Keep Your Kid's Cholesterol in Check

By BELINDA WALKER - July 12, 2010

Should all children be screened for high cholesterol?

That's the suggestion of a study out of West Virginia that found that a family history alone isn't sufficient to catch high cholesterol among children.

In analyzing results from family histories and fasting lipid tests of more than 20,000 West Virginia youngsters, researchers found that 71 percent of them met guidelines for cholesterol screening based on family history.

But it said that a third of children whose cholesterol levels were high enough to merit treatment were being missed by guidelines so dependent upon family history. The study concludes that many youngsters could benefit from universal cholesterol screening that would allow for early diagnosis.

However Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News' senior health and medical editor for ABC News, is cautious of the study. He said the study did not take into account obesity levels and that we should be careful putting young children on medication they may have to use for the rest of their lives.

Besser suggests the emphasis should be on obesity prevention and the promotion of healthy eating habits and exercise for the whole family since weight loss and exercise is one way to reduce cholesterol without medication.


Tips to Keep Your Kids' Cholesterol Down

"Good Morning America" gathered some good cholesterol wrangling tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and WebMD:

-Make sure you know your family history.

-Exercise regularly. According to the CDC, children and adolescents should do 60 minutes (1 hour) or more of physical activity each day.

-Make sure your children eat foods low in total fat, saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol.

-Select a variety of foods so your child can get all the nutrients he or she needs.


Some Healthy Meal Options:

Breakfast: Fruit, cereal, oatmeal and low-fat yogurt are among the good choices for breakfast foods. Use skim or 1 percent milk rather than whole or 2 percent milk (after age 2, or as recommended by your doctor).

Lunch and Dinner: Increase vegetable consumption and cut back on meats. In fact, you can join the Meatless Monday movement! Cutting meats out of your diet at least one day each week can cut down on your fat intake and will make room for more nutrient-rich vegetables.

Bake or grill foods instead of frying them. Use whole-grain breads and rolls to make a healthier sandwich. Also, give your child whole-grain crackers with soups, chili, and stew. Prepare pasta, beans, rice, fish, skinless poultry or other dishes. Always serve fresh fruit (with the skin) with meals.

Snacks: Fruits, vegetables, breads and cereals make great snacks for children. Children should avoid soda and fruit drinks.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/dr-richard-besser-kids-cholesterol-check/story?id=11139963

Diabetes Drugs and Elevated Cancer Risk: More Evidence

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Stone Hearth News


A popular class of diabetes drugs increases patients’ risk of bladder cancer, according to a new study published online this month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that patients taking thiazolidinedione (TZDs) drugs – which account for up to 20 percent of the drugs prescribed to diabetics in the United States — are two to three times more likely to develop bladder cancer than those who took a sulfonylurea drug, another common class of medications for diabetes.

The authors say the findings are especially important since diabetic patients are known to already be at a slightly increased risk of this type of cancer as compared to the generation population, in which about 30 in 100,000 people develop bladder cancer. Among diabetes patients overall, the incidence of this cancer is typically about 40 out of 100,000.

The authors of the new study analyzed 60,000 Type 2 diabetes patients from the Health Improvement Network (THIN) database in the United Kingdom. They found that patients treated with the TZD drugs pioglitazone (Actos) or rosiglitzaone (Avandia) for five or more years had a two-to-three-fold increase in risk of developing bladder cancer when compared to those who took sulfonylurea drugs. Among patients taking TZDs for that length of time, the team’s analysis indicates that 170 patients per 100,000 would be expected to develop the disease. About 60 in 100,000 of those who take sulfonylurea drugs – such as glipizide (Glucotrol) — would be expected to develop bladder cancer.

“Diabetes is one the most common chronic diseases worldwide, affecting 285 million people. There are many factors clinicians must weigh in deciding which drug to use to control a patient’s diabetes, and these new data provide important information to include in that decision-making process,” said the study’s lead author, Ronac Mamtani, MD, an instructor in the division of Hematology-Oncology in Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center. “Our study shows that doctors who care for patients with diabetes should be very aware of any bladder-related symptoms patients might be having, like blood in the urine, and take steps to further evaluate those issues.”


