Posts

I Don’t Smoke or Drink, I Eat Well & Exercise. How Did I Still Get Cancer? An Oncologist Answers.

/0 Comments/in /by

Dr. Vishal Rao, an oncologist and head and neck surgeon at the Bangalore-based HealthCare Global (HCG) Cancer Center, writes about the debate on food safety in India and how it is related to cancer.

A 45-year-old man presented himself to an oncologist with the typical symptoms of stomach cancer. His worst fears came true, the biopsy reports showed positive results.

He led an extremely healthy lifestyle; exercised regularly, maintained a balanced diet and did not have any addictions. Yet, cancer had managed to conquer his system. The distraught man asked the doctor, “Why me?” The visibly uncomfortable doctor was speechless.

A lot of their patients may have maintained a healthy lifestyle and yet, end up succumbing to cancer. It may not be just tobacco; we have tons of other carcinogens, which have unfortunately entered our diet chart.

Some of the reports on food exports from India show we rank among the top in agri-food rejects to USA & EU as per the UNIDO reports. The key reasons for rejects implicated in the reports were – mycotoxins, microbial contamination, veterinary drug residues, heavy metals, unauthorised food additives, product composition and pesticide residues.

Ever wondered if this was the quality for exports, what could be the standards of internal consumption for us Indians? The Maggi trial that India witnessed recently opened the much-needed debate on food safety, exposing just the tip of the iceberg.

Let’s reflect on a few aspects of such safety issues. Why do we stand where we stand today?

Current status of food quality

“Diet and nutrition are two different aspects of food.” Is the current state of food quality in India a matter of implausible conjecture or a reality yet to dawn in the Indian mindset? Pesticides, preservatives and wasted calories seem to be the trends of the new Indian recipes.

Pesticides:

Recently a patient of mine walked into my outpatient clinic for a follow up visit. He brought with him a basket of fresh fruits as a token of his gratitude. While he handed it to me, he exclaimed, “Doc, these are not the regular ones which I keep for sale, these are ones grow for my own consumption.”

The larger question – is our farmer well educated about balancing the quantity of pesticides to be used for safe and optimal yield; or does he believe that more is better! (Dilution and mixing of pesticides in regulated quantity is key.)

A growing concern among consumers is the question – do we have too much pesticides in our food? Are these really harmful? Is there a way to prevent this?

I have heard that often export rejects from various countries look at India as a potential market — be it tyres, automobiles or food products. Thanks to poor consumer awareness and implicit trust of the consumer in the manufacturer to abide by ethical practices. This is further compounded by extremely poor vigilance and enforcement by government agencies.

The Endosulfan Tragedy in Kerala has killed over 4,000 people and many have been affected since the 1970’s. Endosulfan is an internationally banned insecticide that was earlier used in cashew plantations to increase the product yield.

The progeny of many of the survivors still suffer from conditions like macrocephaly, intellectual disabilities and cancer. Despite the ban made by UN, Endosulfan is still being used in India. Recent reports in media highlighted traces of endosulfan found in several vegetables. Personal interactions with farmers confirm their use of these banned pesticides owing to a quick, sustained and stable yield.

Yes, pesticide residues in food are a growing concern. It is, however, vital to consume healthy and nutritious food after washing them thoroughly. Avoiding fruits and vegetables in fear of residue pesticides would be more harmful that the consumption of minimal residues themselves in causing cancer. Organic foods from reported and accredited farms may be the way forward and needs encouragement from the agriculture department. Educational programmes for farmers from NGO’s and departments would pave the way in foundation of food safety in farms.

Insecticide act of India 1968 is awaiting amendments. The amended act awaits clearance in Rajya Sabha.

Preservatives:

Traditionally, preservatives were introduced into food products for keeping them safe and edible for long periods. Salt, sugar and vegetable oil are classical examples, which preserve food and provide the body with nutrition when consumed at required amounts (class 1 preservatives).

As technology and research has advanced, we have moved to synthetic preservatives which help store and protect food from spoilage for extremely long periods (class 2 preservatives). While they may protect the food, they’re definitely harming us. Studies suggest that synthetic food preservatives like Sodium benzoate and Sodium nitrite can cause hyper reactivity in children and have been linked to gastric cancer as well. These preservatives are commonly found in cold drinks, processed meat, canned food and most importantly, ready-to-make food products.

