs get their fluids and stay hydrated by a pumping action that comes from movement and forces being applied to them. While they do need rest when we are normally lying down for the night for healing and repair, avoiding prolonged sitting or static positions for long periods by routinely getting up and moving around has been shown to help maintain fluidity in the discs. Regular exercise and stretching will also make a big difference in long-term maintenance of disc health. At night, it is best to avoid sleeping on your stomach as this puts unnecessary rotational stress on your spine for several hours. Sleeping on your back or side where the spine is allowed to be in its natural, neutral position will put the least amount of stress on the discs. And as always, whether sitting or standing, try to maintain proper posture at all times.

When we are born our discs are about 80% water and this will slowly decrease as we age, so staying properly hydrated is critical to maintaining the health of our discs. The fluid helps regulate the pressures the discs are subjected to and allows nutrients to enter the tissues and waste products to be removed. On average, most people should be aiming for half of their body weight in ounces as the minimum amount of water ingested each day. Smoking should be eliminated because it interferes with nutrition for the spinal discs by preventing the good oxygen flow needed to keep them healthy. Alcohol use should also be minimized as it is known to decrease hydration throughout the body. By adopting these simple lifestyle steps, you can set yourself up for keeping your discs as healthy as possible and holding on to every inch you’ve earned over the course of your lifetime.

Nutrient Deficiencies In Migraine Sufferers?

Most migraine sufferers would do just about anything to avoid the ensuing pain, hassle and sensitivities that come from dealing with that type of headache. They can often be debilitating, leaving the victim in bed in a darkened room with an ice pack on the head or spurring a trip to the urgent care for strong medication in an injection or IV. If there would be anything that could be done to help in the prevention of them without added risks or side effects, it would most likely be welcomed by many. Diet could always be a possible source of concern, and a recent study explored a possible link that showed many young people who suffer from migraines also have vitamin deficiencies.

The study included children, teens and young adult migraine patients who were treated at Cincinnati Children's Headache Center. Researchers found that a high percentage of them had mild deficiencies in vitamin D, riboflavin and coenzyme Q10 (a vitamin-like substance used to produce energy for cell growth and maintenance). There were also some trends that emerged along a gender predisposition. Girls and young women were more likely than boys and young men to have coenzyme Q10 deficiencies, but boys and young men were more likely to have vitamin D deficiency. There was also the broad finding that patients with chronic migraines were more likely to have coenzyme Q10 and riboflavin deficiencies than patients with episodic migraines.

Many of the patients were prescribed preventive migraine medications and received vitamin supplementation if their levels were low. Unfortunately, outcome measures of how the migraines were affected were not recorded for this study because too few patients received vitamins alone. Further research would be needed to determine if vitamin supplementation of these nutrients could help prevent migraines. Previous research has suggested that certain vitamins and vitamin deficiencies may be important in migraine, but studies using vitamins to prevent migraines have yielded mixed results, according to the researchers.

Whether they may actually be considered a preventative for migraines or not, all of the aforementioned nutrients should be maintained at normal levels for proper health. Riboflavin helps in energy production and is important for iron metabolism. Vitamin D helps regulate your immune system and is necessary for calcium absorption and bone growth. CoQ10 is essential for heart muscle health and helps protect various aspects the circulatory system. If you are a migraine sufferer, make sure you are maintaining proper levels of these nutrients.

Avoiding Medications In Our Food

As people age, one of the common misconceptions is that they will naturally be on (more) medications to combat the effects of aging as the “mileage” on the body accumulates. This could not be further from the truth if one takes the steps necessary throughout their life to maintain an optimal level of health by making the proper lifestyle choices. While it is never a guarantee as health issues can arise due to factors outside of their control, most people can decrease the likelihood of needing medications by controlling what they put into their bodies, be it food or medications. Everyone should know by now that certain foods such as fruits and vegetables, which are high in antioxidants and other protective phytochemicals, should constitute a majority of our diet. Healthy oils, lean proteins and other foods like nuts, seeds and beans are also supportive and highly beneficial. However, in some of the cases, such as with the proteins and animal-based products, there is the risk of taking in unwanted pharmaceuticals second-hand as a result of what is fed or administered to the animals that supply our food.

A report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2010 called into question the national Food Safety and Inspection Service's (FSIS) ability to adequately monitor the safety of U.S. meat for potentially toxic residues, after revealing that drug residues and heavy metals are common in U.S. meat. Residues of veterinary drugs, pesticides and heavy metals enter the food system when producers bring animals to slaughter that still have these toxins in their system. This occurs more often than you might think. For instance, in the dairy industry if a farmer determines a sick cow is going to die, he will sell the animal as quickly as possible, even if it still has veterinary drugs in its system. This ensures he will get some return on his investment, at the expense of the Americans' health who end up eating the medicated meat. So-called "waste milk," which is produced by medicated dairy cows and banned for human consumption, is also fed to veal calves, which then pass the meds on to the consumers that eat them.