Though most patients in the United States no longer take Avandia since it was linked to severe cardiovascular problems, Actos is the ninth most commonly prescribed drug in the nation, accounting for some 15 million prescriptions each year. The drug is a common choice when Type 2 diabetes patients’ illnesses can no longer be controlled with the first-line diabetes drug Metformin.

Based on previous data examining safety risks among patients taking Actos, the FDA has already warned that it may be associated with a risk of bladder cancer, and France and Germany have removed the drug from their markets. The new findings add to mounting evidence against the entire class of TZDs, as one of the first studies examining this type of risk among people taking both types of TZDs and among those taking sulfonylurea drugs.

“The risk does seem to be common among both drugs in the TZD class, and the fact that we have compared bladder cancer risk among patients taking each of those drugs provides essential information, because a safety warning on a drug is only useful to a doctor when they have knowledge of the same risks for an alternative drug,” Mamtani says. “We believe our study will help doctors and their patients weigh the potential benefits and risks when selecting between different diabetes medication.”

http://www.stonehearthnewsletters.com/diabetes-drugs-and-elevated-cancer-risk-more-evidence/diabetes/

Diabetes Hits Women Hard at Menopause: Beat It Back

Article from The North American Menopause Society


Diabetes hits women hard, especially at midlife. In the United States, it’s the number 6 killer of women ages 45 to 54 and the number 4 killer of women ages 55 to 64. What’s more, diabetes increases your risk of heart disease, stroke, and many other serious conditions, including blindness, kidney disease, and nerve disease.

Diabetes is on the rise in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 10 US adults has diabetes now, and if current trends continue, that figure could rise to 1 in 3 by 2050. The increase is nearly all because of the rise of type 2 diabetes, which is most common in obese people age 40 and older. (Type 1 diabetes is much less common and usually starts in childhood or adolescence.) A huge proportion of US adults—more than a third of all of them and half over age 65—have prediabetes, and thus are poised to develop the full-blown disease.

Does menopause increase diabetes risk? That hasn’t been an easy question for researchers to answer. It’s hard to separate the effects of menopause from the effects of age and weight. But it does look like hormones do have something to do with it. If you are a woman over age 50, you’re especially vulnerable, and women pay a heavy price for the disease. They lose more years of life than men with diabetes do. In addition, the death rate for women with diabetes has risen dramatically since the 1970s, while it has not for men with the disease.

Age and overweight (or obesity) are the most common traits that make someone likely to develop type 2 diabetes. A family history of diabetes, prediabetes, minority ethnicity (Hispanic, African American, Native American, Asian, or Pacific Islander), high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease or abnormal cholesterol levels, and inactivity also put people at higher risk of developing diabetes. For women, having high blood pressure develop during pregnancy (called preeclampsia), diabetes during pregnancy (called gestational diabetes), or polycystic ovary syndrome raise the risk even more.

What do the experts say?

•Get tested. The CDC estimates that more than a quarter of people who have diabetes haven’t been diagnosed. The American Diabetes Association recommends that you get tested every 3 years starting at age 45, especially if you are overweight. The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that adults with blood pressure above 135/80 be screened every 3 years. If you have some additional risks, such as a family history of diabetes, then you should get tested more frequently.

•Diet and exercise. The best way to prevent diabetes is with a healthy lifestyle. The National Institutes of Health sponsored a Diabetes Prevention Program trial, that used “intensive” lifestyle training. The participants in this large clinical trial were overweight and had prediabetes. More than two thirds of them were women, and nearly half were from an ethnic minority group. Some got intense training to change their diet, physical activity, and habits with the goal of losing just 7% of their body weight. Another group took the diabetes drug metformin and got standard advice about diet and exercise. A third group got the standard advice only. The modest but focused lifestyle change did more than anything else to prevent diabetes. It reduced the number of new diabetes cases 58% more than standard advice alone. In contrast, metformin plus standard advice didn’t do nearly as well, reducing the number of diabetes cases 31% compared with standard advice. The message is that many people can benefit from adopting such.

