Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has picked Sarah Palin as a running mate, and everybody is talking about Sarah’s 17-year old pregnant daughter, Bristol.  Sarah and her husband Todd Palin made a public disclosure about the pregnancy saying:  “Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned.  Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child.”

There have been reports that Levi Johnston, the 18-year old boy who made Bristol pregnant, does not want to get married, but this is probably beyond his control.  Republicans have sought the support of religious groups and it would not look very good for the Vice President’s daughter to be an unwed mother with a bastard son.  It will be a shotgun wedding and probably an unhappy marriage.  Poor kids.

You reap what you sow.  Republicans have been against sex education for a long time and have withdrawn money from programs that teach about contraception.  According to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, half of Americans have lost their virginity by age 16.  If children are not educated about sex, they will follow their instincts and make more babies.  It is well known that only teaching sexual abstinence is not an effective way of preventing teen pregnancies.  Today’s world is filled with many sexually alluring images in fashion magazines, movies, videos, and the internet.  Many teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are the result of ignorance, lack of effective communication with parents, and not knowing how to deal with temptations.

Genistein - an isoflavone

For many years, soy foods have been promoted as vegetarian health foods.  Soy products like tofu, textured vegetable protein, and soy milk continue to gain shelf space in grocery stores.  The massive use of soy in the diet is relatively new, and evidence is starting to accumulate that soy foods may actually be unhealthy.

Soy foods are usually highly processed.  Tofu is made by grinding soy beans to make a slurry (soy milk) which is then coagulated with calcium sulfate (gypsum) or magnesium chloride.  The problem with soy is not its processing, but its content of the isoflavone genistein which can mimic natural human estrogens and may have a variety of harmful effects when eaten in sufficient quantities.  In addition, some bacteria in the digestive system can metabolize soy products to produce equol, another phytoestrogen.

Plant-produced chemicals that mimic hormones have been previously suspected of altering sexual development.  Dr. William Campbell Douglass II writes that girls have become sexually mature at younger ages and that their breasts start to develop in the first and second grade while the boys are experiencing delayed sexual development.  He goes on to say that he believes that this is the reason why boys and men are becoming gay and infertile.

A scientific study at North Carolina State University (NCSU) found that exposure to phytoestrogens alters the sex-specific organization of the hypothalamus, which is the region of the brain that regulates puberty and ovulation.[1]  The two hormone-like compounds from soy-based foods can cause irreversible changes in the structure of the brain, resulting in early-onset puberty, symptoms of advanced menopause, and reproductive health problems.   The NCSU study suggests that humans might be more at risk during gestation.

In light of the available evidence, it seems reasonable that women should avoid eating soy products during pregnancy, and that young children should not be given soy products which may alter their hormonal balance.

[1] Bateman HL, Patisaul HB., Disrupted female reproductive physiology following neonatal exposure to phytoestrogens or estrogen specific ligands is associated with decreased GnRH activation and kisspeptin fiber density in the hypothalamus,
Neurotoxicology, 2008 Jul 6, PMID: 18656497 [news release]

Let us say that you meet a person who has visible symptoms of a curable disease that you can easily recognize.  Should you say something about it?  I am not talking about something like a birth defect or Down’s syndrome that really cannot be treated, but an ordinary infectious disease like warts or a fungus infection.  You may be able to help the person get treatment by being open and frank, but you run the risk of becoming a meddler whose intentions are misinterpreted.

Bearers of bad news are seldom appreciated.  I remember reading a story many years ago about a doctor who was shot in a hospital emergency room when he told a woman that she was pregnant.  It was not the doctor’s fault that the woman was pregnant.  He just said something that the woman intensely disliked and she directed her rage toward the innocent doctor.  Generally, it is a bad idea to give bad news or meddle in other people’s affairs.

Yesterday, at a restaurant, I saw a waiter with a bad case of Tinea Capitis.  His hair was completely shaved, probably in an attempt to minimize an unsightly appearance.  However, his scalp had patches of red and irritated skin typical of a Tinea fungal infection.  I knew that with proper treatment his skin would be normal in a few weeks, but I kept quiet.  It was not my business.  This incident reminded me of a conference that I attended many years ago.  I happened to sit behind a woman wearing a dress with an open back.  The skin in her back had larva migrans tracks from hookworms.  Obviously, she had bathed in contaminated water or lain on a contaminated beach.  I did not say anything then either.

I feel somewhat guilty for not actively going out of my way to help these people.  However, I provide information so that those who seek it will find it.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has published new guidelines for prostate cancer screening.  The report in the Annals of Internal Medicine points out that the benefits of the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test are uncertain or minimal, whereas the risks are large and dramatic.  The PSA test itself is just a simple blood test; it is what happens after an elevated PSA result is obtained that causes the harm.

