Mediterranean Diet May Reduce The Risk of Diabetes

A study that appeared in the British Medical Journal showed that adults who ate the Mediterranean diet may be less likely to develop diabetes.

Diabetes is a common condition that affects many women. It appears that modifying your life style and eating well may go a long way to help you prevent diabetes.


Reference: The British Medical Journal

Polycystic Ovarian Disease Predisposes Young Women To Heart Disease.

"These findings underscore the need to screen and aggressively counsel and treat these women to prevent symptomatic cardiovascular disease."

Dr. Rupal Shroff and colleagues.

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. (December 2007 issue).

University of Iowa, Iowa City.

Polycystic ovarian disease is common among young women, especially when they are obese. This disease can lead to high blood pressure, increased cholesterol and predisposition to diabetes mellitus. Dr. Rupal and his colleagues studied women, 21 to 50 years with polycystic ovarian disease. They found that a third of the women had early onset of heart disease (coronary heart disease). Most of these women did not have any risk factors for heart disease. Though the number of patients involved in this study is small, it appears that polycystic ovarian disease is by itself a risk factor for coronary heart disease and hence healthcare providers should diagnose this disease early and treat it to prevent its complications.

Gonorrhea -The Super Bug

Gonorrhea, the second most notifiable disease in the US, is rapidly becoming resistant to Fluoroquinolones, such as Cipro according to the CDC. Physicians are advised to use the last line of defense, the Cephalosporins. In the April 13^th issue of the Morbidity and Mortality weekly, the Center for Disease Control reported there was 13% overall resistance. In some areas 39% of the bug is resistant to the Fluoloquinolones. On the basis of this evidence the CDC

"No longer recommends the use of Fluoroquinolones for the treatment of gonococcal infections and associated conditions such as pelvic inflammatory disease."

Polycystic Ovarian Disease-A Common Health Hazard

Question:

I am a 28 year old married woman who has been trying to have a baby for the past 4 years. I have had 2 miscarriages within the first 6 to 8 weeks of my pregnancy. Recently my periods have become irregular and scanty, I am gaining weight at a fast rate. Over the past month I have gained 10 pounds of weight. I am growing hair on my chin and my belly wall. I also have zits on my face. It looks like I have a become a teenager all over again. What is going on with my body? Can I ever have a baby?

Answer:

You may have polycystic ovarian disease. I see many women your age with your symptoms. Most of them have polycystic ovarian disease. Your weight gain, increased hair growth, irregular bleeding and recurrent pregnancy loss are common in people with PCO.

The cause of polycystic ovarian disease is not known for sure. However, many people who are affected by the disease have increased male hormones which lead to insulin resistance. In the presence of adequate insulin levels the muscles for example cannot utilise the insulin available. The muscles need the insulin to help them use the blood sugar. The insulin resistance does not affect every tissue. Some tissues retain their sensitivity to the insulin while others like the muscles develop insulin resistance. The proteins that bind and carry the sex hormones decrease because they have been used to carry the excess male hormones floating in your body.The body compensates by increasing the production of more male hormones.

Women with PCO do not ovulate or if they ovulate they do so infrequently. They therefore have difficulty in getting pregnant. When they get pregnant they tend to have miscarriages, diabetes mellitus and high blood pressure.

I suggest you discuss your condition with your doctor. She may examine you and look for tell tale signs of PCO such as acne, increased facial and body hair, skin tags around your neck, velvety dark discoloration around your neck and under your breasts, increased hair on your anterior abdominal wall and your face, increased body mass index. She may do blood tests to exclude other diseases such as thyroid disease.

If you have polycystic ovarian disease, your doctor may give you metformin, which has been found to help treat PCO and decrease early pregnancy loss. If the metformin alone does not help you get pregnant, your doctor may add clomid. Your doctor may also give you the clomid alone without the metformin. You may have to stay on the metformin for at least 3 months when you get pregnant.

Your Obesity May be Genetic - Obesity Gene Discovered.

A recent article that appeared in the Journal, Science, showed the discovery of obesity gene. A UK research team, led by Dr Andrew Hattersley of Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, has discovered a gene variant that occurs in over half of people of European descent that they think helps to regulate the amount of fat in the body. Obesity is linked to diabetes mellitus. People with diabetes mellitus have a particular variant of an FTO gene which was also linked with increased body weight.

The variant making people fatter differed from the other version of the FTO gene by a single mutation in the DNA sequence. People with one copy of the "fat" FTO variant had 30% chance of being obese compared to people without the gene. Those carrying two copies of the variant had a 70% increased risk of being obese, and were on average 3kg (6.6lb) heavier than a similar person with no copies. This finding helps to understand why some people cannot loose weight in spite of all attempts to loose weight.