•Take hormone therapy (HT) to prevent diabetes? The NAMS Advisory Panel of experts who helped to develop our NAMS 2012 Hormone Therapy Position Statement say no. Although it is clear that HT can reduce the risk of developing diabetes, that shouldn’t be the reason you start taking it. If you take HT for your menopausal symptoms, it can offer benefits for diabetes prevention and for some of the complications of diabetes but it can also increase risk of stroke. Some of the large clinical trials of HT suggest that starting early—as you go through the menopause transition or shortly after that—may be less risky.

Take some healthy steps

•There are many ways to reduce your risk of diabetes and the risk of diabetes complications:
•Do weight-bearing exercise
•Exercise more in general
•Eat a healthy diet that limits sugar and fat
•Control your weight
•Limit your alcohol intake
•Increase sources of omega-3 fatty acids in your diet with fatty fish (such as mackerel, salmon, sardines) or plant-based sources (such as soy, canola oil, flax seeds, and walnuts)
•For women with osteoporosis, use of bisphosphonate medication may cut the need for insulin

source: http://www.menopause.org/for-women/-i-menopause-flashes-i-/diabetes-hits-women-hard-at-menopause-beat-it-back

The Benefits of Walking

Heart Disease Diet: Do You Have a "Wheat Belly"?

By Dr. William Davis, Health Pro

Low HDL cholesterol, high triglycerides, small LDL particles: the most common triad of abnormalities today behind heart disease.

Along with this pattern comes high blood pressure, high blood sugar, diabetes and pre-diabetes, increased inflammation, increasingly blood clot-prone blood. This common collection that now afflicts over 50 million Americans goes by a number of names, including metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance syndrome, and syndrome X.

But I call it “wheat belly.” Let me explain.

You've heard of "beer bellies," the protuberant, sagging abdomen of someone who drinks excessive quantities of beer.

Wheat belly is the same protuberant, sagging abdomen that develops when you overindulge in processed carbohydrates. It represents visceral fat that laces the intestines.

While nearly everyone knows that candy bars and soft drinks aren’t good for health, most Americans have allowed processed carbohydrates, but especially wheat products like pretzels, crackers, breads, waffles, pancakes, breakfast cereals and pasta, to dominate diet. I blame the extreme over-reliance on these foods for the obesity and related abnormalities: wheat belly.

How did this all come about?

Back in the 1960s, we had sandwiches on white bread, hamburgers on white flour buns, spaghetti made with bleached, enriched flour. Data from the 1970s and 1980s, however, demonstrated conclusively that using whole grains, with the bran and B-vitamins left in, was better: better for bowel health, blood pressure, cholesterol values.

Fast-forward to the 1990s and the new century, and the mantra has evolved to “eat more whole grains, eat more whole grains,” repeated by “official” organizations and propagated by countless media conversations. And Americans have complied.

But while video games, unhealthy snacks, and vending machines have been roundly blamed for the nationwide epidemic of obesity and diabetes, it’s curious that increased weight has befallen even active people who eat “healthy”: yes, plenty of whole grains.

In my view, it is the grains that are largely behind the obesity and diabetes epidemic, at least among the frustrated health-conscious.

But not all grains. Oats and flaxseed, for instance, seem to not contribute to weight and the associated patterns like small LDL.

The wife of a patient of mine who was in the hospital (one of my rare hospitalizations) balked in disbelief when I told her that her husband's 18 lb weight gain over the past 6 months was due to the whole wheat cereal for breakfast, turkey sandwiches for lunch, and whole wheat pasta for dinner.

"But that's what they told us to eat after Dan left the hospital after his last stent!"

Dan, at 260 lbs with a typical wheat belly, had small LDL, low HDL, high triglycerides, etc.

Many people, on hearing this peculiar perspective, are incredulous. “You’re nuts!” Whole grains are full of fiber and B vitamins. Everybody ‘knows’ they’re healthy!”


