Good Evening Everyone!
I've touched on this week's topic before, but there's information from recent studies that I thought you should know about. The topic is cholesterol, statin drugs and heart disease. The first study is one that proves a very scary link between statin use and the development of diabetes in post-menopausal women. The report was that the risk of diabetes was increased by 71% for all post-menopausal women taking statin drugs!!! Also noted, was that for women with prior heart attacks/conditions; statin drugs do not help prevent future heart attacks according to meta-analysis on mortality.
The next study tested the overall validity in the use of cholesterol in heart disease mortality. Translation: Is cholesterol as we see it now an accurate measure/predictor of death from heart disease? The short answer.... NO! In fact, a level of total cholesterol up to 271 proved to be beneficial for women in preventing death from heart disease. In general for both sexes, a total cholesterol above 213 was not associated with increased death from heart disease.
*So if you or family members are on statin drugs for cholesterol, please make sure to ask your medical doctor about the safety of them and other options to prevent heart disease.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
References:
1) Is the use of cholesterol in mortality risk algorithms in clinical guidelines valid? Ten years prospective data from the Norwegian HUNT 2 Study. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, February 2011; vol. 18; No. 1; pp. 159-168.
2) Statin Use and Risk of Diabetes Mellitus in Postmenopausal Women Archives of Internal Medicine, January 23, 2012; Vol. 172; No. 2; pp. 144-152.
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The Amazing Disc!
Good Morning Everyone!
We're having some beautiful weather this week, so I'll make sure to keep this short (so you can get back outside and enjoy)! I have many patients that have low back pain as their main complaint. As with anything else, I have two jobs in taking care of this problem. First, I have treat the problem as it is for the patient. Second, I have to help figure out how to prevent the problem in the future. The second part is often more difficult than the first.
The problem with trying to prevent low back pain is that the source of the low back pain for most patients is also their main source on income. This means that most people get low back pain as a result of sitting all day at their jobs. This is tough to get around since they have to sit to make money, but I have figured out a great solution that most people can use to strengthen their low back while sitting at work.
*That solution is using a stability disc to sit on at work. This disc keeps you dynamic all day while sitting. Being dynamic allows your low back and abdominal muscles to strengthen while sitting! This disc can be purchased at Dick's Sporting Goods. There's a link below to the Dick's Sporting Goods web page that's specifically pointing to that product. Any questions... Let me know!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3968517
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
We're having some beautiful weather this week, so I'll make sure to keep this short (so you can get back outside and enjoy)! I have many patients that have low back pain as their main complaint. As with anything else, I have two jobs in taking care of this problem. First, I have treat the problem as it is for the patient. Second, I have to help figure out how to prevent the problem in the future. The second part is often more difficult than the first.
The problem with trying to prevent low back pain is that the source of the low back pain for most patients is also their main source on income. This means that most people get low back pain as a result of sitting all day at their jobs. This is tough to get around since they have to sit to make money, but I have figured out a great solution that most people can use to strengthen their low back while sitting at work.
*That solution is using a stability disc to sit on at work. This disc keeps you dynamic all day while sitting. Being dynamic allows your low back and abdominal muscles to strengthen while sitting! This disc can be purchased at Dick's Sporting Goods. There's a link below to the Dick's Sporting Goods web page that's specifically pointing to that product. Any questions... Let me know!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3968517
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
So Your Body's Acidic.... What Now?
Good Afternoon Everyone,
We spoke about your body's pH last week and how being acidic can produce harmful effects to your overall health. We'll talk this week about why that may be happening and what we can do to fix the problem. As we go over why this is happening, we'll mention a few different things: water, sugar, soda, coffee, and overcooking.
1) Water -- Most people are dehydrated, and many of those are severely dehydrated without really knowing it. We should consume 3-4 quarts of water a day (enough to where you have to urinate every hour) to help your body maintain a neutral pH.
2) Sugar -- Having a diet that is high in sweets and high glycemic foods will have the effect of decreasing the acidity in your stomach. This in turn will prevent you from being able to fully break-down your food as it enters and leaves your stomach. As a result, protein will leave your stomach with a high acidic content to it. This then will add to the acidic climate of your whole body.
3) Soda -- Most soda has a pH of around 3! Drinking these will of course lower your body's pH. Limit energy drinks, sports drinks, tea and coffee also as they are acid forming in your body.
4) Overcooking -- overcooking your food (especially vegetables) will reduce the enzymes that your body ingests which are normally used to help control the acidic content of food as it leaves the stomach.
So how do we fix this? Well, you need to follow the advice in steps 1-4 above, but that may not be enough. In the event that this is not enough, I recently found a product to help increase pH effectively. That product is called "pHresh Balance" by Doctor pHresh Nutritionals (this is one that you will have to order through my office so let me know if you would like me to look into it). I have seen this to be very effectively recently in raising pH quickly.
As always, please email me with any questions.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
We spoke about your body's pH last week and how being acidic can produce harmful effects to your overall health. We'll talk this week about why that may be happening and what we can do to fix the problem. As we go over why this is happening, we'll mention a few different things: water, sugar, soda, coffee, and overcooking.
1) Water -- Most people are dehydrated, and many of those are severely dehydrated without really knowing it. We should consume 3-4 quarts of water a day (enough to where you have to urinate every hour) to help your body maintain a neutral pH.
2) Sugar -- Having a diet that is high in sweets and high glycemic foods will have the effect of decreasing the acidity in your stomach. This in turn will prevent you from being able to fully break-down your food as it enters and leaves your stomach. As a result, protein will leave your stomach with a high acidic content to it. This then will add to the acidic climate of your whole body.
3) Soda -- Most soda has a pH of around 3! Drinking these will of course lower your body's pH. Limit energy drinks, sports drinks, tea and coffee also as they are acid forming in your body.
4) Overcooking -- overcooking your food (especially vegetables) will reduce the enzymes that your body ingests which are normally used to help control the acidic content of food as it leaves the stomach.
So how do we fix this? Well, you need to follow the advice in steps 1-4 above, but that may not be enough. In the event that this is not enough, I recently found a product to help increase pH effectively. That product is called "pHresh Balance" by Doctor pHresh Nutritionals (this is one that you will have to order through my office so let me know if you would like me to look into it). I have seen this to be very effectively recently in raising pH quickly.
As always, please email me with any questions.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
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