The level of PSA which indicates cancer is not the same for every man.  Therefore, it is necessary to do surgical biopsies to determine if there is cancer.  A positive PSA test causes anxiety and may lead to unnecessary surgical biopsies which can be painful and cause serious complications.  Several studies have shown that men age 65 and older who were not treated for prostate cancer were equally likely to survive as those who were treated.  Many of the ones who were treated ended with impotence, incontinence or other undesirable side effects.  The new recommendation basically concludes that if the therapy is not providing substantial benefit, the screening is not beneficial either.

In the US, prostate cancer is diagnosed in about 186,000 men each year, and about 29,000 die from it.  There is some evidence that the phytonutrients and polyphenols in pomegranate fruit juice and green tea can reduce PSA levels and prevent prostate cancer.[1,2]

[1] Arshi Malik, Farrukh Afaq, Sami Sarfaraz, Vaqar M. Adhami, Deeba N. Syed, and Hasan Mukhtar, Pomegranate fruit juice for chemoprevention and chemotherapy of prostate cancer, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 October 11; 102(41): 14813–14818.

[2] Gupta S, Ahmad N, Mukhtar H., Prostate cancer chemoprevention by green tea, Semin Urol Oncol. 1999 May;17(2):70-6. PMID: 10332919

As a natural instinct, I always avert my eyes from someone who is visibly handicapped.  I suppose there are several reasons for this reaction.  I do not want the handicapped person to feel self conscious from my attention, and at the same time I do not want the person to notice my feeling of pity for his or her affliction.  Sometimes, it is not possible to avoid a direct encounter.

I went to the cash register of a department store and the clerk who helped me had a serious case of Parkinson’s Disease.  Her right hand was shaking quite uncontrollably and her left hand was somewhat better.  The muscles in her arms were emaciated from the repetitious involuntary motions. As she tried to scan the bar code of my item, her hand kept jerking and the scanner could not read the code.  At one point I felt like reaching to hold the bar code in front of the reader, but I resisted the impulse.  She was persistent and eventually the cash register beeped an acknowledgment.  You could see some frustration in her face, although her face also twitched.

I realized that she would not be able to work much longer.  I wondered why she was still working in her condition, but in the back of my mind, I knew that she had to work because the health care system in the United States had failed her. I felt admiration for the department store that had hired her with her visible handicap in a position where she had so much public exposure.  Hopefully this work entitled her to some medical benefits.

The cause of Parkinson’s disease is not known, there are no cures, and no preventive measures.  Parkinson’s disease affects 2 in every 1,000 people, most often after age 50.  The possible causes for the disease could be genetic or environmental, but nobody knows for sure.  We can only hope that we don’t become victims of this progressive, degenerative ailment.

An analysis of cancer statistics from 1973 to 2004 by the National Cancer Institute found that the rate of new melanoma cases in women from 15 to 39 years of age had increased by 50%, but the rate for men of the same age had remained unchanged.

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer characterized by black skin tumors.  Melanoma usually starts from excessive exposure to the sun or from the frequent use of tanning salons.  Some sun exposure is necessary for the production of Vitamin D in the skin, but sun exposure that causes sunburn damages the skin.  Skin specialists recommend using sun block lotions to prevent sunburn and avoiding being outdoors in the middle of the day when the sun’s rays are strongest.

Melanoma lesions are usually black with irregular shape.  Any unusual or bleeding moles should be checked by a dermatologist.

Calorie Restriction (CR) is recognized as a scientifically proven dietary intervention to prolong life span. Many people have looked at the graphs in the book by Walford showing increases of 30% in the longevity of mice, and they have decided that they too would like to live to an age of 104 instead of just 80. They learn about Calorie Restriction with Optimum Nutrition (CRON) and they start starving themselves in a controlled way to get rid of the extra fat and keep their glucose levels down.

Unfortunately, many of the promoters of Calorie Restriction diets frequently do not emphasize the stunting effects of the lower calorie diets. Mice started on 40% CR at 9 weeks, when they are weaned, may increase their life span by about 30%, but the lower level of nutrients basically halts the growth of the mice so that at maturity they only reach half of the weight of the control mice[1]. The graphic above illustrates the corresponding relative weights of humans at different levels of caloric restriction assuming that the relationship of weight and CR is linear. If a control human weighed 150 pounds, the 40% CR human would weigh 75 pounds. Using human growth charts, we can estimate that the human control would be approximately 69 inches high, and the 40% CR human would be 57 inches tall.

