Life can add years to your face

This definitely comes into the ‘Oh Really?’ category, as I don’t imagine any of my readers think anything else. However, I am always impressed by people’s willingness to dress up the obvious in scientific ‘facts’ and a new study of identical twins claims that despite genetic make-up, certain environmental factors can add years to a person’s perceived age. As this study comes from the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), I do feel there is a vested interest at work here, but apparently factors like divorce or the use of antidepressants are the real culprits when it comes to your face looking like the hide of an elderly elephant.

Back to attitude is what I say, because of course being unhappy does add years to your face, and how anyone can doubt that is a bit beyond me, but I guess if your business is facelifts then you can’t afford to understate the obvious. Anyone who can cry without wrinkling up their face is obviously not in need of their services, but they kindly suggest that you avoid anything that can age you faster – that would be life I guess. The author of this study is Bahaman Guyuron, MD, professor and chairman, department of plastic surgery, University Hospitals Case Medical Center who wants us all to cheat our biological clock by avoiding things like being divorced because if you do you are going to look nearly 2 years older than your happily married twin – or others of your age who are married, single or even widowed.

This also applies if you are taking antidepressants, or are overweight – you will appear significantly older. To quote the good doctor, “the presence of stress could be one of the common denominators in those twins who appeared older. Researchers suspect that continued relaxation of the facial muscles due to antidepressant use, could account for sagging”.

He’s not a modest man either, as he claims that he has discovered a number of new factors that contribute to aging – which aren’t new to me, or to you – and secondly that his findings put science behind the idea that volume replacement rejuvenates the face. There you have the real reason for the research, as according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons statistics, there were more than 1.5 million filler injection procedures – such as Botox – performed in 2007 and I imagine they are looking to do more smoothing out of our worried brows, lips, cheeks and necks.

So avoid getting divorced, being depressed or eating too much and you will look younger is his message, though presumably if you don’t do those things he can fix it for you in the flash of a scalpel.

6 times higher health risk with pre-eclampsia

New research is pointing up future problems for women who have pre-eclampsia – a condition where elevated high blood pressure is brought on by their pregnancy. It can occur in 5% to 7% of all pregnancies and now it seems these women run an increased risk of both heart problems and diabetes in the future.

The study was done at the University of Copenhagen, and reported at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in the USA. It found that women who had severe pre-eclampsia were more than six times more likely to develop chronic hypertension compared with women with uncomplicated pregnancies and also at higher risk for type 2 diabetes. It seems the risk is increased for women with pre-eclampsia who had premature or smaller babies, as well as in those who had pre-clampsia in two pregnancies.

The study of over 78,000 women who were previously free of any heart condition or diabetes, is intended to be an early warning system for women and their doctors to assess their risk. A woman who has had pre-eclampsia can use this information to monitor her health and be alert to take effective early action if any symptoms of high blood pressure or diabetes occur. It is also helpful to be aware of these risks if future medication will include hormonal treatments of any kind such as the contraceptive pill.

Natural diet pills warning

Just because something says ‘natural’ on the packaging is no guarantee that it actually is – particularly if it is imported from a country with less stringent health regulations than our own. The easy availability of products on the Internet has made it even more important that you check the source of what you are buying.

Latest news from the USA has shown that popular weight loss products promoted heavily by sports people and TV personalities are seriously flawed and freely available without prescription from health stores or online. You would think if they are on sale in a health shop they would be ok, but the Food and Drug Administration says weight-loss capsules, called StarCaps, which are promoted as natural dietary supplements and contain papaya, could be hazardous to your health. That’s because they also contain a potent pharmaceutical drug called bumetanide, a strong diuretic. Using too much of this drug can lead to serious water and mineral loss because it decreases the amount of water retained in the body by increasing urination. This is a prescription drug which requires you to be monitored by your doctor for side effects which include severe thirst, dry mouth, mental confusion and muscle cramps/weakness. It can also mask steroid use, which is why it is on the list of substances banned by the National Football League, and why several players who had taken it failed a drug test when they tested positive for bumetanide. Why football players need diet pills is a bit of a mystery, as it’s hard to tell what size they are under all that padding, but presumably they had their reasons and several are now suing the health store chain that sold the supplement to them.

The FDA has found other similar ‘natural’ weight loss products – most of which are imported from China and Peru – and named Sliminate, Superslim and Slim Up among 69 tainted weight-loss supplements they have found so far. The problem is that many of these drugs do not fully declare their ingredients, which makes them illegal in the USA, but still available on the Internet. An additional complication can be if you are already taking prescription medication and some of these ingredients can interact with your drugs, and reported symptoms include high blood pressure, chest pains, palpitations or seizures. Because you don’t know exactly what they contain, they could have toxic interactions with your own medication and could make it difficult for your doctor to diagnose to diagnose patients.

