Posts Tagged american medical association
Will Antibiotics Be Effective When We Need Them?
Posted by in Weight Loss on July 13th, 2010
In this article we show you the problems associated with the irresponsible use of antibiotics in healthcare and in the raising of livestock. The development of the bacteria Super Strains has life threatening implications.
The two major causes of illness are viruses and bacteria. The virus is relatively impervious to antibiotics. If you are over the age of 50, you have probably been familiar with your own illness or someone with whom you are aware, that would probably have died if antibiotics were not available.
Unfortunately, the family doctor, in his quest to please his patient, has prescribed antibiotics in situations that they could not be effective, but rather were simply requested by his patient. This has the unfortunate effect of building immunity to that patient’s response to that particular antibiotic.
Slowly but surely the various bacteria are developing a resistance to the different classes of antibiotics. The hospitals are being confronted with Super Bacteria such as MRSA. The latest antibiotic, Zyvox, was developed specifically for the treatment of MRSA. But just four years after its development, resistance is emerging.
A October 2007 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association estimates that in 2005, 94,360 U.S. patients contacted an invasive infection from the antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus (MRSA) and that 18,650 of these patients died.
You would think that with such a problem emerging, the pharmaceutical companies would be putting forth maximum efforts in developing new and more effective antibiotics. Unlike cholesterol or diabetes drugs, antibiotics are only used for a short time and then discontinued. Antibiotics also have the problem of becoming obsolete as resistance is developed by the bacteria.
For example, in the year 2002, something like 400 new pharmaceutical agents were licensed by the FDA. In that year, there were no new antibiotics among them. In the last few years, there has only been one or two per year presented by the major pharmaceutical firms.
Politically, there is movement toward taking the Bush proposal such as “BioShield” by simply giving the pharmaceutical firms a lump sum to create these required antibiotics.
The irresponsible use of antibiotics in the healthcare area is a serious concern, but unfortunately is not the total problem. When livestock production changed from grazing to the feed lot method, the animal’s natural food were changed to grain. This change in the animal’s food supply and the unsanitary environment in which it was confined required large amounts of antibiotics to maintain the animal’s health. Presently, livestock production accounts for 70% of the world’s usage of antibiotic.
The reckless use of antibiotics in the rising and production of livestock has developed the antibiotic-resistant Super bug Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase (ESBL).
The law of unintended consequences immediately came into play. The change in the food to grain (mainly corn) raised the acidity in the animal’s stomach. The E. coli became accustomed to the high acidity and when contained in the harvested meat is now not destroyed by the acidity in the digestive tract of the human. An E. coli problem 50 years ago generally experienced a mild illness. This is surely responsible for the heightened prevalence of E. coli 0157:H7 illness. Today, someone eating an undercooked hamburger could very well die.
Unfortunately the antibiotics contained in the same harvested meat, had become ineffective to the antibiotic resistant E. coli, but will have the effect of making the consumer immune to that same antibiotic.
This change in the production of livestock also has some other less obvious health concerns. The meat as presently being produced, has 1/5 of the CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) and the Omeg3. Both of these beneficial ingredients have been reduced to 20-30% of their previous levels. This change in Omega-6 to Omega-3 from a healthy 5:1 ratio to an unhealthy inflammatory level of 30:1 ratio could well be the reason for the present epidemic we are now experiencing in the inflammatory illness problems, while the reduction of CLA has been closely linked to obesity.
With the large amount of statistical data one might surmise that the banning of the use of antibiotics in the production of livestock would be quite straight forward. This use of antibiotics for this purpose is 70% of the total antibiotics used for all purposes. The FDA in August of 1997 did finally ban the agricultural use of fluoroquinolones which is one widely used class of antimicrobials. The Bayer Corporation vehemently opposed this action. Because of the huge volume of product involved, there was no way for them to replace this market with human consumption.
Your options for procuring an antibiotic, contamination free food supply for you and your family are somewhat limited. Obviously having your own garden to grow your own produce would be ideal. If this is too much effort or impractical, it might be possible to become acquainted with some local famers that are using organic methods of production. Some urban areas are sponsoring agricultural programs that give access to healthy locally grown foods while living in the center of a large city.
When considering your meat products, you should make an effort to only purchase grass fed cattle that seldom need the antibiotics required in a feed lot. There are other health benefits for cattle produced while being grass fed. Cage free chicken generally will also be antibiotic free.
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Article Source: Will Antibiotics Be Effective When We Need Them?
HCG Diet Tops in Diet Comparison
Posted by in Weight Loss on June 25th, 2010
When you are thinking about how to lose weight, one of the best things you can do is a diet comparison to find out the pros and cons of some of the most popular diets. Many weight loss plans are nothing more than fad diets which appear briefly and soon disappear because their results are either inconsistent or non-existent.