Adulterants:

Food colourants are another group of chemicals quintessentially placed in the “cancer causing family.” Natural food colourants like pure beet/ pomegranate juice, carrot juice, spinach powder, parsley juice, turmeric powder, blueberry juice and cocoa powder can be used at home and in industries. Their shelf life may be low but they add nutritive value to the food product as well.

Red 40, Blue 1 and Yellow 5 are common synthetic food colourants used in industries even though they have been proven to cause long-term health problems. Indeed the palak gravy you may be having may be onion based gravy with green colourant.

Adulterants range from chalk powder (common in milk), saw dust (found in chilli powder), non-permitted dyes (common in turmeric powder) to coal tar (found in tea powder). Vegetables like green chillies and green peas are coated with malachite green (highly carcinogenic and are used as dyes to study bacteria) to enhance the colour and fruits like apples are coated with wax give them a glossy finish.

Hygiene:

Street food is a delicacy for the Indian palate. Microorganisms are responsible for more deaths than cancer every year. Typhoid fever, botulism, amoebiasis, etc. are common food and waterborne infections. An unhygienic condition maintained by street vendors and eateries is a key factor behind the spread of these infections. Vehicular emission, carbon dioxide and air pollutants from the roads are also absorbed by these food items. The basic practice of washing one’s hands before touching any food ingredient is unspoken of. H. Pylori is a growing cause of gastric cancers. Can this be a cause of increasing contamination and adulteration?

Degreening Agents:

As our storage methods are not effective enough, fruits and vegetables cannot be stored for a long time. They are harvested when they are raw and treated with de-greening ripening agents like calcium carbide and ethylene. They make the fruits colourful and appealing to the customer. By consuming these fruits, the consumer has unknowingly reduced his/ her life expectancy.

Looking into the current scenario of food safety makes us wonder – how have we reached here and where are we heading?

Today’s times would be rightly called “instant, unlimited and more” era. Man is in search of instant – coffee, pizza, burger, food and even success instantly. Unlimited food seems to be the most attractive and sought after option to make a dining choice. The more the better is our current attitude. It would not be surprising to witness buy 1 and get 3 free at the current pace and times.

The implicit trust placed by the Indian consumer on manufacturer advertisement and tall claims is appreciable. However, the food industry is rapidly and exponentially growing. We hope to have food that is given instantly, lasts as long as possible and in sufficient quality that satiates the palate. The industry, in an attempt to satisfy the customer, would need to resort to best methods to prolong life, improve revenues and combat competition simultaneously. Would all of these steps be feasible without compromising food safety? Is it not time for the manufacturers to reinstate this trust in the consumer and lay ethical guidelines to protect the consumer?

Food standard and safety act of India is a comprehensive act. The paradox is the regulation and implementation of this act. These bodies have largely remained to provide and regulate license. We have hardly come across brands being suspended owing to poor quality compliance. Would it not be ideal to have monthly checks of 100 random food products, selected from random shops in random areas and scrutinised for food safety? Is it not time for us to amend and strongly enforce Insecticide act of India 1968 to protect our future generations and secure food safety standards?

“Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake”

(Written by Dr. Vishal Rao)

Source:http://www.thebetterindia.com/85386/cancer/

iMedWorks Ask Platform Links below:

1. Get a Medical Second Opinion
2. Search doctors and Request Appointment

Combating chronic kidney disease with exercise

/0 Comments/in /by

Study finds that specially designed program improves blood vessel health

A research team is combating chronic kidney disease (CKD) with exercise. The team had patients engage in a specially designed exercise program and found that it improved their blood vessel health and exercise capacity.

A University of Delaware research team in the College of Health Sciences is combating chronic kidney disease (CKD) with exercise.

Dave Edwards, professor in UD’s Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, received a National Institutes of Health grant to investigate whether exercise training could improve the health of the blood vessels.

Edwards and postdoctoral researcher Danielle Kirkman invited early stage CKD patients to take part in a specially designed exercise program, all completed under the expert supervision of UD researchers.

The study showed the exercise program improved blood vessel health and exercise capacity. Equally as important, patients reported improvements in their everyday quality of life as a result of becoming more active.

More than 26 million American adults have CKD and, because of difficult-to-see warning signs, late detection is common. The leading cause of death in patients with CKD is cardiovascular disease.

The end of the study turned out to be just the beginning for participants. They wanted to continue exercising, but lacked a safe, supervised environment.

To meet the demand, Edwards’ lab started a renal rehab exercise program for CKD patients in the community. The program is open to non-dialysis CKD, dialysis patients and those that have received a kidney transplant.

