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
December 08, 2009 | Tamiflu May Be Inneffective In Fighting Effects Of FluWashington (SmartAboutHealth) - According to a new review, the popular Tamiflu is weak when it comes to the effect it has in preventing effects of the flu, such as the development of pneumonia. The new review was carried out by researchers in Great Britain, and puts into question the highly-popular flu drug. Tamiflu was the focus of this update to a review that was published back in 2006, and it looked into a total of 20 ...
December 7, 2009 | Surprised? Black market steroids usually mislabeledThe risks of anabolic steroids - used by some athletes to build muscle mass - are by now well-documented. But it turns out, perhaps not surprisingly, that steroids bought illegally through "underground labs" and over the internet generally aren't what their labels say they are, researchers reported yesterday at the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry's annual meeting in Los Angeles. Steroid users often complain that the drugs they had bought - often at ...
December 6, 2009 | Prostate Hormone Therapy May Up Heart RisksDiabetes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems appear to be more common in men with prostate cancer who are treated with androgen deprivation therapy, which reduces or eliminates the male sex hormones that can promote cancer ...
Related articles:
Risk-taking
Men, significantly more so than women, tend to drink and drive, not to wear a seat belt, to be aggressive and fight, to drive fast and dangerously. Men are also more likely to be involved in a homicide, to be involved in a motor vehicle accident and other accidents. Men are in fact three times more likely to die of accidents than ...Section: Mens health risks
Acute prostatitis - diagnosis
Acute prostatitis is relatively easy to diagnose due to its symptoms that suggest infection. The organism may be found in blood or urine, and some times in both. Common bacteria are Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, Proteus, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Enterococcus, Serratia, and Staphylococcus aureus. This can be a medical emergency in some patients and ...Section: Prostatitis
Nomenclature
Originally called interstitial cystitis, the name for this disorder changed to interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome in the period 2002-2005. In 2007, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) began using the umbrella term Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain ...Section: Interstitial cystitis