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Welcome our latest UBCC intern and front desk staff
I‘d like to welcome Raluca Demas to the office. Raluca is a third year University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic student and she will be working here on Saturday mornings doing some stretching, massage therapy and assisting, as well as learning office procedures. Say hello if you see her!
Also welcome to my son Luke Baker who is working the front desk on Saturday mornings. People notice a slight resemblance. Let me know what you think if you meet him.
Check out our new website
Take a look at reefchirocare.com. I hope you will share it with friends and family who may need chiropractic care. If you’re due for an adjustment it’s time to call and get in. Summer is a good time to get a tune-up so you can enjoy the outdoors.
Throw away the sunscreen!
Two independent studies published in the Feb. 2005 issue of the
prestigious Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) squarely contradict the popular myth that UV light causes melanoma.
The first study evaluated the hypothesis that UV radiation increases
your risk of developing lymphoma – a hypothesis that had become widely
accepted in the 1990s and early 2000s. After studying nearly 7,000
subjects, the authors concluded that the opposite is actually true:
increased sun exposure reduces the risk of
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) by up to 40%. What’s more, the reduction
in risk was dose-related, which means that the more sun
exposure someone got, the lower their risk of cancer
was.
The second study looked at the link between sun exposure and the
chances of surviving melanoma, which is the deadliest form of skin
cancer. Guess what? The researchers concluded that increased sun
exposure decreases the chance of dying from skin cancer
by approximately 50%. Here’s the study PubMed and here’s the article The Healthy Skeptic
Omega 3 Fats and Glucosamine
New research shows that omega-3 fats and glucosamine work together to
provide additional benefits for people with
osteoarthritis.
Scientists gave 1500 mg of glucosamine sulfate to the
study participants, but some also received 200 mg of omega-3 fats. Both
groups had about the same number of participants who reported a 20 percent
or less reduction in pain.
However, when researchers asked those who experienced an 80
percent
reduction in pain, those in the glucosamine plus omega-3 group reported reduced morning stiffness and pain in the hips and knees by
between 48.5 and 55.6 percent, compared to 41.7 to 55.3 percent for
those in the glucosamine only group.” New research shows that omega-3 fats and glucosamine work together to
provide additional benefits for people with
osteoarthritis.
BTW, we carry a product from Pure Encapsulations that has glucosamine and omega 3 combined in one capsule specifically made for arthritis.
Are Too Many People Taking Heartburn Drugs?
Too many people in the U.S. may be taking stomach-acid-suppressing
drugs such as Nexium and Prevacid, new research suggests. The drugs,
known as proton pump inhibitors, help those with serious stomach and
digestive problems, but the risks may outweigh the benefits for people
with less serious conditions, experts say. Proton pump inhibitors
can have rare but serious side effects, including an increased risk of
bacterial infection and bone fracture.
According to several new studies
in the Archives of Internal Medicine, proton pump inhibitors are associated
with an increased risk of infection from the bacterium Clostridium
difficile, a hard-to-treat intestinal infection that can occur in people
taking antibiotics. C. difficile typically results in severe diarrhea
but can lead to removal of the colon or even death in extreme cases. Read the full article here: Are too many people taking heartburn drugs?
Can we eat to starve cancer?
That is the title of an interesting talk given by William Li at a recent TED conference. He presents a new way to think about treating cancer and other diseases:
anti-angiogenesis, preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed a
tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting foods
that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game. Watch it here.
On a side note. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design and they are “devoted to ideas worth spreading”. If you have never checked out the TED website than do yourself a favor and start exploring the various themes and speakers that are available
The Color of Salmon
Wild salmon are a gorgeous salmon pink because the fish eat marine
krill, tiny crustaceans loaded with pigments – mainly one called
astaxanthin but also another called canthaxanthin. These get
incorporated into the salmon’s flesh and can be identified by testing
laboratories.
Farmed salmon, alas, are not fed krill. Instead they are fed pellets
like the ones fed to cats or dogs. As a result, their flesh is an
unattractive gray color. Research on the industry-important question
of what best sells salmon demonstrates two things: the darker its pink
color, the more likely you are to choose it over more lightly colored
salmon; and if the salmon is gray, you will not buy it at all.
So salmon farmers resort to cosmetics.
Blood Pressure Drops when Sugary Drinks are Reduced
Cutting down on sugar-sweetened soft drinks was associated with a drop
in blood pressure, researchers found. In a cohort of U.S. adults, those who reduced daily intake of the
beverages saw a significant drop in both
systolic and diastolic pressure over an 18-month period, according to
Liwei Chen, MD, PhD, of Louisiana State University Health Science Center
in New Orleans, and colleagues.
On average, American adults consume 28 fluid ounces a day of
sugar-sweetened beverages, or some 2.3 servings, Chen and colleagues
noted. As part of the trial, participants’ blood pressure was measured at
baseline and at three, six, 12, and 18 months. They were also questioned
about their dietary intake — including soft drinks — at baseline,
six months, and 18 months. Over the course of the study, the average participant cut down on
sugar-sweetened drinks by 6.0 fluid ounces a day at six months and 2.8
fluid ounces at 18 months. At the same time, consumption of diet
beverages was reduced by 2.3 fluid ounces a day at six months but
increased by 1.5 fluid ounces a day at 18 months.
On average, systolic blood pressure fell by a mean of 9.8 at six months and 8.2 at 18 months, compared with the baseline
values. For diastolic blood pressure, the corresponding declines were
5.4 and 5.6, respectively.
Good Chocolate Does a Heart Good
Within just hours of eating a flavonol-rich chocolate bar, patients with
congestive heart failure had measurable improvements in vascular
function, researchers reported. Andreas Flammer, MD, of University Hospital in Zurich and his colleagues evenly randomized 20 heart failure patients to 80
grams of flavonol-rich chocolate bars or cocoa-free, flavonol-free
placebo bars specially manufactured to resemble and taste like a
chocolate bar.
He noted that the dose — 80 grams — is “a lot of chocolate” and
may be more than many people — especially elderly congestive heart
failure patients — could easily consume. A Hersey bar, for example,
is 43 grams.
Moreover, Flammer said that the chocolate bar used in the study “is
commercially available in Europe, but not in the U.S.” The closest U.S.
available product, Flammer said, would be Lindt dark chocolate bars —
“80 grams would be almost all of a Lindt bar.”
And he said that the key to finding flavonol-rich chocolate is not,
“the cocoa content, it is the flavonol content.”
Flammer noted that candy makers have responded to news stories about
the health benefits of chocolate by increasing the cocoa content in
chocolate and prominently displaying the cocoa content on labels. “But
the manufacturers boost cocoa content by increasing cocoa fats, not
cocoa itself,” he explained. That process does not, he said, increase
the flavonol level.
He noted, for example, that the daily chocolate intake had no adverse
effect on other parameters including total cholesterol, triglycerides,
blood pressure, and — most interestingly — there was no weight
gain associated with the chocolate regimen.
Flammer had an explanation for the lack of weight gain. “They weren’t
hungry after eating the chocolate,” he said.
Interesting
Thanks to John C.
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