I thought so, too, 12 years ago when I followed a strict vegetarian, low-fat diet, rich with “healthy” whole grains. I gained 30 lbs, my HDL dropped to 27 mg/dl, triglycerides skyrocketed to 350 mg/dl, small LDL went crazy, my blood pressure was 150/90, and I developed diabetic blood sugars─while running 5 miles a day. It’s the wheat. I eliminated the wheat and promptly reversed the entire picture.

If you don't believe it, try this experiment: Eliminate all forms of wheat for a 4 week period--no breakfast cereals, no breads of any sort, no pasta, no crackers, no pretzels, etc. Instead, increase your vegetables; healthy oils; lean proteins (lean red meats, chicken, fish, turkey, eggs, Egg Beaters, yogurt and cottage cheese); raw nuts like almonds, walnuts, and pecans; and fruit. Of course, avoid fruit drinks, candy, and other garbage foods, even if they're wheat-free. (And don’t confuse this conversation with celiac disease or gluten enteropathy, an allergy to wheat gluten, an entirely different issue.)

Most people will report that a cloud has been lifted from their brain. Thinking is clearer, you have more energy, you don't lose in the afternoon, you sleep more deeply. You will notice that hunger ratchets down substantially. Most people lose the insatiable hunger pangs that occur 2-3 hours after a wheat-containing meal. Instead, hunger is a soft signal that gently prods you that it's time to consider eating again. You may even find that you miss meals, just because you forgot to eat. Very curious.

It’s unconventional, I know. The last 500 patients I’ve done this with also thought so─until they lost 15, 20 . . .70 lbs along with all the undesirable metabolic “baggage.”

Source: http://www.healthcentral.com/heart-disease/c/1435/33213/heart-disease/2?ic=2601

Insulin Resistance - Why you can't lose weight

A problem with insulin could be preventing your from losing weight. Insulin resistance is a common problem and causes obesity, heart disease, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and rapid ageing. It also increases the risk for cancer, Alzheimer's disease, menopausal symptoms and osteoporosis. How could one little hormone do all that?

What is Insulin?

Insulin is an ancient, anabolic hormone, which is found in all forms of animal life. Insulin's main function is to stimulate the cell to store nutrients. This was important in the days when starvation was a real possibility for our ancestors. In our modern era of abundant food, "nutrient storage" is not something that we want to promote in our bodies.

Hormone of Ageing

Insulin does more than store nutrition. It has been shown to limit the lifespan of cells. In other words, it is the chemical signal that determines when a cell has lived long enough and it's time to die. In this way, insulin can be thought of as the hormone that promotes ageing. Certainly in humans, excess insulin accelerates the rate of ageing. Insulin sounds bad, and yes, in excess it is harmful, but do not forget that it is essential for life. Without insulin, our cells cannot use food for energy. Before the invention of injectable insulin, diabetes was a life-threatening disease.

What is Insulin Resistance?

Under normal circumstances, insulin is tightly controlled by a natural homoeostatic feedback mechanism. With every meal, insulin is released as carbohydrates enter the blood stream. In a healthy body, the insulin receptors in the cell membranes respond to the hormone, and take up carbohydrates and other nutrients. This, in turn, reduces the production of insulin. The problem starts when the tissue fails to respond to insulin. When this happens, the sugar in the blood remains high despite the presence of insulin, and the body has no choice but to release more insulin. It becomes a vicious cycle because it is actually the presence of insulin that makes the tissue more and more resistant to it. This is how insulin exposure determines the rate of ageing: with every insulin release, cell membranes become a little bit more insulin resistant. A gradual increase in insulin concentration over time is normal, but the current epidemic of severe insulin resistance is a modern phenomenon.

It may be the cause of many of your health problems

When your body becomes resistant to insulin, it cannot metabolize carbohydrates properly. Untreated, this leads to Type 2 diabetes.  Decades before it becomes diabetes, however, Insulin Resistance can cause real problems. As the master hormone, it's presence in excess can lead to many different conditions such as:
High cholesterol
High blood pressure
Heart disease
Alzheimer's Disease
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
Breast cancer
Prostate cancer
Under-active thyroid
Premature ageing
Acne

A problem with insulin worsens menopausal symptoms

-Low libido. Women with insulin resistance are more likely to experience a drop in libido with menopause. 

