Stop Worrying about Swine Flu and take Vitamin D ?

Yesterday I had a small worry that vacination supplies for H1N1 Swine flu would fall short come the Autumn. Particularly if Seniors have to be left out of a vacination program becomes there just is not enough of the vaccine to go around.

So what to do ?

Maybe I had the right idea back in May this year - get your Vitamin D levels high enough and the threat of all flu's goe away (or at the very least, lessens significantly).



The idea comes from this pretty substantial paper "On the Epidemiology of Influenza" - serious stuff.





For me the key chart is this one showing numbers of people having the flu charted against their Vitamin D intake. The research ran over 3 years and involved women who the first year took no supplemental Vitamin D, then in the next year took 800IUs per day of Vitamin D then in the third year took 2000 IUs a day of Vitamin D.

By moving up to 800 IUs a day of Vitamin D the incidence of flu reduced considerably and then by moving to an even higher dose of Vitamin D (2000 IUs), flu almost completely disappeared.


So there you have a strategy for flu season even if getting vacinated is impossible. It's also the way to go if you have any residual doubts about innoculations.

Do not get old - if you want to be vaccinated against H1N1 Swine Flu

This afternoon (29th July 2009) the CDC recommendations for inoculation protection against Swine Flu (H1N1) be as follows:

1. Pregnant Women (that seem right)
2. People caring for or live with children too young to be vaccinated (babies less than 6 months)
3. Health care and emergency personnel
4. Children and young adults
5. Adults up to 64 years old

And then ?



If there is any vaccine left over (not very likely) - seniors.

US advisers say pregnant women first for H1N1 jab

Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:50pm EDT

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Expert U.S. advisers accepted recommendations on Wednesday to put pregnant women at the front of the line for vaccines against the new H1N1 pandemic influenza virus, with relatives and caregivers for infants second.

The Advisory Panel on Immunization Practices nearly unanimously accepted advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to first protect pregnant women, infants and healthcare workers against the virus.

Healthcare workers and children at risk of serious complications should follow -- and then healthy young adults aged 19 to 24, the panel said.

Members of the panel said young adults should be a priority because they are more likely to become infected, and because they may spread the virus through society.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Swine Flu H1N1 - is it something to worry about if you are overweight or obese ?

If you happen to be in the obese group then you probably don't need to worry about anything else but maybe you should.

Swine flu seems to be picking disproportionately on the over weight. This chart was prepared by Sonia Olsen of the CDC.

Swine flu seems to be at least twice as dangerous to the overweight as to everyone else.

Swine flu seems to be on the rise up and down the coast of the USA and people are dieing. Here is the latest CDC status report. Holiday makers in China from the USA are starting to be rounded up if there is a suspicion of swine flu.

My previous post about swine flu and it looks as if swine flu will be a serious issue come the Fall.

This is what the virus looks like, very infectious but not very dangerous most of the time, but the danger is that it will mutate into something really dangerous while remaining highly infectious.

Overeating Explained - simply and believably

Would you believe that women in the age group 20 to 29 on average weigh 157 pounds ?

So what ? Anything strange about that ?

Well, 40 years ago, women 20 to 29 years of age weighed in at 128 pounds on average.

Weight going up almost 40 pounds in just over a generation !
If those are the numbers for women, just think about how much heavier men are now compared to 40 years back.

David Kessler was a commissioner of the US Food & Drug Administration - if you can't trust someone like him - who can you trust ? This is his book The End of Overeating.

The murder mystery that he solves is why the temptation to overeat is so strong - maybe irresistible. The reason is all to do with the combination of sugar, fat and salt layered together in a food dish. Put fat, sugar and salt together in the wrong (or right from the point of view of the food manufacturing industry) then you just can't stop eating - it becomes an addiction.

Look at the video - it takes an hour but it is serious stuff worth your time because it's not just not about knowing but how to escape from the addiction that the combination of sugar, fat and salt.

David Kessler was asked about eating and children. He said "If you look at children at the age of 2 or 3, they compensate. If you give them more calories in one meal, they'll eat less later in the day. But if they get exposed to sugar, fat and salt all day for a few years, they lose the ability to compensate. By age 4 or 5 they are eating all the time !"

So what to do ?

Food Rehab by David Kessler:

1. Determine what you are going to eat ahead of time and block out everything else
2. Put what you need (not want) on your plate and do not go back for more
3. Picks foods that satisfy - not those that stimulate you to eat even more
4. Anticipate stimulation - know how to deal with food addiction
5. Be alert to your emotional stressors that trigger you to automatic eating
6. Turn off that image of the trigger food before you start debating yourself on whether or not to eat it
7. Think negative - pair unhealthy food that you've been lead to crave with an unpleasant image - stop being programed by the food manufacturers.

Stop the addiction !

Lower Health Care Costs

Health Care is in the news and ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal, which I really like, devoted its regular Take Ten column to "10 Ways to Lower Your Health Care Costs'"

This column is usually right on but this time, I don't know if it's really on the money.

Stay Healthy is definitely a good way to keep down health care costs (No. 10 out of 10 tips) but may be difficult to control. However regular exercise (No. 1 out of 10 tips) is sensible.

Image via Wikipedia

I've blog'd about flossing and so I like that flossing is No. 2 on the list.

Buy generics - yes that's why it's Omeprazole for me and not Nexium which is much more expensive.

Some of the other Take Ten lists I like much more.

How much exercise - as a minimum do you really need ?

Tough question because emotionally you might want a really big number like every day - two hours a day - or you really hate exercise but want to stay around long enough to see that grand-daughter getting married.

Wayne Westcott has been seriously researching this question at the South Shore YMCA, Quincy, Massachusetts and he might have the answer.

