Lycopene Benefits Study Says People Who Had More Lycopene had Less Strokes Also What about Lycopene and Cancer

Less Strokes with Lycopene? Also What Benefits if any of Lycopene for Cancer

-->  

Could eating tomatoes help prevent strokes?

A Finnish study suggests that high blood levels of lycopene, unlike those of other antioxidants, may be associated with a significantly reduced risk of stroke. Vegetables, especially tomatoes, are a significant source of lycopene.

The study published in the journal Neurology concludes "This prospective study shows that high serum concentrations of lycopene, as a marker of intake of tomatoes and tomato-based products, decrease the risk of any stroke and ischemic stroke in men".

-->  



Intake of fruits and vegetables and levels of serum carotenoids have been associated with decreased risk of stroke, but the results have been inconsistent. The aim of the present study was to examine whether serum concentrations of major carotenoids, α-tocopherol and retinol, are related to any stroke and ischemic stroke in men. The analysis, published in the journal Neurology, prospectively followed 1,031 men ages 46 to 55, measuring their blood levels of five antioxidants and recording incidents of stroke.







Lycopene a chemical which is found in tomatoes has also been touted as a possible agent to lower cancer risk. According to the American Cancer Society "Studies that look at large groups of people (observational studies) in many countries have shown that the risk for some types of cancer is lower in people who have higher levels of lycopene in their blood. Studies suggest that diets rich in tomatoes may account for this reduction in risk. Evidence is strongest for lycopene's protective effect against cancer of the lung, stomach, and prostate. It may also help to protect against cancer of the cervix, breast, mouth, pancreas, esophagus, and colon and rectum".







Some population studies have found that a diet high in lycopene from tomato-based foods was linked with a lower risk of prostate cancer. Other studies, however, found no link between tomato products or other lycopene-rich foods and prostate cancer. A recent study suggested that variation in a particular gene (known as XRCC1) that helps repair damaged DNA influences whether lycopene intake will affect a man's prostate cancer risk.

Serum lycopene decreases the risk of stroke in men

ACS on Lycopene and Cancer

Do Young People Get Strokes

One Dad's Perspective

Okay, while our presidential candidates are debating, I thought I would link to an article by a former state legislator.  In "How I Helped Create a Flawed Mental Health System That Failed Millions -- and My Son," Paul Gianfriddo talks about his decades-long attempts to help his ill son, a young man who sounds to have mental health and educational needs that couldn't be met by a system with limitations.

Gianfriddo writes:

The 1980s was the decade when many of the state’s large psychiatric hospitals were emptied. We had the right idea. After years of neglect, the hospitals’ programs and buildings were in decay. But we didn’t always understand what we were doing. In my new legislative role, I jumped at the opportunity to move people out of “those places.” Through my subcommittee, I initiated funding for community mental health and substance abuse treatment programs for adults, returned young people from institution-based “special school districts” to schools in their hometowns, and provided for care coordinators to help manage the transition of people back into the community. 

But we legislators in Connecticut and many other states made a series of critical misjudgments that have haunted us all ever since. 

First, we didn’t understand how poorly prepared the public school systems were to educate children with serious mental illnesses in regular schools and classrooms. Second, we didn’t adequately fund community agencies to meet the new demand for community mental health services—ultimately forcing our county jails to fill the void. And third, we didn’t realize how important it would be to create collaborations among educators, primary care clinicians, mental health professionals, social services providers, and even members of the criminal justice system, if people with serious mental illnesses were to have a reasonable chance of living successfully in the community. 

During the twenty-five years since, I’ve experienced firsthand the devastating consequences of these mistakes.

The story about his son is heart-breaking and there is no happy ending.  I'll leave you to read the whole article and see what you think.  And if you'd like to check it out, Mr. Gianfriddo blogs, often about mental health issues, at Our Health Policy Matters.

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

I wanted to share this with you -- I thought you might find Act 3 interesting.  It's about a woman with life-threatening OCD.  Act 3 starts just after the 36 minute point and lasts for about 15 minutes.

What Does Vitamin B12 Do and What are Signs of B12 Deficiency and How Treated

What Does Vitamin B12 Do Where Do You Get B12 and How is B12 Deficiency Treated?

Depression,Thinking and Memory Problems with B12 Deficiency

What are common nerve symptoms of B12 deficiency?

---

B12 deficiency can include tingling, weakness, numbness, problems walking or thinking, depression or memory problems.







Can't you just get all the vitamins you need from food?

---

Don't we make all the vitamins we need? The answer may be no and no. Vitamin B12 is essential for the body to create dna and is needed for neurological processes. B12 has a key role in the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system, and for the formation of blood. It is one of the eight B vitamins. It is normally involved in the metabolism of every cell of the human body, especially affecting DNA synthesis and regulation, but also fatty acid synthesis and energy production. Neither fungi, plants or animals are capable of producing vitamin B12.

-->

Can't We Make B12 ?

---

Risk factors for vitamin B12 deficiency include older people, alcohol abuse, diabetics who take metformin, vegetarians,people with gastritis, crohn's disease,certain gastric bypasses,etc.



Since your body can't manufacture B12 you need to get it from someplace else by taking a vitamin or eating something that contains it.Vitamin B12 can be given as a shot and or taken as an oral vitamin. People especially older people and vegetarians may not be able to get enough vitamin B12 from their diet and may need B12 vitamin supplementation.



-->

The acid in the digestive system helps get the B12 out of meat that we eat. That is one reason that people who have certain gastritis or malabsorption have problems getting B12. People who use the drug metformin, a diabetes drug, need to be screened for B12 deficiency.

