Health@Heart
Staggering stats and letters
* Your recent article on Childhood Obesity is an eye-opener. I hope parents take heed, before it becomes too late for their children
Recent past statistics show that "the most common actual causes of death in the United States were tobacco (435,000), poor diet and physical inactivity (400,000), alcohol consumption (85,000), microbial agents (e.g., influenza and pneumonia, 75,000), toxic agents (e.g., pollutants and asbestos, 55,000), motor vehicle accidents (43,000), firearms (29,000), sexual behavior (20,000) and illicit use of drugs (17,000)".
Actual causes of death are defined as lifestyle and behavioral such as smoking and physical inactivity that contribute to this nation's leading killers including heart disease, cancer, and stroke.
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The passing of American President Ronald Reagan has once again brought to the limelight the scary and devastating effects of Alzheimer's Disease. Studies have shown that regular physical exercise have beneficial effects and enhance the function of some regions of the brain associated with memory, like the hippocampus. Daily physical exercise and challenges to the mind and the thinking processes can strengthen and protect the brain, and make the physiological age of a person 9 years younger than his actual chronological age.
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Persons who took cholesterol-lowering drug known as statins before and during hospitalization for a heart attack resulted in a greater survival rate compared to those who took them for the first time only on admission to the hospital. This was shown by studies conducted on about 20,000 patients who were admitted with heart attack or severe heart-related chest pains, according to Annals of Internal Medicine.
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Obstructive sleep apnea, a condition where the person stops breathing momentarily while asleep, causes significant reduction in the blood oxygen level which could precipitate a heart attack. Studies published in the European Heart Journal and various medical publications in the United States showed that treatment of the sleep apnea lowers heart attacks and other related cardiovascular events, especially among those with coronary artery disease.
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Letters From Our Readers
Dear Doctor Chua,
I'm emailing you from Toronto. I am a journalist.
I've been meaning to write you for sometime and your past article headlined "The Perfect Storm" has finally spurred me into action!
I agree with many of your concerns about the dangers of skyrocketing malpractice awards. However, in any country, there must be a solution that, while protecting health professionals from exorbitant awards, also protects patients from incompetent treatment. In Canada, we too are trying to find a balance and there are no easy answers.
In the context of the Philippines, I concur with your points about blithely importing foreign values, often from the United States. I must stress that, as a Canadian, I differ from Americans on some critical issues, but this does not mean I am anti-American. My grandmother was born in the States. I have American friends and have often traveled and worked south of the border where I have been treated with kindness and generosity. I am simply saying that foreign solutions, as you pointed out, are not always best.
I'll also take this opportunity to say how much I enjoy your regular columns. Normally, I skip similar columns in the Toronto papers, but, have come to appreciate - and learn from - your articles. You provide sensible advice in easily understood layman's language. I do hope that - in the midst of what must be a very busy professional life! - you will continue to find the time to write.
With best wishes,
John Darby
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Dear Sir,
My name is Jaime Getman. I am presently located in Austin, Texas. I was online today finding all the information that I could on smoking and quitting and came across your health column on the Internet about this subject. They will be good to have in my folder on positive reinforcement. I am quitting smoking with the aid of Welbutrin and am very determined to make this my last time at quitting. This time it will stick, after reading your article. Thanks again
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Your recent article on Childhood Obesity is an eye-opener. I hope parents take heed, before it becomes too late for their children. The junk food restaurants---with their burgers, fries, ice cream and cakes, and others items loaded with fats and carbohydrates--whose ads are really targeting kids, are a parent's dilemma. I agree with you that we should learn how to be firm and say "No" to our children where appropriate to protect their health and future. With your warning, let's hope we can minimize overweight and obesity among our children. – Janet Sandoval, Bohol.
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Dr. Chua, I take exception to your advice that we stay away from red meats and eggs to stay healthy. My grandparents ate a lot of pork, beef and eggs, were cigarette smokers, and yet they both lived beyond 80 years old. – Anthony Baises, Cebu.
Reply: Our grandparents lived in a different, a cleaner and purer, environment. Life was a lot simpler then. People were more physically active, feeling more secure, and did not have our enormous stresses in life of today. Also, the body's tolerance and immune system vary from person to person. My grandmother also smoked daily, ate a lot of red meat and eggs every single day, and used pure lard for cooking, and lived up to 89. On the other hand, my father, a smoker, and who did not control his diet either, succumbed to heart attack at the age 46. Medical statistics today have convincingly proven that intake of foods high in fats and cholesterol (like red meats and eggs) take their tolls prematurely thru cardiovascular illnesses (heart attack and stroke) and many forms of cancer. The longevity of your two grandparents and my grandmother are only anecdotal and not enough number, nor provide valid statistics, to prove that eating red meats and eggs is not harmful to health. Current medical statistics all around the world are too overwhelming to ignore.