-Osteoporosis. Women who are overweight and/or diabetic are more at risk for osteoporotic fractures. This overturns the conventional belief that body weight protects against osteoporosis. Overweight women often have normal bone density scores, but they go on to suffer fractures anyway. Excess insulin causes bone-remodeling cells to degrade into fat cells. In this regard, osteoporosis can be viewed as "obesity of the bone".

-Hot Flashes. A new study from the University of California has found that women who are overweight are more likely to suffer hot flashes.Weight loss causes a significant improvement in symptoms. (10) Perhaps you take different medications for your cholesterol, blood pressure, and thyroid but those are only band-aids. They do not address the insulin resistance that may be the single problem that is causing the other conditions.

Are you sure that you do not have Insulin Resistance?

Insulin Resistance is such an important health condition, and yet it may be completely off your doctor's radar. Forget your cholesterol and your female hormone readings on blood test, and look deeper. Ask yourself this very important question: "Are you a pre-diabetic?" Here are some warning signs: fasting glucose greater than 5.0 mmol/L (the official reference range is 3.5-6.0) elevated triglycerides and bad cholesterol (LDL) elevated ALT on liver function test waist measure greater than 80cm for women and 90cm for men high blood pressure The definitive pathology test for insulin resistance is the Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) with insulin. One hour after the glucose load, normal insulin should be less than 60mU/L. Other useful tests include fasting insulin, fasting glucose, liver function test, lipid profile, C-RP, thyroid function and serum vitamin D.

How did you get in it in the first place?

-Leptin resistance: New research suggests that leptin resistance may be the driving force behind insulin resistance.

-Pollution: A study published in Diabetes Care has found that people who have the highest level of stored toxins were 38 times more likely to have diabetes than people with a lower level of stored toxins. Even if they were overweight, people with low level of toxins did not develop diabetes. An editorial about the study published in the Lancet made the following statement: 'This finding might imply that virtually all the risk of diabetes conferred by obesity is attributable to persistent organic pollutants, and that obesity is only a vehicle for such chemicals. This possibility is shocking'.  (In other words, obesity causes diabetes simply because it a vehicle for toxins.)

-Herbicides: Rats exposed to low doses of the common herbicide Atrazine gained 10% more abdominal weight over 5 months than non-exposed animals. The cells of the exposed rats were found to contain damaged mitochondria, which prevents normal cell response to insulin. Blood tests showed significantly higher blood sugar and insulin levels.

-Smoking: Toxins in cigarette smoke damage the insulin receptor, and cause distinctive weight gain around the waist.  No more smoking to stay thin!

-Inflammation: New research from the University of Maryland has correlated inflammatory products in the blood with insulin resistance. This means that inflammation caused by infection, stress and pollution may be a direct contributor to insulin resistance and its outcomes: obesity, diabetes and heart disease.  Too much sugar and flour in the diet: Carbohydrate intake compared to protein has increased dramatically in the last century. Since the onset of large-scale flour refinement in the 1890's, the average person consumes more fibre-free carbohydrate in a week than a nineteenth century person did in a year!

-Fructose: Studies have shown that fructose is a particularly harmful type of carbohydrate. It inactivates the insulin receptor, and it interferes with the way the brain responds to leptin (the anti-hunger hormone).  The result is constant hunger, and a progression towards insulin resistance and fatty liver. Fructose is in modern sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup and sucrose (table sugar). It is in prepared foods like fizzy drinks and baked goods, and even so-called healthy foods like yoghurt and muesli bars. Whole pieces of fruit do contain fructose, but it is balanced by healthy fiber, so fruit is ok to eat in moderation. Care should be taken with dried fruit and fruit juice.