How Intense Should Blood Sugar Control Be in Type 2 Diabetes

How Intense Should Blood Sugar Control be in Type 2 Diabetes and How Do Doctors Measure Blood Sugar Control in Diabetes?

A Study Published in 2011 Said That While Blood Sugar Control is Very Important Very Intensive Glycemic (Blood Sugar) Control did not seem to Reduce Mortality Beyond a Shadow of A Doubt and was Associated with Severe Low Blood Sugar

Control of blood sugar in people with diabetes is very important.The American Diabetic Association “Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes” recommends lowering HbA1c to <7.

Doctors know that people with diabetes must work to keep their blood sugars normal and that high blood sugars are associated with eye, heart, kidney and circulation and foot problems. The billion dollar question is how low should sugars be?









Doctors searched the medical literature for studies of the benefits of very tight control of blood sugar. The idea is if tight control of blood sugars is known to be beneficial than maybe very tight control of blood sugar is even better. The doctors tried to combine the results of 14 studies with a technique called meta-analysis.

In this Large Meta-Analysis Intensive Glycemic Control Did Not Reduce Mortality and was Associated with an increased Risk of Severe Hypoglycemia

Their meta-analysis did not demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that super intense control of blood sugars had these extra benefits and they did find evidence of dangerous low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).





"We found evidence to refute the suggestion that intensive compared with conventional glycaemic control reduces all cause mortality with a relative risk reduction of 10% or more. We found insufficient information to confirm or exclude a 10% relative risk reduction in cardiovascular mortality and non-fatal myocardial infarction with intensive glycaemic control. We found insufficient evidence for a reduction in risk of composite microvascular complications, retinopathy, and nephropathy. Conversely, we confirmed a 30% increase in relative risk of severe hypoglycaemia with intensive compared with conventional glycaemic control. Accordingly, treatment and choice of a glycaemic target for patients with type 2 diabetes need to take both harms and benefits into account."

Intensive glycaemic control for patients with type 2 diabetes: systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis of randomised clinical trials

Falling: Faces of Depression and Anxiety (by Clara Lieu)

Clara Lieu is an artist at Rhode Island School of Design.

She has this amazing gift of observation. For example, she has this series on her website (claralieu.com) called Waiting. Here is how she describes it.

I am interested in the contradictions found in waiting figures: even though these figures stand in very close physical proximity to each other, it seems apparent that there is a significant emotional distance between them. Each figure seems locked within their own existence, unaware and unresponsive to the other figures surrounding them. Yet simultaneously, waiting in a line creates a situation where the gesture of one figure leads directly to the next, creating a fluidity between all of the figures. I am engaged by the individual and group anxiety that seems to permeate such silent and still scenes.

So true. My first iPhone line was like that.



She also completed a very impressive series of drawings and sculptures called Falling. This series, unlike her others, are very personal, based on her own experience with depression.

She emailed My Three Shrinks to let us know about her work. I was so impressed that I asked her more about herself and the motivation to show such an intimate view of her anguish.

I developed depression and anxiety at a young age, and lived with the condition for most of my life before being diagnosed and treated just a few years ago. It was startling to see myself clearly for the first time, free from the disease. Only at that point did I have the emotional distance that allowed me to to be in position to address this subject artistically. I knew at that point that I felt an uncontrollable drive and compulsion to make the work.

"Falling" was an unusual project me for in that it was told from a very personal, intimate perspective unlike my previous projects, which approached the subject matter with an emotional distance. Depression is something that happens privately, behind closed doors; it's a secret that most people keep hidden and never talk about in public. Unfortunately here's still a social stigma associated with depression that causes people with depression to conceal their true emotions from others. On a broader level, I'm looking to open a dialogue about a topic that is rarely discussed openly by exposing my own personal experience. 

She goes on to describe this body of work:

"Falling" is a visualization of personal experience with depression and anxiety. The condition brought on frequent episodes where I felt emotionally and physically out of control. Unable to “release” myself from these episodes, I waited for the physical limitations of my body to end them. Recounting the affected years, I realize how accustomed I became to depression’s influence; many emotions and feelings belonged to it and not my own personality. After an extended, untreated struggle, a diagnosis brought relief, and the process of unearthing myself from the disease began. 

Her work can be found at claralieu.com.




Note: October 11 is National Depression Screening Day.       Get screened.

People Lose More Weight in Commercial Weight Loss Program

British Study Says People Lose More Weight in a Commercial Weight Loss Program like Weight Watchers, Rosemary Conley or Slimming World than by Counseling from their Doctors

File this in the stuff I didn't need a study to figure out department. A study that appeared in a British medical journal reported that people who joined a commercial weight loss program were more successful at losing weight than people who just got counseling from a doctor.

In the study several hundreds of over weight people in England were recruited into a study to see if people lost more weight when they got counseling from a primary care provider or if they joined a commercial weight loss group. The weight control groups were commercial weight loss programs in Great Britain such as Weight Watchers, Rosemary Conley or Slimming World. The primary care counselors were a doctor counseling someone on weight loss or pharmacy one to one counseling or a group from the British National Health Service called Size Down..

They looked at weight loss at 12 weeks and at one year. The most effective weight loss was in people who had participated in a commercial weight loss program. The least effective was someone who had just got counseling from a doctor.

Comparison of range of commercial or primary care led weight reduction programmes with minimal intervention control for weight loss in obesity: Lighten Up randomised controlled trial