About one-third of the dairy cows in the United States are injected with a synthetic, genetically engineered growth hormone called rBGH. RBGH, or recombinant bovine growth hormone, is a synthetic version of natural bovine somatotropin (BST), a hormone produced in cows' pituitary glands. Cows are injected with it to boost their milk production. Monsanto developed the recombinant version from genetically engineered E. coli bacteria, and though it is banned in Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and in the 27 countries of the European Union because of its dangers to human health, it is the largest selling dairy animal drug in America. RBGH milk differs from natural milk nutritionally, pharmacologically, immunologically, and hormonally, and one of the most glaring examples of this is its IGF-1 levels. IGF-1 is a potent hormone that acts on your pituitary gland to induce powerful metabolic and endocrine effects, including cell growth and replication. Elevated IGF-1 levels are associated with breast and other cancers. When cows are injected with rBGH, their levels of IGF-1 increase up to 20-fold, and this IGF-1 is excreted in the milk. You very well may be drinking rBGH milk, or eating rBGH cheese or yogurt, as no labeling is required. The good news is, as increasing numbers of consumers and dairies choose to avoid rBGH, you can find labels that say "rBGH-free" or a similar variation. Organic milk is also rBGH-free.

About 80 percent of all the antibiotics produced are used in agriculture -- not only to fight infection, but to promote unhealthy (though profitable) weight gain. Feeding livestock continuous, low-dose antibiotics creates a perfect storm for widespread disease proliferation – and, worse yet, antibiotic-resistant disease. This link is so clear-cut that the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed has been banned in Europe since 2006! Antibiotics are not only embedded in your meats, they have made their way into your produce as well, as slow-to-biodegrade antibiotics are transferred, via the manure used as fertilizer, into your corn, lettuce, potatoes, and other crops. Sadly, even eating organically may not entirely alleviate this problem, since organic crops, which cannot be fertilized with synthetic fertilizers, are the ones most often fertilized with manure. As it stands, conventional, factory-farmed animal manure containing antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria is still allowed under the USDA organic label.

Just as important as the choices you make of what foods you eat is knowing what is going into the food that goes into your body. While it may not be entirely possible to avoid every instance of contamination, eating locally grown, organic, sustainably raised foods free from drugs and chemicals will help you decrease the risk of being exposed to unnecessary medications from secondhand sources.

Are Reflux Meds Worth The Risks?

Many people today deal with reflux on a regular or daily basis. Evidence of that can be supported by the fact that proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs, were the ninth most commonly prescribed kinds of drugs in 2015, ahead of thyroid medications. Proton pump inhibitors dramatically diminish the amount of acid made by glands that line the inside of the stomach. They can provide big relief for people who have reflux, where stomach acid splashes into the esophagus, causing the pain commonly referred to as heartburn. The drug was intended to be used only for short term intervals (four to eight weeks to help heal ulcers or control heartburn), yet many people have been taking it for years as PPIs can be tough to quit. Stopping the meds often leads to a phenomenon called PPI rebound, which causes people to make even more stomach acid than they were before. Therefore, without proper modification of other factors that may be driving the reflux such as poor dietary choices, the symptoms will typically not change and may get worse.

The problem that is theorized with PPI’s is that they don't just turn off acid pumps in the stomach. Instead, the researchers say, PPIs also block the production of acid in every cell in our bodies, which can affect tiny cellular parts called lysosomes. Certain enzymes in the lysosome only work under acidic conditions. Those enzymes break down proteins that have become damaged. Less acidity would trigger an effect that hampers the body's ability to rid itself of damaged proteins -- the "garbage" that builds up as we age. When the lysosomes don't work properly in cells, waste builds up and cells age more quickly than normal. As an example, there was a recent study that tied PPIs to dementia. Dementia has been linked to factors such as amyloid deposits accumulating in the brain. If the brain cannot detoxify and get rid of these proteins due to lower acidity, the risk of dementia may increase. In the study, there was an association with PPI usage and a slightly increased chance of dementia.

Other studies have shown risk factors for other conditions with PPI usage as well. A 2014 study of 10,000 people diagnosed with Barrett's esophagus in Denmark found that people who took PPIs were actually more likely to get cancer. The risk was highest for "high-adherence" users -- those who took their pills most faithfully. (The study was observational, though, and it couldn't show cause and effect.) Another study published in February found that PPI use was tied to a higher risk for chronic kidney disease while the use of a different kind of acid-blocking drug, called an H2 blocker, was not. While none of the studies could be construed as direct cause and effect of the various conditions, when trends start emerging on multiple fronts from one medication, it should give one pause to wonder if that may be the best method of treatment.

While many factors may affect the state of someone’s digestive capabilities, diet will almost always dictate whether someone lives with or without problems. Identifying triggers for reflux or upset stomach will be first line defense as eliminating them will keep the digestive tract from staying in a constant state of irritation. If the diet has become filled with less than desirable food choices, we also need to focus on replacing them with foods that supply quality nutrition and supportive elements. Adding good bacteria to help break down fiber and assist in digestion is also necessary as they are typically lacking in a diet comprised of processed and poor quality foods. Finally, including specific supplements to assist in healing a damaged, irritated or inflamed gastrointestinal tract may also be necessary. If all this sounds a little overwhelming, then finding a doctor who can help guide you through this process will be well worth your time and offer more benefits to your health than just fixing a reflux problem. Need help? Give us a call 210-468-1891 or visit our website www.iffhealth.com!