Healthy Life Newsletter, June 2017
Sunshine: Is It Good or Bad for You?
Common wisdom currently dictates that we should stay out of the sun and use lots of sunscreen when we go outdoors. But much recent research indicates that sun exposure, when taken appropriately, can have great benefit to our health and well being, including not just natural Vitamin D production but more.
See the posts at the two links below to read important and interesting info about this timely health topic. Two brief excerpts:
“…some of the positive effects of sunshine including the production of beta-endorphins, which contributes to a general feeling of well-being, or that runner’s high, you get after being in the sun. It is well-known that lack of sunlight is associated with depression, and in the winter months can cause SAD – seasonal affective disorder.”
“…a systematic review of 26 case-control and 19 cohort studies demonstrated a consistent inverse association between chronic sun exposure and the following cancers: colorectal, breast, prostate, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Translated – this means that regular, not intermittent, time in the sun is related to a reduced risk of these types of cancer.”
Read more at : grassrootshealth.net
and
Got Back Pain? Chiropractic Works
Whether you’re a current chiropractic patient or just considering becoming one, low back pain may be the reason why. Nearly 80 percent of adults experience at least one episode of low back pain during their lifetime, and for many, the pain can recur and/or become chronic.
Fortunately, the research continues to suggest spinal manipulation (chiropractic adjustments) is a primary treatment option to get rid of the pain.
Case in point: a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, no less, that reviewed 15 studies and found spinal manipulation reduced pain and improved function after six weeks of treatment. The benefits were similar to those achieved with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), common over-the-counter pain relievers that come with a long list of potential side effects, particularly if used for more than a short time.
These findings are particularly important because as we’ve discussed several times in recent issues, managing pain with drugs – particularly opioids – has become a dangerous epidemic, and health care providers of all types are increasingly appreciating the value of nondrug care for back pain. In fact, the American College of Physicians’ new guidelines on low back pain recommend spinal manipulation among the nonpharmaceutical options that should be tried first, before resorting to medication. Talk to your doctor for more information.
More Vitamin D Studies
Vitamin D and cancer–Researchers in a 4-year-long study of women 55 and older gave half the participants 2,000 IU/day of Vitamin D and 1500 mg/day of calcium, and the other half received placebos. After 4 years, the women taking the D and calcium had a 35% reduction in the incidents of all types of cancer. (Read more about this study)
Vitamin D and diabetes–A recent review in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry & Molecular Biology reported that people in a study whose vitamin D blood levels averaged 41 ng/ml where more than 50% less likely to develop type II diabetes than people whose vitamin D levels averaged 22 ng/ml. Read the review. (Note: 48 vitamin D researchers have signed the GrassrootsHealth call to action stating that healthy vitamin D levels should be 40-60 ng/ml. Dr. Mha Atma recommends aiming for 60 as an optimum level, which for many folks requires taking 5,000 to 10,000 IU/day for a year or more.)
Vitamin D and pain–In the D*action study by GrassrootsHealth, researchers were able to compare 25(OH)D serum levels with location and severity of pain as reported by participants. The average pain rating went down from a rating of 3.7 to 3.1 (16 % decrease) as serum levels rose from about 15 ng/ml to greater than or equal to 75 ng/ml. (Read more about this study.)
Too Much TV Is Bad News for Your Lungs?
You’ve probably heard that too much time spent watching television can contribute to obesity, and that too much time spent anywhere without moving (for example, on a plane) can elevate the risk of a blot clot – but what about too much television time leading to a potentially fatal blot clot in the lungs? That’s the suggestion emerging from a recent study that tracked 85,000 adults (ages 40-79) for 19 years to determine how overall daily television time influenced the development of a pulmonary embolism.
According to study findings, adults who reported watching five or more hours of TV a day were 2.5 times more likely to die of a clot compared to adults who reporting watching two-and-a-half hours or less of television daily.
