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Monday, September 21, 2009

Natural Grocers!

A great place to get health foods & supplements. I have only purchased mostly health foods from the website but I'm sure all their supplements are good as well. I have only bought Vitamin D from them in the supplement category. However, their health foods are great & have a great price as well. Here's the link to their website below:

Natural Grocers by VitaminCottage

Saturday, September 19, 2009

What Causes Prostate Cancer?

While there are many symptoms of prostate cancer, the causes of the prostate cancer are unknown. The biggest culprit seems to be genetics. If a person’s father had prostate cancer, then chances are, they will develop it too. While a person’s age, race, and nationality can be factors, genetics seems to be the biggest common link between those who have had the cancer.

After the age of fifty, visiting a doctor for yearly prostate cancer screenings is recommended. This will give doctors a chance to treat the cancer early if it is detected.

Early symptoms and warning signs include painful urination, pelvic pain, swelling, back pain, and weight loss. There may be other symptoms as well. Visiting a doctor is the only way to receive a definite prognosis as these symptoms could be caused by other illnesses or infections. Being aware of the symptoms and causes of prostate cancer could save a person’s life by getting treatment early. After the age of fifty, it is best to schedule yearly tests to see if the cancer is present. Sometimes knowing early can save a person’s life.

If prostate cancer is left untreated, it will begin to spread. Once it has metastasized, or spread to other areas of the body, the cancer will be harder to treat. Bone metastasis is the hardest form of cancer to treat. Once the cancer enters the bone, it will infect the marrow which can be spread very easily to the rest of the body. This is why being checked for cancer is so important.

There are many prostate cancer treatments available to help fight prostate cancer. The latest treatment is cryosurgery. This procedure involves freezing tumors so that they cannot spread to other parts of the body. Chemotherapy is also available and if the tumor is small enough and has not mestasised, removing the tumor through surgical procedures is also an option.

Article courtesy of prostatehealthnews.org

Zinc Deficiency Is A Concern

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2009) — Other vitamins and nutrients may get more headlines, but experts say as many as two billion people around the world have diets deficient in zinc – and studies at Oregon State University and elsewhere are raising concerns about the health implications this holds for infectious disease, immune function, DNA damage and cancer.

One new study has found DNA damage in humans caused by only minor zinc deficiency.

Zinc deficiency is quite common in the developing world. Even in the United States, about 12 percent of the population is probably at risk for zinc deficiency, and perhaps so many as 40 percent of the elderly, due to inadequate dietary intake and less absorption of this essential nutrient, experts say. Many or most people have never been tested for zinc status, but existing tests are so poor it might not make much difference if they had been.

"Zinc deficiencies have been somewhat under the radar because we just don't know that much about mechanisms that control its absorption, role, or even how to test for it in people with any accuracy," said Emily Ho, an associate professor with the Linus Pauling Institute at OSU, and international expert on the role of dietary zinc.

However, studies have shown that zinc is essential to protecting against oxidative stress and helping DNA repair – meaning that in the face of zinc deficiency, the body's ability to repair genetic damage may be decreasing even as the amount of damage is going up.

Two studies recently published, in the Journal of Nutrition and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found significant levels of DNA damage both with laboratory animals and in apparently healthy men who have low zinc intake. Zinc depletion caused strands of their DNA to break, and increasing the intake of zinc reversed the damage back to normal levels.

"In one clinical study with men, we were able to see increases in DNA damage from zinc deficiency even before existing tests, like decreased plasma zinc levels, could spot the zinc deficiency," Ho said. "An inadequate level of zinc intake clearly has consequences for cellular health."

Many zinc studies, Ho said, have focused on prostate cancer – the second leading cause of cancer deaths in American men – because the prostate gland has one of the highest concentrations of zinc in the body, for reasons that are not clearly known.

When prostate glands become cancerous, their level of zinc drops precipitously, and some studies have suggested that increasing zinc in the prostate may at least help prevent prostate cancer and could potentially be a therapeutic strategy. There are concerns about the relationship of zinc intake to esophageal, breast, and head and neck cancers. And the reduced zinc status that occurs with aging may also contribute to a higher incidence of infection and autoimmune diseases, researchers said in one study in the Journal of Nutrition.

Zinc is naturally found associated with proteins in such meats as beef and poultry, and in even higher levels in shellfish such as oysters. It's available in plants but poorly absorbed from them, raising additional concerns for vegetarians. And inadequate intake is so prevalent in the elderly, Ho said, that they should usually consider taking a multivitamin to ensure adequate levels.

Zinc is an essential micronutrient for numerous cellular processes. But taking too much zinc can also be a concern, because in excess it can interfere with the absorption of other important nutrients such as iron and copper. The recommended daily allowance is eight milligrams a day for women, 11 for men, and anything over 50 milligrams a day could be considered excessive, Ho said.

"The consequences of zinc deficiency in adults have been understudied despite the recognition of symptoms of zinc deficiency for decades," researchers wrote in one recent report. "A considerable body of evidence suggests that zinc deficiency may increase the risk of some chronic diseases, including cancer. This link may be attributed to the role of zinc in antioxidant defense and DNA damage repair."

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Prostate Medication

Article courtesy of prostatehealthnews.org

- If you are suffering from a prostrate condition you are probably aware of the medications that are available. In addition to the standard prostrate medication, there are alternative medications as well. Being that prostrate conditions are so common in older men, there are several medications that are quite common.

In order to determine which prostrate medication is best for you, you will need to see a doctor. They will be able to determine what type of condition you are suffering from, as well as how to best treat it with medication.

Generally speaking, there are two types of prostrate medications that are used in treating people who are suffering from a number of conditions. Generally speaking, medications are most often times used by people who are suffering from an enlarged prostate gland. But other conditions may be treated with medication as well.