The more aggressive human calorie restriction practitioners (CRONies) have found that the lower calorie diets decrease their bone structure, causing signs of osteoporosis. Unlike the mice which are started at a young age and can adjust their growth to the level of available nutrients, severe calorie restriction started in adulthood requires the body to decrease in size. Clearly, if the cell metabolism cannot adjust to the lower calorie levels, something in the body must shrink. Studies have shown that the basal metabolic rate can decrease by approximately 16% for metabolically active tissues. Higher degrees of calorie restriction started in adulthood have the potential of causing severe structural damage, and a longer life is not guaranteed.

[1] Mattson, et al. “Intermittent fasting dissociates beneficial effects of dietary restriction on glucose metabolism and neuronal resistance to injury from calorie intake“, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2003 May 13; 100(10):6216-6220.

Arturo commented:

I feel compelled to make a comment on the graphic. Assuming that one started CR after having grown to one’s full height, say at age 22, wouldn’t the height remain the same? Therefore the growth that CR would stunt would be in the horizontal (X and Y) directions, rather than the vertical (Z) direction in Cartesian coordinates? This would mean that the figures, if they were of adults, would be the same height, but their width smaller?

Arturo is right. The illustrations above are of perfectly proportioned silhouettes which would be produced as a result of normal development.

The decrease of an adult body frame through undernourishment would first be evident in the reduction of muscle tissue because bones are more resistant to modification due to their mineral content. The first stage (acute undernutrition) might produce gaunt bodies like those of the WW II concentration camps or Keys’ Minnesota experiment (right). The second stage (chronic undernutrition) would cause decreased bone mass with related clinical conditions like osteoporosis and its consequences such as kyphosis. The result of severe long-term CR started in adulthood is likely to be a crooked gaunt body, rather than the well proportioned bodies illustrated above.

Learn more about Calorie Restriction

Aubrey de Grey

For thousands of years, preachers have been promising us eternal life, in heaven or hell, depending on what we believe. Now, Aubrey de Grey, a British biomedical gerontologist, thinks that we can achieve eternal life right here on Earth by rejuvenating the human body. The idea of immortality seems preposterous given that, thus far, no multicellular organisms have been found to live forever.

Aubrey de Grey cannot be easily dismissed. His ideas about Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) are based on sound scientific principles and modern discoveries in genetics. De Gray would like to identify all the components that cause human tissue to age and design remedies for each of them to forestall disease and eventually push back death.

Immortal life may be nothing more than a pipe dream, but there are enough serious scientists studying the process of aging that in a few decades there may be significant advances in the science of life extension. The Methuselah Foundation is a non-profit organization that promotes interest in scientific anti-aging research. The foundation awards prizes to researchers who break records in the extension of the lifespan of experimental animals.

Most foot problems are caused by ergonomically bad shoe designs. The incidence of bunions (hallux valgus), bunionettes and hammer toe are four to five times more common in women than in men. The stylish and fashionable high-heeled women’s shoes with narrow toe boxes cause increased plantar pressure and toe crowding which over time distort the bones of the foot. Although only 9 percent of 30- to 60-year-olds have bunions, approximately 16 percent of people over the age 60 have them.

High-heel shoes, and ill-fitting shoes hamper mobility and increase the risk of falls. Bad insole designs can increase the pressure on the nerves of the foot and make it uncomfortable to walk. Podiatrists perform over 400,000 surgical operations per year to correct foot problems that could have been avoided by wearing comfortable, properly-fitted shoes.

Bad shoe designs are so prevalent that there is a large market for shoe inserts such as gel insoles that make it more comfortable to walk by distributing the weight of the body over a larger area of the foot.

Sweets are not for diabetics

A man recently diagnosed as having Impaired Glucose Tolerance (a precursor to Type II Diabetes) was trying to learn how he could improve his health. He read Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars and commented that he found terribly depressing the types of food that one is restricted to.

Dr. Bernstein’s diet is basically a low-carbohydrate diet which is not too different from the Atkins diet. The diet allows you to eat meat, eggs, some dairy, and non-starchy leafy vegetables such as lettuce. Carbohydrates must be limited to less than 40 grams per day. Dr. Bernstein is a diabetic himself, and he developed the diet after being frustrated by the worsening of his condition using the dietary guidelines of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) which recommends diets with a greater proportion of carbohydrates.

One slice of cake with frosting can have 500 calories. Most of these calories come from refined sugars and white flour which cause an overload of blood glucose and stimulate the pancreas to produce extra insulin. Habitual indulgences in sweets result in obesity that can eventually lead to diabetes. If you are a diabetic, you can have your cake, but you cannot eat it.