The study authors suggest several ways to reduce the risk of a blood clot, one of which sounds distinctly healthier than the other: Get up from the couch periodically to stretch your legs / body; or reduce the amount of time you spend watching TV, which presumably will give you more time to spend in more active, blood-clot-inhibiting pursuits. We’ll go with the latter and encourage you to watch less TV and use the time for health-promoting physical activity. Talk to your doctor for more information about the danger of pulmonary embolism and other ways to reduce your risk.
The Latest Perils of Diet Soda
Millions of soda enthusiasts have embraced diet varieties over the years, confident that the switch is a healthy alternative to their sugary counterparts. When it comes to stroke risk and dementia, they may be making a big mistake.
According to a recent study, daily diet soda consumers have nearly three times the risk of suffering a stroke or dementia compared to people who drink one diet soda or less per week.
By the way, while the study did not find an association between consumption of sugary soft drinks and stroke or dementia, previous research links their consumption to type 2 diabetes and heart disease / stroke. So don’t think you’re out of the health risk woods if you switch back from diet to regular soda. The important message is to choose other drink options, starting with water, that maximize your health benefits and minimize your health risks. Talk to your doctor to learn more.
Back Surgery: Too Many, Too Costly and Too Ineffective
By J.C. Smith, MA, DC
There’s an 80 percent chance you’ll suffer back pain during your lifetime, for which your medical doctor will likely recommend over-the-counter pain medication or prescription medication to relieve the pain temporarily.
Depending on your doctor’s assessment and how you respond, they may even consider you a candidate for spine surgery at some point, an increasingly likely (and dangerous) option.
Then there’s chiropractic, which research and experience show is the safest, most effective option for most cases of back pain. Unfortunately, too many people end up in a medical doctor’s office instead of a chiropractor’s office, which accounts for the rampant use of medications and surgery for back pain, particularly here in the U.S. Here’s why back surgery – and medical management of back pain in general – is too frequent, too costly and too ineffective, and why chiropractic care should be your first option when dealing with back pain.
Too Many, Too Costly
Research suggests that of the 500,000-plus disk surgeries that are performed annually (a significant increase of late), as many as 90 percent are unnecessary and ineffective. Richard Deyo, MD, a professor at Oregon Health and Science University, notes, “It seems implausible that the number of patients with the most complex spinal pathology [has] increased 15-fold in just six years” and mentions one strong motivation includes “financial incentives involving both surgeons and hospitals.”
A study conducted by Deyo and Cherkin in 1994 compared international rates of back surgeries and discovered that the rate of American surgery is unusually excessive and directly attributed to the supply of spine surgeons: “The rate of back surgery in the United States was at least 40 percent higher than any other country and was more than five times those in England and Scotland. Back surgery rates increased almost linearly with the per-capita supply of orthopedic and neurosurgeons.”
On the Top 10 list of diseases in America, “back pain” stands at number eight, which according to Forbes.com costs over $40 billion annually for treatment costs alone. Other estimates that include disability, work loss and total indirect costs range between $100 and $200 billion per year. Back pain sent over 3 million people to emergency rooms in 2008 at a cost of $9.5 billion, making it the ninth most expensive condition treated in U.S. hospitals.
What accounts for these staggering costs? We know one thing: Doctors and hospitals are making huge profits off the backs (no pun intended) of unsuspecting patients who are not told there may be better and cheaper ways to solve their back pain with chiropractic care or other non-invasive methods. Back surgeries are among the most expensive, and these costs do not include hospitalization, imaging, drugs or medications. Just take a look at these per-surgery costs for various types of back surgeries:
Anterior cervical fusion: $44,000
Cervical fusion: $19,850
Decompression surgery: $24,000
Lumbar laminectomy: $18,000
Lumbar spinal fusion: $34,500
Dr. Deyo found the mean hospital costs alone for surgical decompression and complex fusions ranged from $23,724 for the former to $80,888 for the latter. When combined with surgical costs, medications, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), rehabilitation and disability, the average spine surgery case approaches $100,000 or more. The direct costs are astronomical and may reach as high as $169,000 for a lumbar fusion and $112,000 for a cervical fusion.