The two types of prostrate medications include alpha blockers and 5 alpha reductase inhibitors. Both of them are used to treat certain types of conditions, and have different side effects that may occur.

Alpha blockers are used in order to relax the muscles of the prostate, as well as the bladder. In turn, this makes it much easier for you to urinate comfortably. The problem with alpha blockers is that they have several side effects that go along with them. These side effects include dizziness, headache, fatigue, and respiratory infections.

On the other side of things, and 5 alpha reductase inhibitors are used to shrink the prostate. In turn, this relieves the amount of pressure that is being put on the urethra. When taking and 5 alpha reductase inhibitors men who are suffering from symptoms will realize that they are going away as the prostrate shrinks.

The downside of and 5 alpha reductase inhibitors is that they can take a very long time to have a positive effect; sometimes more than six months. In addition, side effects include a decrease in sex drive, as well as impotence. These are side effects that many men do not want to deal with.

With both of these prostrate medications there are many side effects that should be looked into. Some men are willing to deal with these side effects, whereas others want to avoid them at all costs. This can be discussed with your doctor in order to determine the best medication for you.

Overall, prostrate medication is on the rise all over the world. With more and more baby boomers coming of retirement age, the need for prostrate medication is on the rise. Even though there are some side effects of prostate medication, patients should be glad that they exist. They most definitely have their place in the world of medicine.

PET Scan May Help Detect Prostate Cancer Early

ScienceDaily (Sep. 1, 2009) — A new study published in the September issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine shows that positron emission tomography (PET)/computer tomography (CT) scans with the imaging agent choline could detect recurring prostate cancer sooner than conventional imaging technologies in some patients who have had their prostates surgically removed.

In addition, the journal also includes a paper that provides a broader examination of new agents and techniques for imaging prostate cancer, which accounts for 10 percent of all cancer-related deaths in the United States and is the most common type of cancer among men.

Many men diagnosed with prostate cancer choose to have a radical prostatectomy, which involves surgical removal of the entire gland and surrounding tissue. However, prostate cancer recurs within five years in as many as 30 percent of these patients. Physicians monitor patients who have undergone the procedure by checking levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. If PSA is detected after radical prostatectomy—known as biochemical relapse—then imaging techniques are essential to determine whether and exactly where in the body the cancer has recurred. The study examined PET/CT scans with radioactively labeled choline—a promising molecular imaging tool which has been shown to be more accurate than conventional imaging techniques such as CT, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and bone scintigraphy in detecting recurrent prostate cancer.

"In most patients with biochemical relapse after radical prostatectomy, conventional imaging methods often return false-negative results, meaning that the imaging techniques fail to detect cancer that is present in the body," said Paolo Castellucci, M.D., of the nuclear medicine unit, hematology-oncology and laboratory medicine department, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna Policlinico S. Orsola-Malpghi, University of Bologna, Italy, and lead author of the study. "Our study found that for some patients, PET/CT with choline can improve the detection of cancer soon after PSA levels are measured. This enables physicians to tailor treatment to individual patients in the early stages of recurrence, thus increasing their chances of recovery."

The study included a total of 190 patients who had undergone radical prostatectomy and showed biochemical relapse in followup examinations. These patients were grouped according to PSA levels and studied with choline PET/CT scans. In addition, researchers also factored in PSA kinetic factors such as velocity—or the rate at which PSA levels change—and the PSA doubling time for each patient.

The study found that whole body PET/CT imaging with choline is significantly better than conventional imaging technologies in detecting prostate cancer in patients with biochemical relapse after radical prostatectomy. Researchers also found a strong association between PET/CT detection of recurrent cancer, PSA levels, and PSA kinetics. The authors suggest that based on the results, only patients with a high probability of having a positive scan based on PSA levels and kinetics should undergo choline PET/CT scans. By using these criteria, the number of inappropriate choline PET/CT scans can be reduced and early detection of prostate cancer relapse can be improved.

A paper examining the state of imaging technologies in diagnosing, staging, and monitoring treatment of prostate cancer is also featured in this month's journal. The paper, based on a recent workshop held at the National Cancer Institute, reviews the technologies in light of growing concerns about overdiagnosing and overtreating prostate cancer. In some cases, detectable prostate cancer is very slow-growing and remains localized in the prostate. The rate of overdiagnosis of prostate cancer—defined as diagnosis in men who would not have clinical symptoms during their lifetime—has been estimated to be as high as 50 percent. In these cases, decisions to treat the cancer could have significant side effects such as impotence and incontinence, which can affect patients' quality of life.

"Conventional imaging techniques such as CT, MRI, and ultrasound leave substantial room for improvement in determining the extent and severity of prostate cancer," said Martin Pomper, M.D., Ph.D., professor in the department of radiology and radiological science, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore. "New biomarkers may soon rival PSA for monitoring the presence and extent of disease. Our brief review examines the role of new and emerging molecular imaging agents for initially diagnosing, staging, detecting recurrence after treatment and measuring response to therapy."

Despite a variety of emerging techniques and probes using multiple imaging modalities, the paper notes, a simple, accurate method for image-guided therapy within the prostate is still needed. For metastatic disease, more careful study should be conducted of combinations of markers for prostate cancer, such as androgen receptor and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), which are excellent targets for imaging and therapy. In addition, new selective serum and urinary biomarkers such as the urinary marker sarcosine should be merged with molecular imaging tools.

Pomper adds,"The article by Castellucci, et. al., in this issue illustrates nicely how connecting a serum marker—in this case PSA—with imaging can facilitate choosing the correct patients for an imaging study, as well as cut back on false negative results for that study." A practical multimodality imaging approach, coupled with an array of relevant bioarkers sampled from the blood and urine, will provide the best chance for effective management of prostate cancer, the paper concludes.

 
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