Category Archives: Medical

Obesity Boosts Advanced Prostate Cancer Risk

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Greg Asseff

It’s long been known that being heavily overweight or obese has the ability to increase your risk of contracting a wide variety of chronic and/or debilitating diseases.

Combine the health risks associated with being overweight with poor dietary habits and a lack of regular physical exercise and the probability of contracting a potentially life threatening disease increase even further.

One such disease that may increase in probability, in relation to obese men, is advanced prostate cancer, according to a new obesity and prostate cancer study published in the medical journal Annals of Oncology. The study sheds a little more light on the nature of the link between obesity and prostate cancer, a relationship that has proven to be quite complex.

Ultimately, the researchers concluded that being obese could increase your risk of advanced prostate cancer, defined as cancer that originated in the prostate and has spread to other areas of the body.

Posted in Diet, Exercise, Health, Health Facts, Medical, Men, News, Studies, Weight Loss | 1,010 Comments

Irisin: The Key to Beating Obesity?

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Greg Asseff

With literally millions and millions of individuals throughout the world continually battling excess body fat and obesity concerns, there is no shortage of “so called” weight loss experts, weight loss approaches, and weight loss “miracle pills” to consider. This being said, the most safe and effective approach to weight loss is living a health lifestyle that is filled with regular physical activity, a nutritionally well balanced whole foods diet, and plenty of rest, relaxation, and sleep.

While most weight loss experts will agree with this approach researchers at Harvard Medical School may have just made an astounding discovery that could spell drastic changes to the way in which we approach weight loss, obesity and related diseases such as diabetes. The researchers discovered a previously unknown hormone that they’re dubbing irisin.

Early clinical trials involving mice injected with the Irisin hormone have already shown that irisin could deliver miraculous results in terms of weight loss and blood sugar regulation. Weight loss seekers: Could this be what you’ve been waiting for.

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Study Links Chronic Stress with Brain Shrinkage

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Greg Asseff

Modern life can be quite hectic, and very few of us are able to make it through even a single day without experiencing some type and level of stress.

Whether it’s dealing with your job (or joblessness), raising children, struggling with regularly performing your fitness routine, compromising with a spouse, or simply troubleshooting a new electronic gadget, stressors are literally everywhere.

For many, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that one of the keys to life isn’t avoiding stress (which, after all, is going to be unavoidable to a certain degree), but rather dealing with stress. Unfortunately, a new study is indicating that those who fail to deal with stress appropriately actually experience physical symptoms related to brain shrinkage causes.

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Nicotine Patch Fights Mild Cognitive Impairment in Seniors

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Greg Asseff

Each year millions of individuals try to quit smoking and fail. Nicotine patches have been used for decades as an approach in assisting smokers kick the habit, and multiple clinical studies have shown them to be effective smoking cessation aids.

Now, a recently published mild cognitive impairment treatment study is indicating that the nicotine patch may have an additional benefit previously undiscovered by medical science: battling the symptoms, and perhaps even the root cause, of mild cognitive impairment in seniors.

Mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, can best be described as a less-severe version of Alzheimer’s disease. Symptoms typically include difficulty paying attention, slower thought processing and memory loss.

Although the exact causes of MCI and Alzheimer’s have yet to be pinpointed exactly, medical experts believe that both diseases stem from death and deterioration of brain nerve cells – specifically, the cells responsible for producing acetylcholine, a chemical that transmits brain signals.

Unfortunately, many people who experience MCI go on to develop Alzheimer’s and the increasingly severe symptoms that come along with it. No medical provisions have been approved for the treatment of MCI. However, a new study conducted at Vanderbilt Medical Center may change that.

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Bufferin, Excedrin, NoDoz, Gas-X Recalled Nationwide

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Greg Asseff

We have all most likely heard of manufacturers that have released, or distributed, a product, or series of products, and then followed up with a recall of that product at a later date. The reasons for the recalls can vary from precautionary to having the ability to cause harm or, in some cases, even death, so it is good to heed the recall and do as instructed.

Typical industries that recalls tend to be initiated by include the automotive industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the food industry, and child related industries, to name a few.

In a specific example, Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, announced that it is issuing a voluntary Gas X recall along with three additional products sold in the U.S. Bottled versions of these four products may contain chipped, broken or stray tablets of other products manufactured by Novartis.

So, if you’ve recently purchased a container of one of the following medications, Excedrin, Bufferin, Gas-X or NoDoz, it is important that you take the time to carefully check the expiration date on the manufacturing label before consuming another tablet.