As I have mentioned before, just because something is natural doesn’t mean you won’t be affected in an adverse way by it. The simplest things, like garlic for instance, can bring some people out in allergic reactions including sweating, increased blood pressure and faintness – and millions of people experience no effect at all. Garlic is in fact extremely good for the immune system, but there is no guarantee on how it will affect you personally. Losing weight is a good goal, but remember that natural weight loss usually involves eating less and exercising more, a cheaper – and safer – alternative to supplements all round.

Teenage diabetics choose surgery

Any form of surgery is traumatic to the body, but sometimes it is necessary and unavoidable. My problem is when it’s being sought by the young and vulnerable with no real concept of the consequences. Diabetes is a disease that can be controlled, sometimes easily and sometimes not and the regime of regular medication can be very hard for teenagers – discipline not being a natural characteristic at that age. However a new trend in the USA is for teenage diabetics who are overweight to turn to the surgeon’s knife to help them .

Even more incredible is that this gastric bypass procedure is being suggested by Doctors, despite the fact that the US statistics show that 5 percent of people who have this surgery only survive a year. On the plus side, a study at Cinncinatti Children’s Hospital Medical Center, has shown that in most cases, the teenagers can lose one-third of their weight and come off diabetes medications with remission of their diabetes one year after bypass surgery. It sounds wonderful, but this has not been studied long enough, in my opinion, to suggest it as a viable alternative to diet, medication and lifestyle changes – or is that just me?

Plastic surgery is bypassing doctors

Britain is now right up there with the USA when it comes to plastic surgery. The most sought after being new breasts and noses and according to a Health Service Survey as many as three quarters of the population want to change some aspect of their bodies. Previously your GP was the first port of call for any medical intervention, but with the rise of the private cosmetic surgery services this is no longer the case. The same survey found that amongst young people between 16-24 years of age, only 20 percent of them would talk to their doctor about it. More worryingly the other 80 percent would seek out services on the Internet and often were searching by price alone.

I would have that this was one area where you would definitely want a personal recommendation, a face to face meeting and assurance from your doctor as to how professional and qualified the clinic and their staff were.

Lavender – The one really essential oil

There are so many essential oils to choose from, but the one that I would never be without is lavender because it is really almost a medicine chest in a bottle. I thought I would remind you of how versatile it can be and how useful if you are travelling and limited in what you can take with you.

Let’s start with sleep; trials at the Radcliffe hospital in Oxford showed that patients who were offered a bath with lavender oil in it, or inhaling the oil before bedtime were able to dispense with sleeping tablets -and their side effects.

If you have been bitten by an insect, apply it neat onto the bite and it works just as well on spots or boils. You can also mix it with a base oil such as almond or grapeseed and massage it in to relieve aches and pains in your muscles. I am a great one for burning myself on the oven or the iron and you can again apply the oil straight onto the burn and it takes the heat out and prevents a blister forming.

As I work on a computer, I can find myself ‘spacing out’ and losing focus and so I then rub some lavender oil on the inside of my wrists and inhale to clear my head. It also works if you feeling down as the scent can help lift your mood.

For headaches just put a couple of drops on each index finger and gently rub into the indentation on either side of your forehead, just above your eyebrows but make sure you keep well away from your eyes – no rubbing them after you have put the oil on!

Remember with essential oils, you tend to get what you pay for so the cheaper the oil the less active ingredient is likely to be in there. It really pays to buy organic for something that has so many uses and is so portable.

How vitamins can help stroke patients

Taking vitamin supplements is an area fraught with controversy. In the red corner are the true believers who think it can cure everything and in the blue corner the sceptics who won’t accept they do any good at all. As ever, I like the balanced view and personally have found supplements very helpful for some things and not much use for others though in general I am more in favour than not.

The following report though gives me hope that the sceptics might see a chink of light as it was carried out in a bona fide hospital by properly qualifed doctors. In fact it was tested at the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital for stroke victims at Cornell University in the USA. One of the features of hospital stroke patients is that they are often undernourished and have lost weight and the researchers took 100 people who ‘qualified’ and gave half the standard hospital regime for stroke patients but included a multivitamin and mineral supplement and a drink that which would give them calories, protein and 36 mg of vitamin C which they were given every eight hours. The other half of the group got the same, but with double the quantities, and an increased amount of vitamin C – 90mg.