“There are two groups of patients that fall through the cracks — those who have exercised with us and want to continue and those who didn’t qualify for our studies, but wanted to start exercising,” Edwards said.

The team works individually with each patient to reach their goals, whether it’s controlling blood pressure or losing weight for a transplant.

“If you look at other areas like cardiac or pulmonary rehab, exercise training is well-integrated as part of routine care; that’s not the case with kidney disease,” Kirkman said. “Exercise may have an array of health benefits to these patients ranging from keeping their diabetes under control, maintaining healthy muscles and blood vessels to controlling weight gains after a transplant that are associated with prescribed medications.”

Once word got out that UD was offering the program, the research team fielded a mini-explosion of interest. Transplant doctors and dialysis clinics began sending patients to the renal rehab program to work on their health and fitness. Soon groups of kidney disease patients were exercising together — sometimes eight people per session in the friendly confines of the Kinesiology and Applied Physiology (KAAP) Exercise Intervention Lab.

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170628144841.htm

iMedWorks Ask Platform Links below:

1. Get a Medical Second Opinion
2. Search doctors and Request Appointment

Why exercise won’t make us lose weight?

/0 Comments/in /by

It couldn’t be more true,” nutritionist and CNN contributor Lisa Drayer said. “Basically, what I always tell people is, what you omit from your diet is so much more important than how much you exercise.”
Think of it like this: All of your “calories in” come from the food you eat and the beverages you drink, but only a portion of your “calories out” are lost through exercise.
According to Alexxai Kravitz, an investigator at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases — part of the National Institutes of Health, “it’s generally accepted that there are three main components to energy expenditure”:
Basal metabolic rate, the amount of energy it takes just to keep your body running (blood pumping, lungs breathing, brain functioning)
Breaking down food, scientifically referred to as “diet-induced thermogenesis,” “specific dynamic action” or the “thermic effect of food”
Physical activity

For most people, basal metabolic rate accounts for 60% to 80% of total energy expenditure, Kravitz said. He cited a study that defines this as “the minimal rate of energy expenditure compatible with life.” As you get older, your rate goes down, but increasing your muscle mass makes it go up.
About 10% of your calories are burned digesting the food you eat, which means roughly 10% to 30% are lost through physical activity.
An important distinction here is that this number includes all physical activity: walking around, typing, fidgeting and formal exercise,” Kravitz said. “So if the total energy expenditure from physical activity is 10% to 30%, exercise is a subset of that number.
“The average person — professional athletes excluded — burns 5% to 15% of their daily calories through exercise,” he said. “It’s not nothing, but it’s not nearly equal to food intake, which accounts for 100% of the energy intake of the body.”
What’s more, as anyone who’s worked out a day in their life can tell you, exercising ramps up appetite — and that can sabotage even the best of intentions.
According to calculations by Harvard Medical School, a 185-pound person burns 200 calories in 30 minutes of walking at 4 miles per hour (a pace of 15 minutes per mile). You could easily undo all that hard work by eating four chocolate chip cookies, 1½ scoops of ice cream or less than two glasses of wine. Even a vigorous cycling class, which can burn more than 700 calories, can be completely canceled out with just a few mixed drinks or a piece of cake.

“It’s so disproportionate — the amount of time that you would need to [exercise] to burn off those few bites of food,” Drayer said.
The sentiment here is that you’ve “earned” what you eat after working out, when instead — if your goal is to lose weight — you’d be better off not working out and simply eating less.
Of course, not all calories are created equal, but for simplicity’s sake, 3,500 calories equal 1 pound of fat. So to lose 1 pound a week, you should aim to cut 500 calories every day. If you drink soda, cutting that out of your diet is one of the easiest ways to get there.
“The other thing is that exercise can increase your appetite, especially with prolonged endurance exercise or with weight lifting,” Drayer said. “It’s another reason why I tell people who want to lose weight to really just focus on diet first.”

“All this is not to say that exercise doesn’t have its place,” Drayer said. “It’s certainly important for building strength and muscle mass and flexibility. It can help to manage diseases, including heart disease and diabetes. It can improve your mood. It can help fight depression. But although exercise can help with weight loss, diet is a much more important lifestyle factor.”
As the saying goes: Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/04/health/diet-exercise-weight-loss/index.htm

iMedWorks Ask Platform Links below:

1. Get a Medical Second Opinion
2. Search doctors and Request Appointment