-Trans Fat: Trans fats are damaged polyunsaturated fatty acids, found in processed vegetable oil such as margarine, deep-fried food, or commercially prepared oil. Conventionally touted as the healthy oils, these Frankenstein molecules have become a large part of the modern diet. They are damaged, distorted molecules, and when they are incorporated into the cell membrane, then interfere with the functioning of the insulin and other receptors.

-Vitamin D deficiency has been linked with Insulin Resistance. Birth control Pill worsens insulin resistance.

-Lack of exercise

-Problems with digestion. (unhealthy intestinal bacteria)

Natural Treatment for Insulin Resistance

The good news is that insulin resistance is reversible with diet and lifestyle. Detoxify. Help your body to remove stored residues of pollutants, cigarette smoke and herbicides. Intermittent fasting. Research from the Institute on Aging has shown that intermittent fasting improves insulin sensitivity. When participants skipped the evening meal, their fasting insulin improved, and they had fewer inflammatory markers on blood tests. 

How to do it: Always have a large breakfast and lunch. (As you become healthier, you will find that you regain an appetite for breakfast.) Then 1 to 3 nights per week, you must skip dinner, or replace dinner with a protein smoothie. They should not be consecutive nights. Reduce carbohydrates, especially fructose sweeteners.

During the first couple of months of treatment, carbohydrate intake should be less than 50 grams per day. With a diet of meat and salad vegetables, this is not difficult. An average serving of broccoli, for example, contains only 13 grams of carbohydrate. Compare this to a serving of pasta, which contains over 40 grams of carbohydrate, or to refined sugar, the worst carbohydrate. A small can of soft drink contains at least 40 grams of carbohydrate. If you are addicted to a sweet taste, you can try the herbal sweetener Stevia, which has the added benefit of improving insulin sensitivity. Eliminate refined sugar from your diet. Sugar is the worst kind of carbohydrate.

-Eat protein regularly. Protein curbs the release of insulin and stimulates the production of the hormone glucagon, which opposes insulin. (Do not increase protein if you have kidney problems, and do not exceed 90-100 grams of protein per day.) Good sources include: 2 eggs (12 grams protein), 1 chicken breast (25 grams protein), 2 lamb chops (29 grams protein), 25 grams whey protein (23 grams protein). Avoid Trans fat.

-Eliminate soy oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil or any generic "vegetable oil". Particularly bad are margarine, vegetable oil spreads and deep-fried food. Eat only naturally occurring fats such as butter, avocado, olive oil, coconut milk, meat, fish, and nuts and seeds. It can take up to 6 months to give your cell membranes an "oil change".

- Exercise. Strength training dramatically improves insulin sensitivity. When the muscles increase their energy expenditure, they re-learn how to use carbohydrates rather than store them. Weight loss occurs not simply because of the calories burned, but because of a shift in metabolism. Exercise is also effective to relieve stress, a common cause of inflammation and insulin resistance.

-Avoid Wheat. Gluten generates inflammation and disrupts the insulin receptor, thereby worsening insulin resistance.  Avoid flour-containing bread, pasta, cereal, and biscuits. If you do have flour, choose flour made from rice, oats, barley, spelt, and rye. Ordinary "flour" is wheat.

-Mediterranean diet. Newly diagnosed diabetics can reduce their need for medication by following the Mediterranean diet. Only 44% of patients on a Mediterranean diet required sugar lowering medication compared to 70% of patients who followed a standard low fat diet.

-Nutritional supplements and herbs. Chromium, magnesium, selenium and omega 3 fatty acids will improve insulin's effectiveness at the cell membrane. B-vitamins and amino acids assist the liver to remove pollutants. Antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E will act as natural anti-inflammatories. Gymnema and Bitter Melon have been documented to improve insulin sensitivity. Vitamin D should be supplemented once a deficiency has been determined on blood test.

-Correct Gut flora. Friendly bacteria in the intestine assist with weight loss. Changing the gut flora may improve insulin sensitivity and promote weight loss. (20) Intestinal flora is negatively affected by junk-food diet, antibiotics and Pill use. Lactobacillus supplements may be of benefit.

Source: http://www.sensible-alternative.com.au/metabolic-hormones/insulin-resistance