When the patients were studied, the group that had the higher levels of vitamins and minerals were found to have a much better rate of improvement, so that more of them were able to go home after their hospital stay, rather than being moved to a nursing home for more care. The use of supplements for stroke patients is not new, in fact previous researchers have focused on the role of the B vitamins for reducing the risk of strokes by up to 20 percent in those with a genetic predisposition, or who are deemed to be vulnerable.

If this is you, or someone you know then I would first consult a qualified nutritionist who will be able to advise on the dosages required, though the levels of vitamin C in the trial seem woefully to me. Dr Linus Pauling, the Nobel prize winner who pioneered the use of vitamin C for many conditions advocated a minimum of 500 mg a day for healthy people and much higher doses when dealing with chronic illness. Vitamin C is not stored in the body, and is immediately excreted if not used. Increasing the levels needs to be done slowly and with full body awareness as we all have a different tolerance level. Signs that your body has had enough, or that you need to go more slowly are either a tingling sensation on the tongue, or a loosening of the bowels. In either case, cut back your dose and only gradually increase again when things have settled down.

Childrens’ huge cancer risk from processed meats

Processed meats – or rather the sodium nitrate it contains – has previously been linked to cancer of the pancreas and colon, and I have reported on it for you. Now, a study carried out at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, has linked processed meat and a substantially higher risk of leukemia in children. Not a slight chance, but a 74 percent chance of contracting leukemia if the diet regularly includes processed meat like sausages, bacon, salamis, hams and hot dogs. It does not apply to fresh meat.

Sodium nitrate is used to give a more appealing colour to these foods, but it is a chemical which when ingested results in the formation of nitrosamine – a well known carcinogenic. If you buy processed meats for children for their lunchbox or snacks, then check the label to avoid those with sodium nitrate used in the curing or processing and where possible go for organic producers as they are unlikely to use sodium nitrate in their processing.

Blue Honeysuckle – The latest craze?

The natural health world never stands still; in fact it is always out there searching for the next big craze. This time around it looks to be a Russian plant that was first reported on late last year in the journal Molecules, and in other research papers since. It’s remarkable because it produces blue honeysuckle berries that not only taste good but have a host of health benefits too, Gardeners might like to know it’s botanical name which is Lonicera caerulea, and the fruits tastes like a hybrid of blackberry and blueberry and are very high in vitamin C and bioactive flavonoids.

When analysed the berries were found to have antioxidant, anti-platelet, and wound healing abilities and several valuable flavonoids as well. Particularly important is epicatechin which has a role to play in the prevention of some of the largest causes of death, including cancer, strokes and heart failure. This is closely followed by rutin, which is valued for its ability to fight cancer, help keep skin younger and reduce inflammation.

Free radical damage is what the flavonoid quercetin is able to reduce and help to prevent damage to our cellular structure. This means it can keep our hearts healthy and help maintain the health of our lungs and respiratory system. Combats cancer, alleviates bruising and varicose veins, enhances cardiovascular health, prevents oxidation of cholesterol, and also can improve both lung health and respiration.

These are just some of the flavonoids that have been identified in blue honeysuckle and others have been shown by researchers to fight free radicals, have powerful antioxidant qualities, regularise blood pressure and support the nervous system. There is even more, as a recent study using the dried fruit was shown to be effective against intestinal parasites in conditions like E. Coli, Streptococcus and Candida.

All this, and they apparently taste good too. Sounds like a definite winner to add to your morning muesli or as a healthy snack. They are available in the USA, and the dried form can be bought online but I haven’t seen any of the actual fruits in the UK yet. Do let me know if you come across them because planting a bush and harvesting your own fruit will require some patience as it takes around four years.

Can snoring help weight loss?

This almost came into the ‘I don’t believe it’ category, but it is a valid piece of research and I shudder to think how people are going to exploit it. A new piece of research has been revealed that shows you can burn up to an extra 2000 calories a day if you are a heavy snorer. There is of course a known link between being overweight and snoring, but as a weight loss aid it’s a new one on me. I would have thought it’s the partner of the snorer that burns more calories from all that digging them in the ribs and rolling them over onto their backs, but what do I know?

The researchers have, not surprisingly, said they don’t know if the snoring is actually causing people to put on the pounds because they believe it might be. This comes from the fact that disturbed sleep patterns can alter the way your body metabolizes energy, and that could affect your weight. As a dietary regime I don’t think snoring will catch on, and one of the great dangers of heavy snoring is that it can be related to sleep apnoea. This condition needs to be taken seriously because it can reduce the oxygen content in the blood to dangerous levels.

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