There was recently an uproar in the media on double mastectomies, mainly due to Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie’s high-profile operation.
90% of women diagnosed with breast cancer are afraid the cancer could recur or spread to the other breast. They therefore opt for a double mastectomy just in case
While researching this subject, some interesting reports surfaced. The conclusions are reporting that around 70 per cent of the procedures (where both breasts are removed following a diagnosis of breast cancer) are unnecessary, as the cancer would never have spread.
The number of double mastectomies has been rising over the past few years and the fault could be with the cancer specialist who is not offering proper advice. Not surprisingly, 90 per cent of women diagnosed with breast cancer are afraid the cancer could recur or spread to the other breast. They therefore opt for a double mastectomy just in case. According to research, there is no evidence this could happen.
Researchers at the University of Michigan’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre, state that unless there is a strong family history or a genetic predisposition, a double mastectomy should not be carried out (American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Care Symposium, November-December, 2012, California).
• Moving on to another condition, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a real disease and not ‘all in the head’, as many doctors would have sufferers believe. IBS affects up to 20 per cent of people, who complain of symptoms ranging from bloating and cramps to abdominal pain and constipation, and yet they are rarely taken seriously by practitioners.
This is often because IBS does not follow the classical pattern of a disease with a definite cause, as it isn’t a disease but an umbrella term that refers to a group of problems, say researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
IBS is the result of several disturbed motor and sensory processes that have been affected by irritants such as certain foods, poor gut flora and the overproduction of bile and fatty acids, they say. (N. Engl. J. Med., 2012).
Many of us have food allergies or intolerances; the culprit could be among the chemicals used to chlorinate the public water supply. The chemical in question is also found in pesticides, which we can absorb from the air we breathe and the food we eat, say researchers.
They have pinpointed this chemical as the most likely cause of food allergies and intolerances after it was found that sufferers had the highest levels of this pollutant in their bodies. Of the 2,211 people with high levels of dichlorophenol analysed in a survey, 411 had a food allergy, which can sometimes be life-threatening. Another 1,016 had an environmental allergy, such as hay fever.
However, it has been estimated that half of the population in the West has a food intolerance (often to wheat, milk and eggs) which is a milder form of allergy, causing discomfort and difficulty in digesting the trigger foods. This, too, could be caused by dichlorophenol.
The chemical is extensively used to chlorinate the water supply we draw from our taps (if our water supply is chlorinated) and in pesticides. Researchers from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology say that even changing to bottled water may not be enough (especially if the bottled water is chlorinated too). The chemical can also be found on the fruit and vegetables we eat, unless, of course, the food is organic (Ann. Allergy Asthma Immunol., 2012).
A vegetarian diet can help to prevent diverticular disease, one of the West’s most common bowel disorders. In fact, vegetarians are around a third less likely to develop the problem than are their meat-eating counterparts, a new study has discovered.
In a study population of 47,033 generally healthy individuals, Oxford University re-searchers profiled the health of 15,459 vegetarians and discovered that the typical high-fibre vegetarian diet resulted in a 30 per cent reduction in the risk of developing the problem.
Participants who ate around 25 g of fibre each day (such as fruit, vegetables, oats and rye) were far less likely to develop diverticular disease than someone who ate just 14 g of fibre each day (BMJ, 2011).
• And finally, many of the problems associated with growing old (such as falls, unsteadiness and an increased risk of stroke) are the direct consequences of taking a prescription drug; selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants have now been added to the list of culprits.
These SSRIs are often prescribed to the elderly to help them cope with their depression. A new study has discovered they are the cause of the symptoms that have been blamed on the ageing process. The drugs quickened death, caused stroke, a fall or fractures and could even trigger an epileptic fit or lower salt levels in the blood.
Researchers at the University of Nottingham, UK, made these discoveries after they analysed the health of 60,746 patients aged 65 and over, who had recently been diagnosed with depression. Of these, 89 per cent were taking an antidepressant drug and 57 per cent of those were SSRI.
It appeared that the risks were highest during the first 28 days of starting the drug and during the month immediately after stopping the drug treatment (BMJ, 2011).
kathryn@maltanet.net