Today, April 7, has been designated World Health Day in honor of the establishment of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948. It is seen as an opportunity to draw attention to major health concerns world wide at this time each year. International, national and local events are sponsored by WHO related to a particular theme. This year, the theme is Antimicrobial Resistance and it's global spread.
What does this mean to you? Most of us live longer and healthier lives today in part because of antimicrobials, those drugs that, as a last resort, are used to kill off infections that are causing infectious diseases. Until their discovery in the 1940's, people died from these diseases on an alarmingly frequent basis. Today, most of us cannot imagine living in a world without antimicrobials such as antibiotics.
We are now on the edge of losing this precious arsenal. The use and mis-use of these medicines over the past 70 years in both medicine and animal husbandry has caused the rise of antimicrobial resistant microorganisms. Perhaps the most well known of the resistant strains is MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus Aureus). These microorganisms have caused death, suffering, disability and high health care costs.
Global travel allows these organisms to travel within hours. Unchecked, we could potentially lose our ultimate line of defense against our tiniest enemies.
How did this happen? Antimicrobial resistance – also knownas drug resistance – happens when microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change in ways that make the medications used to cure the infections they cause useless. When the microorganisms become resistant to most antimicrobials they are often referred to as “superbugs”. This is a major concern because a resistant infection may kill and can spread to others.
Antimicrobial resistance is often caused by the improper use of medicines, for example, when taking too low a dose or not finishing a prescribed course of treatment. Low-quality medicines, wrong prescriptions and poor infection control (not checking back with the doctor if you're still sick) also encourage the development and spread of drug resistance. Lack of government commitment to address
these issues, poor professional surveillance and a diminishing arsenal of tools to diagnose, treat and prevent microbial infections also contribute.
Drug companies hesitate to put large sums of money into researching new antimicrobial agents and no new class of drugs has been discovered in decades. So, what are we to do? 1) ALWAYS take ALL of the prescribed drug, as written; 2) follow up with your doctor to be sure your infection is gone, as directed; 3) do not encourage prophilactic (daily) use of antibiotics for frivilous reasons (e.g., farm animals); 4) stay informed, get involved, and remember... "no action today, no cure tomorrow" (WHO, 2011).
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free...
Always,
Dr. P.
07 April 2011
02 April 2011
Cholesterol; a complicated chemical
Cholesterol is an often misunderstood nutrient. It is required by your body for building cell membranes, nerve conduction, hormone and vitamin production and numerous other tasks. It is so important that your body makes it in various organs, primarily the liver (20 - 25%). It is generally considered to be in the fat family, because it has a fatty lipid tail hanging off one side, chemically speaking, and so we shall consider it a fat as well for simplicity's sake.
The amount of cholesterol in your body is balanced by the amount you take in through the foods you eat and how much your body produces. The more you eat, the less your body produces. Foods that contain cholesterol include all animal products, especially cheese, egg yolks, beef, poultry, pork and shrimp. How much you produce is mostly genetic.
The amount of cholesterol circulating in your body is a good indication of whether or not you have too much in your system. This is measured using LDL (low density lipoproteins) and HDL (high density lipoproteins). These have been nick-named "bad fat" and "good fat" respectively, not because of how much cholesterol is in them (they contain the same amount) but because of the size and quantity of each of the molecules. LDL is a small molecule that is easily caught in small nicks and tears in arteries, then sticks to itself building up dikes that eventually block those arteries and raise your blood pressure, or cause heart attacks and strokes. HDL is a much larger molecule. It doesn't fit into those little tears, but it also sticks to LDL particles and can scrape them off the sides of your arteries and actually reduce the build up of those dikes, even to the point of near elimination. That's why doctors like high HDL and low LDL numbers on your lab test results.
So, what if you wanted to lower your blood cholesterol with diet and exercise before trying medication? There are actually a few foods that are recognized as good tools for lowering cholesterol before medication is necessary.
First, you need to be Vitamin B sufficient to properly metabolize cholesterol. If you aren't getting enough of this group of vitamins, your cholesterol will tend to be high. Make sure you have plenty of Vitamin B Complex in your diet.
Second, Vitamin C is needed to utilize cholesterol. Vitamin C doesn't last very long in the body, nor in most of the products we buy. It's best to get things as fresh as possible since this vitamin starts breaking down from the moment the fruit or vegetable it produces is picked. Also, if your Vit. C supplement is old or has been exposed to air or moisture, it's probably not the potency you think it is; make sure to get plenty of this vitamin in your diet.
Other things recognized for their effectiveness in lowering cholesterol are garlic, soy, fiber, chromium, grape seed extract and pantothine. And, of course, lots of whole grains and fresh fruits and veg!
It's also really important to avoid "trans" fats. These fats do not occur in nature, but do occur in margarine and shortening, and in lots of snack foods. These products encourage LDL production in your system. It may seem counter-intuitive to use butter instead, but our family mixes one stick of butter with 1/2 cup of canola oil, making our own "spread" which is buttery and delightful and contains no trans fats, and also is much less expensive than "light" butter or buttery spreads from the market.
I hope this has helped you to better understand this truly complex chemical. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Always,
Dr. P
The amount of cholesterol in your body is balanced by the amount you take in through the foods you eat and how much your body produces. The more you eat, the less your body produces. Foods that contain cholesterol include all animal products, especially cheese, egg yolks, beef, poultry, pork and shrimp. How much you produce is mostly genetic.
The amount of cholesterol circulating in your body is a good indication of whether or not you have too much in your system. This is measured using LDL (low density lipoproteins) and HDL (high density lipoproteins). These have been nick-named "bad fat" and "good fat" respectively, not because of how much cholesterol is in them (they contain the same amount) but because of the size and quantity of each of the molecules. LDL is a small molecule that is easily caught in small nicks and tears in arteries, then sticks to itself building up dikes that eventually block those arteries and raise your blood pressure, or cause heart attacks and strokes. HDL is a much larger molecule. It doesn't fit into those little tears, but it also sticks to LDL particles and can scrape them off the sides of your arteries and actually reduce the build up of those dikes, even to the point of near elimination. That's why doctors like high HDL and low LDL numbers on your lab test results.
So, what if you wanted to lower your blood cholesterol with diet and exercise before trying medication? There are actually a few foods that are recognized as good tools for lowering cholesterol before medication is necessary.
First, you need to be Vitamin B sufficient to properly metabolize cholesterol. If you aren't getting enough of this group of vitamins, your cholesterol will tend to be high. Make sure you have plenty of Vitamin B Complex in your diet.
Second, Vitamin C is needed to utilize cholesterol. Vitamin C doesn't last very long in the body, nor in most of the products we buy. It's best to get things as fresh as possible since this vitamin starts breaking down from the moment the fruit or vegetable it produces is picked. Also, if your Vit. C supplement is old or has been exposed to air or moisture, it's probably not the potency you think it is; make sure to get plenty of this vitamin in your diet.
Other things recognized for their effectiveness in lowering cholesterol are garlic, soy, fiber, chromium, grape seed extract and pantothine. And, of course, lots of whole grains and fresh fruits and veg!
It's also really important to avoid "trans" fats. These fats do not occur in nature, but do occur in margarine and shortening, and in lots of snack foods. These products encourage LDL production in your system. It may seem counter-intuitive to use butter instead, but our family mixes one stick of butter with 1/2 cup of canola oil, making our own "spread" which is buttery and delightful and contains no trans fats, and also is much less expensive than "light" butter or buttery spreads from the market.
I hope this has helped you to better understand this truly complex chemical. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Always,
Dr. P
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