November 10th, 2009
An interesting but sobering article in the Vail Daily News outlines how toxins in our environment are playing a major role in declining fertility.
It’s acknowledged that one out of every six couples in the U.S. experiences problems with conception during the first 12 months of trying. Apparently, toxins can affect sperm count, movement and “structure” and sons of mothers who have a high level of toxins may have a lower sperm count and a male birth defect called hypospadias.
In women, environmental toxins can affect ovulation, hormones such as progesterone and estrogen, and can cause PCOS, endometriosis and fibroids.
Fortunately, taking precautionary steps as simple as using glass instead of plastic containers, can aid in fertility and conception.
Read on:
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20091109/AE/911099992/1078&ParentProfile=1062
December 9th, 2008
By David Douglas
Reuters Health Information
In women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), obstructive sleep apnea is associated with insulin resistance, glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes, according to a study from the University of Chicago.
“Our findings,” investigator Dr. David A. Ehrmann told Reuters Health, “suggest that the metabolic disturbances seen commonly among women with PCOS are due, at least in part, to the effects of sleep disordered breathing.”
“In the absence of obstructive sleep apnea,” he added, “metabolic disturbances in PCOS are modest and are not significantly different from those seen among obese women without PCOS.”
In the October issue of the Journal of Clinical and Endocrinological Metabolism, Dr. Ehrmann and colleagues describe their prospective study of 52 women with PCOS and 21 comparable women without the disorder.
With polysomnography, the team diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea in 29 women with PCOS (56%) and 4 controls (19%). After adjustment for risk factors, the PCOS patients with sleep apnea were more insulin resistant than those without apnea. Further, impaired glucose tolerance was observed in 16 of the 29 women (55%) with PCOS and sleep apnea versus only 6 of the 23 (26%) PCOS patients without sleep apnea.
“Insulin resistance and glucose tolerance were highly correlated with the presence and severity of obstructive sleep apnea,” the authors report.
They also found that in PCOS patients with normal glucose tolerance, sleep apnea was associated with an almost twofold higher fasting insulin level and homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) index.
Moreover, the severity of sleep apnea was a highly significant predictor of the fasting concentrations of glucose and insulin as well as 2-hour glucose concentration and HOMA index.
Dr. Ehrmann’s team is now “actively engaged in clinical studies designed to determine the direction of causality between obstructive sleep apnea and the metabolic disturbances characteristic of PCOS.”
J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2008;93:3878-3884.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/584868?src=rss
November 24th, 2008
By Kelly Baker
Heraldsun.com.au
November 23, 2008
ARE you addicted to sugar? It has several health risks and it’s in more foods than you might think.
Swimming superstar Elka Graham knew she had a problem. And several months ago she realised it was time to do something about it.
Graham, a two-time Olympian and multiple record holder, had two options. She could gradually cut back on the substance she was addicted to or she could go cold turkey.
She opted for the latter and, while quitting was a struggle, today Graham is 100 per cent “clean”. What was the substance that had her in its iron grip? Sweet, sweet sugar.
“It wasn’t easy, but I kicked it,” says Graham proudly. “I struggled at first, particularly with coffee.
When I first started drinking it without sugar it tasted so strong, very bitter and unpleasant. Even the way it smelled bothered me.”
Graham’s first sugar-free days were rough. She was desperate for the sweet stuff and several times found herself involuntarily reaching for it, but in the end she held strong. And eventually she found she had turned a craving corner.
“At first it was awful, but then I started to adapt,” she says.
“I started to feel cleansed and I kept reminding myself that the short-term pain was worth the long-term gain. And I liked that I felt more consistent. I didn’t want the false high of sugar. I’d rather get my high from exercise.
“Plus, I began to see that you spoil the taste of a good coffee when you put rubbish like sugar in it.”
Okay, we know what you’re thinking… there are plenty of nastier things than sugar that you could be addicted to, but there’s no doubt that being dependent on the white stuff has its downsides. In fact, some of them are deadly serious.
Sugar rush
For starters, research has shown that sugary drinks may increase your risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Sugary beverages have also been linked to gout in men, according to a study published by the British Medical Journal.
A further study published in the Journal Of Clinical Investigation in 2007 found that eating too much sugar shuts down the gene SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin), thus reducing the amount of SHBG protein in the blood.
This protein plays a key role in controlling the amount of testosterone and oestrogen available throughout the body.
To continue reading:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24685081-5006012,00.html
July 16th, 2008
Reuters on MSNBC.Com/Health
July 16, 2008
Obese women 70 percent more likely to develop deadly disease, study finds
LONDON – Obese women who carry most of their extra weight around the stomach are 70 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, an international team of researchers reported.
The findings suggest are some of the first evidence that the link between obesity and pancreatic cancer is as strong in women as in men, Juhua Luo of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and colleagues reported in the British Journal of Cancer.
“We found that the risk of developing pancreatic cancer was significantly raised in obese postmenopausal women who carry most of their excess weight around the stomach,” she said in a statement.
“Obesity is a growing and largely preventable problem, so it’s important that women are aware of this major increase in risk.”
Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. It accounts for only about 2 percent of the cancers diagnosed each year but the first-year survival rate is less than 5 percent, according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Stronger link for obese men, too
Until now, smoking and chronic pancreatitis were the most well-established risk factors for the disease in men and women, with much of the evidence also pointing to a stronger obesity link for men.
As part of a large study known as the Women’s Health Initiative, Luo and colleagues followed more than 138,000 menopausal women in the United States for more than seven years to investigate the links between obesity and pancreatic cancer.
They found that 251 women developed the disease, and of these, 78 had the highest waist-to-hip ratios. After factoring in other risk factors, this was 70 percent more than the 34 women with the lowest excess stomach weight who got pancreatic cancer.
The findings also suggest that excess weight around the stomach may better predict the disease than the traditional Body Mass Index, or BMI, measurement for obesity, the researchers said.
They also suggested that obesity could increase the risk of pancreatic cancer by affecting insulin levels, and that diabetes may also play a role. Obesity is one of the main risk factors for diabetes.
“We know that carrying a high proportion of abdominal fat is associated with increased levels of insulin, so we think this may cause the link between obesity and pancreatic cancer,” the researchers said.
Several studies have shown that obesity raises the risk of several types of cancer including breast and colon as well as heart disease and other conditions.