The ACSM [American Council on Sports Medicine] has a simple to understand recommendation on strength training and it is:

• 8 to 10 exercises covering all the major muscle groups
• 1 set of each exercise
• 8 to 12 reps per set
• exercise like this 2 or 3 times every week (non-consecutive day)
• full-range of pain-free movement i.e. no cheating by just doing part of a rep but don't go into the pain zone either
• Take about 6 seconds over each rep i.e. no rush, moderate speed but not dead slow either.

Wayne Westcott started using this minimum strength and endurance protocol in 1996 and since then has trained and studied more than 1600 men and women with ages ranging from 21 to 80 years.

So what can we learn from Wayne's experience concerning:

• changes in body weight (particularly weight loss)
• body composition (less fat and more muscles)
• blood pressure (lower would be good).

Image via Wikipedia

Because the ACSM recommendation says 2 or 3 times a week, he did 2 times a week with about half the people and 3 times a week with the other half.
Overall these are his numbers for results of doing the minimum recommended for just 10 weeks. In those 10 weeks, without changing anything else you'll see:

1. Body Weight change Loss 0.6 pounds
2. % body fat Reduced 2%
3. Weight of fat in body Reduced 3.7 pounds
4. Muscle and bone in bodt Increased 3.1 pounds
5. Systolic Blood pressure change Reduced 3.8 mm

Over the first 10 weeks of exercise the typical experience is to not lose much weight but for clothes to fit much better and smaller sizes become possible.

So if you really want to do the minimum but still get the health benefits should you exercise 2 or 3 times a week ?

The answer is 3 times a week if you want to lose weight and it's also 3 times a week if your objective is improvement in health.

However if want you really want to do is put on some more muscle, then 2 times a week seems to give the same result as 3 workouts a week.

Here are the numbers with working out 2 or 3 times a week:

1. Body Weight change Reduce 0.1 pounds with 2 times a week but 1.3 pounds with 3 times a week
   
2. % body fat Reduced 1.9% (2 /week) but 2.2% (3/week)
   
3. Weight of fat in body Reduced 3.2 pounds (2/week) but 4.4 pounds (3/week)
   
4. Muscle and bone in body Increased 3.1 pounds with both 2 and 3 /week.
   
5. Systolic Blood pressure change Reduced 3.1 mm (2/week) but 4.6 (3/week)

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Calories count - even if you don't

December 2007 I blog'd about how accurate, or not, restaurants reported on the calorie counts for their food. It was pretty inaccurate then and it's still way off. The Wall Street Journal had a piece on the same topic today.

You might be able to forgive Applebee's for their Italian Lime and portobello sandwich which is posted at 360 calories but tested at 395 calories but how far are you willing to go in forgiving Taco Bell for posting their fresco bean burrito at 330 calories when it came out tested at 449 calories. It is just too far off to believe that it's a one off mistake.

Take a look at this list to get an idea of just how far under are the posting for many of the restaurant chains.

Osteoporosis - fixing the problem

A very non-intuitive thought from Australia that on-going testing for bone mineral density can be very misleading ! These are their words - published 24th June 2009.

The test for bone mineral density is not that accurate so a lot of care is needed to assess results.

You might get a misleadingly low result and this might cause the doctor to wonder what's happening:

• are you (as patient) taking the bone medication regularly
• is the medication not working for you and needs to be changed.

The Australian recommendation is not do repeated tests of bone mineral density in the first three years of starting on medication to increase bone mineral density.

Their reason is that bone density medication (such as boniva that I'm taking) is so reliable in increasing bone mineral density that all that is needed is to take the medication exactly as prescribed at exactly the right intervals.

Earlier this year a survey was published on how women reacted an osteoporosis diagnosis.

Read the survey (the survey uses the abbreviation PMO to mean Post-Menopausal Osteoporosis).

About half the people questioned were not sure about their bone mineral density numbers and around a quarter admitted to not taking their osteoporosis medication regularly. Some people have argued that the regular bone mineral density tests should show up not taking medication regularly but the Australian paper shows that this is not true. Careful questioning by a doctor is better, faster and cheaper.

The survey was commissioned by Know my Bones Foundation.

Acid Reflux (GERD) - a surgical solution

I'm still thinking about Acid Reflux (also called GERD) and what to do.

I blog'd about trying the Alternative Medicine route and I'm continuing down that line.

However another even further out solution has come into view - what about a surgical solution ?

There is a pretty intensive surgical procedure known as Nissen Fundoplication. Nissen was a Swiss surgeon who came up with this particular solution for Acid Reflux in the 1950's. Once you read about it, you'll probably be like me and not be all that keen. It is radical surgery but on the other hand it's usually a success but with some nasty side-affects if anything goes wrong. Most doctors treat the Nissen Fundoplication as a last resort for acid reflux.

However another surgical solution has appeared on the horizon - the LINX Reflux Management System. The idea is to slide a magnetic band to the bottom of the esophagus and to surround the place where the esophagus enters the stomach i.e. exactly outside the lower esophageal sphincter.

Why risk surgery when a medication like omeprazole will keep the symptoms suppressed and prevent further damage to the esophagus ? To keep acid reflux suppressed and all the potential pain and damage that entails means taking medication life time. This is the take on the options by Torax - the inventors of LINX. Play the small video on the page to see how the solution works.

Taking Omeprazole (or any of the other Proton Pump Inhibitors) for years on end has the chance of creating osteoporosis which can lead to broken bones (hips and the like) and painful back issues. So avoiding decades of taking these medications has many attractions.

Does it work ? Here is the paper writing up a feasibility clinical study and that was preceded with animal studies to find out if the idea had any chance.

This approach might have a chance but I'll give the Alternative Medication a chance first.