If you want to lose weight, do yourself a favor and not start any diet without researching how it works, the foods you can eat, the average weight loss, and whether or not dieters keep it off long term. In most cases, keeping the weight off is the hardest part of dieting.
If you are obese and need to lose weight quickly for health concerns, you might be surprised at the results when you do a diet comparison. For instance, Weight Watchers, the largest weight loss program in the world, does not have high numbers when it comes to the total pounds lost per individual.
In one diet comparison study, reported in Science Daily in July, 2008, Weight Watcher dieters lost an average of nine pounds in twelve weeks, most of it lean muscle tissue rather than excess fat. In another study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Weight Watchers dieters lost an average of eleven pounds over two years. Diet comparison studies also indicate that only 5% of Weight Watcher participants keep the weight off for five years or more.
If you are seeking to lose a large amount of weight, the Weight Watchers diet comparison results will seem somewhat frustrating. Nine pounds isn’t going to be significant or motivating for someone who is obese. The results are not much different on the Jenny Craig diet, South Beach, Atkins, or other such diets.
If losing nine pounds after three months of dieting isn’t your preference, there is one choice with much faster and long-term results. The HCG diet is an inexpensive weight loss program you can do at home. It is designed especially for people who need to lose a good amount of weight in a short period of time and keep it off after the plan is finished.
The HCG diet was developed by a medical doctor named A.T.W. Simeons in the 1950s. He researched and pioneered a low calorie diet combined with HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) for efficient weight loss. If you do a diet comparison with the HCG diet, you will find many positives. Not only will you lose one to two pounds in the first week and then an average of a half to one pound a day, but as HCG works with the hypothalamus it specifically targets excess fat, not lean tissue.
With the HCG diet, many people lose 25 to 45 pounds in the first six weeks. Thanks to the stabilization period at the end, dieters are able to maintain their weight loss. If you want to learn more about the HCG diet, the most authoritative website is MyHCGPlus.com. They have the best prices for oral HCG on the web and provide lifetime support. You can also find an informative HCG diet comparison chart here: http://www.MyHCGplus.com/HCGVC.pdf
Article Source: HCG Diet Tops in Diet Comparison
Be Realistic about Weight Loss
Posted by in Weight Loss on May 9th, 2010
To lose weight and keep it off, you need to cut kilojoules and get exercise. Most of us know this. But do you know how much exercise it takes to shed weight? You need to do an hour a day of intensive cardiovascular training, five days a week, plus some form of sport.
A two-year study by researchers from the Department of Health and Physical activity at the University of Pittsburgh in the US found that the women who lost the most weight logged 270 to 300 minutes of exercise a week. Can you imagine yourself doing that much exercise? Forever? The thought alone is probably enough to make you want to throw in the sweat towel and rip open that bag of crisps, right?
So isn’t it better to make peace with the not-so-skinny body you’ve got and strive to be healthy and fit (while losing some weight in the process) rather than doing nothing at all?
Mind over Matter
In a study published in the Journal of The American Medical Association of 900 women with heart problems, it was found that the women who were overweight but fit were less likely to have blocked arteries or suffer a heart attack, stroke or any other heart problem than those who had a normal weight but were unfit. What set them apart was a healthy lifestyle – not starvation diets or army-like exercise regimens but healthy food choices and light exercise incorporated into their lifestyles.
They also knew that the body has limitations and that being overweight is a chronic condition – if you have a propensity to fat, you’ll always go back to fat. While it’s easy to think that with the correct diet and an appropriate exercise routine you can look like Jessica Alba, it’s not realistic. She was thin to begin with, and her natural body shape and DNA mean she’s likely always to be thin.
Comparing your body with that of another person would be like forcing your feet into someone else’s shoes – someone with smaller feet. Work with your own body instead. Calculate your body mass index, which determines how much you should weigh according to your height.
If you are overweight or obese, losing between 5% and 15% of your weight will lower your risk of developing heart disease and will improve blood flow and lower your cholesterol levels. If you weigh 90kg, for example, that means losing between 4,5kg and 13,5kg. Once you’re on the weight-loss track, the key to keeping it off is accepting that losing it is only the beginning. What should follow is a change in your lifestyle, incorporating wise food choices and some form of exercise.
The Physical Hurdles
Yes, you can reach a healthy weight through exercise and kilojoule control. Healthy weight is the size at which your body feels good and nurtured, as opposed to fashion weight, where your body looks thin but isn’t necessarily healthy.
The best advice is to get moving. Fit bodies burn more kilojoules than inactive ones. Exercise builds muscle, which speeds up the metabolism at rest, which further helps the body burn off energy. As little as 10 to 30 minutes of daily exercise improves our quality of life and the way we feel about ourselves.
Exercise – particularly aerobic activity – increases the metabolic rate as well as the production of enzymes needed to burn fat. It also helps the body cope with stress – producing that heady rush of endorphins after a workout. Twenty minutes of aerobic exercise four times a week will keep you from feeling sluggish.
