Alphabetical list:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Q Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
News: December 2, 2009
Fatty acids in diet affect ulcerative colitis risk
December 2, 2009People who eat lots of red meat, cook with certain types of oil, and use some kinds of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-heavy margarines may be increasing their risk of a painful inflammatory bowel disease, a study in more than 200,000 Europeans shows.
These foods are high in linoleic acid and the study have found that people who were the heaviest consumers of this omega-6 PUFA were more than twice as likely to develop ulcerative colitis as those who consumed the least.
Dr. Andrew Hart of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, and his colleagues also found that eating more eicosapentaenoic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish and fish oils, was associated with a lower risk of the disease.
While people need a certain amount of linoleic acid to survive, Hart noted in an interview with Reuters Health, excess amounts are taken up into the lining of the colon, and if they're released, they can promote inflammation. Omega-3 fatty acid, he added, does the opposite. "It basically dampens down inflammation," he explained.
To investigate the role of fatty acids and ulcerative colitis, a life-long disease characterized by inflammation of the lining of the large intestine, Hart and his colleagues looked at data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) trial, which includes over half a million people from 10 European countries.
Their analysis included 203,193 men and women 30 to 74 years old. During follow-up, which ranged from about 2 to 11 years, 126 people developed ulcerative colitis.
People in the top quartile of linoleic acid intake (they were consuming around 13 to 38 grams a day) were 2.5 times more likely to have developed the disease than people who consumed the least, about 2 to 8 grams daily.
There's currently no proven dietary treatment for ulcerative colitis, Hart noted, but the current findings raise the possibility that eating a diet low in linoleic acid could be helpful.
While a Western-style, red-meat-heavy diet is high in this fatty acid and low in omega-3s, Hart noted, a more Mediterranean style eating pattern -- with plenty of fruits and vegetables, fish, and nut oils -- would be low in linoleic acid and high in omega-3.
He estimated that if omega-3s do help prevent ulcerative colitis, eating a couple of servings of fish a week would probably be protective.
Archive issues: (50)
Archive list: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 [14] 15 16 17
November 5, 2009 | To Quit Smoking, Use Patch Plus LozengeOut of five different smoking cessation methods, the nicotine patch plus lozenges proved to be the most effective, according to research published in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. The study is the first to compare the different ...
November 4, 2009 | Soft Drinks Take a Toll on Your HealthThe only positive thing one can say about soft drinks is that they taste good, but the price people pay in terms of their health for that good taste can be high. When we look at the benefits and risks associated with soft drink consumption, the risk side of the equation is clearly the winner-and ...
November 3, 2009 | Yoga Benefits Cancer PatientsSome of the major cancer centers across the country, including MD Anderson, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, now offer their patients yoga as a complementary therapy in an effort to ...
Related articles:
Alprostadil
Alprostadil can be injected into the penis or inserted using a special applicator - usually just before sexual intercourse. Alprostadil has also become available in some countries as a topical cream (under the brand name Befar), and preliminary studies have shown a clinical efficacy of up to 83%. It has an onset of action of 10-15 minutes and its effects can last over 4 hours.Section: Erectile Dysfunction
Treatment - medication
As recently as a decade ago, treatments available were limited to the use of astringent instillations, such as chlorpactin (oxychlorosene) or silver nitrate, designed to kill "infection" and/or strip off the bladder lining. In 2005, our understanding of IC/PBS has improved dramatically and these therapies are now no longer done. Rather, IC/PBS therapy is typically multi-modal, including the ...Section: Interstitial cystitis
Treatment - pelvic floor treatments
Work by Wise and Anderson (see details) has shown that urologic pelvic pain syndromes, such as IC/PBS and CP/CPPS, may have no initial trigger other than anxiety, often with an element of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or other anxiety-spectrum problem. This is theorized to leave the pelvic area in a sensitized condition resulting in a loop of muscle tension and heightened neurological feedback (neural wind-up). This is a form of myofascial pain syndrome. Current protocols largely focus on stretches to ...Section: Interstitial cystitis