Health Adda

Height has its imposing value. Most heroes in “Mills and Boon” books, in whose arms ladies swoon, are tall and have broad shoulders. A good height is therefore something that most of us wish during our growing years, some, quite desperately. Lionel Messi, the most talented soccer player of present times, who is 5’ 7” had a problem with height. His growth stalled during childhood. One can imagine his anguish when a school going Lionel saw fellow Argentinian kids surpass him in height as he remained stunted. He was diagnosed to be deficient in growth hormone, a protein secreted by the pituitary gland located beneath our brain, which regulates height. This deficiency can ofcourse be partly corrected if the hormone is replaced from outside, before the growing bones have frozen. Hormone replacement, as is done with insulin for diabetes or thyroxin tablets for thyroid deficiency, is feasible, but growth hormone therapy was exorbitant at that time, and his family could not afford it. What ca...

Medical scientists are beginning to realize that stress may be the underlying cause of many diseases of the body. While our “gut feeling” had always suggested that , recent observations on disaster-survivors who lost loved ones and had to undergo great hardships to rebuild their lives, provide more compelling evidence. They develop diseases and succumb earlier than those who were spared such misfortune. With overwork, ambition, insecurity and frustration being so integral to our lives, stress, an old survival response, is turning out to be a modern day killer. While positive stress is indeed necessary to fight and succeed in life, our inability to switch it off when its requirement is over, is burning and exhausting us. The reason why stress has eluded us so long is because there is no test to detect it. You could, for instance, measure a person’s heart rate or blood pressure, both of which may go up due to stress, but not be able to measure stress itself. Recognizi...

When Neal toddled into our home and hearts four years ago, little did we realize that this cuddly pup was bringing in not just happiness but good health as well.  Indeed medical research shows that an animal companion can beneficially impact physical, social and psychological well-being. In a workshop on the Health Benefits of Pets convened by the National Institute of Health, USA, researchers shared evidence on how our animal companions make us healthier, not just by wiping off our loneliness and depression but by settling high blood pressures and reducing cholesterol levels too. Throughout history animals have played a significant role in human customs, legends, and religions, and human- animal relationships have been important to our very survival. In our own time, the great increase in pet ownership in developed countries reflects an often unsatisfied need for intimacy, nurturance, and contact with nature. The importance of pets was demonstrated in the clinical setting as lon...

My cardiologist friends, who look me in my belly and enquire how regular my tennis is going in the monsoon months, are at a loss to explain why the last king of Oudh, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah lived till the age of 64 without  needing their expensive services of coronary angioplasty or a bypass surgery. The nawab had quite a few patently conspicuous “risk factors”. Pictures show him as being grotesquely obese, and tales of his “nawabi” laziness abound.  He is said to have been so dependent on his servants to help him wear his shoes that he could not waddle out of his palace before the British soldiers arrived, as his servants had fled, and he was shoeless. Plump lazy people are usually fond of food, as his royal highness was. He is said to have instructed his cooks to change the cooking medium (probably ghee) to fry each side of his royal “parathas” separately. On hearing this tale, I got the uncanny feeling that his cardiologists had intuitively tipped the nawab that reheating of...

“Consuming excess fibre is one of the main reasons for excess gas and bloating”, said  Dr Kok-Ann Gwee, a senior consultant gastroenterologist from Singapore and President of the Asian Neurogastroenterolgy and Motility Asssociation, who was here in India recently. He shared his observations of how 86% of rice-eating Singaporeans were troubled by these symptoms when prescibed 2 spoonfulls of bran, considered a healthy dietary supplement in the West. Indeed many who decide to turn health freaks, and start binging on sprouts often land up consulting gastroenterologists for symptoms of bloating and belching. Milk, in those with lactose intolerance, often cause the same symptoms as undigested food in the intestines encourage breakdown by the colonizing bacteria, releasing large quantities of CO2, Hydrogen and methane gases, which stretch the intestines. Stating that “What suits the western gut may not apply to Asian intestines at all”, Dr Gwee went on to show evidence how the large inte...

If you thought that germs alone cause infections then think again!  Individual lack of awareness and reluctance to act promptly are often responsible for spreading of diseases! As has been the case with poliomyelitis, a crippling disease ,caused by a virus. Government’s efforts of making its vaccine available in health centres, alone did not work. What had to be done was to reach out and convince each and every person for administering oral drops to their kids. And who could convince them better than Big B? Television served as the best medium to spread awareness. Hepatitis B has a similar case. The virus can cause havoc in some of those that it infects. Prompt  action can, however, control a lot of potential damage. What is lacking is not the availability of effective and affordable vaccine but adequate awareness  among masses. The World Hepatitis Day celebrated on July 28 was an occasion to do just that. Picture 1 A big gas balloon, to spread awareness about Hepatitis,...

If Shakespeare was alive today, the theme of one of his modern-day dramas could well be the tragic tale of Hepatitis. The tragedy however is not that 40 million Indians harbour the virus, and thosands die of it every year, but the fact that very effective prevention and treatment are available for this illness. If, and only if, people knew and acted on time!! Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C are the names of 2 of the 5 viruses that attack the liver. Why they are usually under the spotlight is because of their propensity to lodge in the liver and nibble away at its cells for years after enetring the body, often finally damaging it completely. This advanced stage is called Liver Cirrhosis. Also both these viruses are notorious in causing Liver Cancer, a deadly disease that usually defies tretament. In contrast Hepatitis A and E, the viruses that spread through contaminated water or food, often cause a transient illness of “Acute Hepatitis” that abates in 4 to 6 weeks, do not require specific...