Consider taking up a fun sport with a friend, such as swimming, running, walking, cycling or hiking, or joining an aerobics class – all great fat-burning forms of exercise.
Start Small
Try some of these simple ways to get yourself in motion: climb the stairs at work instead of taking the lift; walk to the deli around the corner at lunchtime instead of ordering a delivery; use the stairs instead of the escalator at shopping centers; or get a dog, which will encourage you take it for daily walks.
If you’ve been completely sedentary for some time, start with 10 minutes of walking or swimming to ease your body into exercise mode. Beginners should work out three to four times a week, which is enough to start building cardiovascular fitness.
Sandra Prior runs her own bodybuilding website at http://bodybuild.rr.nu.
Article Source: Be Realistic about Weight Loss
The Secrets of Weight Watchers You Should Know
Posted by in Weight Loss on November 10th, 2009
The Weight Watchers philosophy has been helping people to lose weight effectively since its creation in the 1960’s. This philosophy works on the concept of portion control and healthy eating choices in conjunction with individual dieting and weight loss goals. While the plan is certainly not the cheapest one around, it has many weight loss educational points that pave the way for members to good, long-term eating habits. The members can then reach their weight loss goals effectively. The American Medical Association studied the Weight Watchers concept and compared it with three other common diets. They found that long-term weight loss on the diet was modest, but it had significant benefits to heart health because the Weight Watchers dieting concept results in a long-term change in the individual’s eating habit, which can result in permanent weight loss results.
Calorie Controlled Diet
The philosophy of a Weight Watchers diet lies in the idea of a calorie-controlled diet intake to achieve weight loss goals. Each member of the Weight Watchers group has a set number of points he or she is allowed that relates to calorie intake for each day. These carefully controlled calories (or points) each day helps to ensure weight loss, increased good health and helps in slowly bringing a much needed change in eating habits.
As a result, no food is banned from the daily diet, making the diet very flexible. Members learn quickly, due to the relatively simple point system, what food choices are most beneficial for their diet.
Weight Watchers Concept Gives Flexibility to Eat
The calorie-controlled diet is calculated on fiber, fat and other ingredients eaten for a specific diet. As a result, members of the Weight Watchers group can easily identify the calorie value of most foods to meet their daily point allotment on their specific diet to see target weight loss results. Weight Watchers also offers flexibility with a number of calorie points that is available each week to be used above and beyond the daily weight loss target.
The concept of simplifying calorie control with respect to weight loss makes Weight Watchers a simple yet effective way to lose weight.
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Article Source: The Secrets of Weight Watchers You Should Know
The weight loss for the dogs was even more effective………………………
Posted by in Weight Loss on October 28th, 2009
We always associate weight with health: if one is over-weight, he or she is always advised or encouraged to lose weight. But when it comes to heart disease, being fit is as important as being thin, according to a report published in 2004 in the Journal of American Medical Association.
The study involved 906 women whose health histories were tracked over a period of 4 years (1996 to 2000). 67 percent were over-weighting at the start of the study when the mean age of the group was 58. Besides being measured weight, these women were also asked about their habit of physical activities at home, work and at leisure, such as climbing staircases, running a short distance or walking around the block without shopping.
68 of the women died during the study and 455 women suffered a heart disease related problem such as a heart attack or stroke. After analyzing the data, it was found that women who were at least moderately active were less likely to develop heart disease or related problems than women with low activity scores, no matter which weight category they were in.
Physical fitness has beneficial effects on many factors related to cardiovascular risk including obesity. Increased activity appears to be an ideal therapy for women with coronary heart disease. It is endorsed by the American Heart Association that at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity for women on most of or all days of the week.
If you are looking for activity other than the normal one or motivation to lose weight, perhaps you can consider walk your dog, if you have one in your home.
A first-of-its-kind experiment was conducted by Northwestern Medical School in Chicago to put people and their pets on a diet and exercise program. Its report published in 2004 indicating that both people and their pets lost weight, though dogs did better than their owners and did not drive them crazy begging for food.
There were 3 groups enrolled in the study involved 56 people, 53 dogs, and 36 dogs and their owners. People attended weekly counseling sessions at Northwestern on diet and exercise, and were encouraged to walk at least 20 minutes and limit calories to 1400 a day. Dogs were fed the prescription diet and target weights were set according to a doggie BMI (body mass index) taking into account the animals breed and age. All were followed for one year.
The dog owners did slightly better than the dieters who walked and dieted alone. People lost an average of 5 kg or 5 percent of their body weight, in the first four months and kept it off for the next eight month. One person lost as many as 23 kg. The diet was, however, less onerous and more fun for the dog-walkers.
The weight loss for the dogs was even more effective. They lost an average of 5.4 kg, 15 percent of their initial weight. One dog actually lost 16 kg.
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Article Source: The weight loss for the dogs was even more effective………………………
