Health Breakthroughs
The world of natural and alternative health is always changing. Health breakthroughs are discovered and reported on every day. In fact, it’s very possible that you could be bombarded with the latest health breakthroughs every hour. And while getting the most important natural health breakthroughs and news regularly is important, it shouldn’t be overwhelming. That’s why it’s in your best interest to sign up for the free Doctors Health Press e-Bulletin. We give you the latest health breakthroughs, tips and advice in an easy-to-read, clear and concise format, delivered right to your inbox. Whether it’s the latest health breakthroughs or a breaking natural health news alert, you can count on the Doctors Health Press e-Bulletin to deliver all the health breakthroughs to you, every day, for free.
Whether you’re concerned about preventing breast cancer, lung cancer or any other form of the dreaded disease or you want to know how to prevent the onset of diabetes or properly maintain your diabetes or you simply want to maintain your healthy blood pressure, you can find out about these latest health breakthroughs and more from the Doctors Health Press.
Health Breakthrough Treats Stubborn Hypertension
High blood pressure often goes untreated. It doesn’t really cause any symptoms until something serious happens. Of course, the danger is that high blood pressure can lead to a stroke, heart disease, and heart failure.
For most, hypertension can be treated with drug therapy and lifestyle changes. But a growing number of people are now developing what the medical community calls “resistant hypertension.” People with this condition can’t lower their blood pressure no matter what kind of therapy they try. It’s very good news, then, that researchers at the University of Rochester have developed what could rightly be called a health breakthrough: for people with hard-to-control blood pressure, a new implantable device may be the help they have been looking for.
The device, surgically placed just below the collarbone, sends a four- to six-volt electrical jolt to the carotid arteries. This is said to lower blood pressure through a process known as “baroreflex activation therapy.” Here’s what happens: the pulses generated by the device trick your body into thinking that blood pressure has spiked. In response, the body sends out regulators that cause blood pressure to fall. A nifty solution to a challenging problem.
If it sounds a little alarming to send an electrical jolt through your carotid arteries, the researchers say the system is safe, and its effect is as good as taking five or six blood pressure drugs.
The researchers tested the device on a group of patients with high blood pressure. The patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups, with both groups taking about the same number of medications. One group received the baroreflex activation therapy device with activation for a full 12 months. In the other group, the device was programmed to start operating at six months.
The researchers found that reductions in systolic blood pressure after 12 months were at least 50% of those seen at six months. Both groups saw their diastolic blood pressure (the lower number in a reading) drop as well. And one more thing: patients experienced a decrease in left ventricular mass. According to the researchers, chronic hypertension enlarges the heart’s left ventricle.
You may not have resistant hypertension, but getting your blood pressure checked regularly is still something you should do. You can book an appointment and get your doctors advice about your blood pressure reading. In general, readings should fall between the normal range listed — usually at or below 120/80 (systolic/diastolic).
Remember that your nutrition health is a risk factor for hypertension. Salt intake is a big culprit. Certain drugs and medications can also increase your blood pressure. And, finally, medical conditions that affect your kidneys, such as diabetes, can raise blood pressure levels. This is because your kidneys are regulators of long-term blood pressure.
Tags: doctor’s advice, health breakthrough, High Blood Pressure, nutrition health, resistant hypertension
A Breakthrough in Detecting Lung Cancer Earlier
A health breakthrough in the field of cancer prevention is currently underway in Germany. It is specifically for lung cancer, the world’s most fatal tumor. The foundation is being laid for detecting lung cancer earlier, which would improve the outcome for millions of people. The best kind of health news is the kind about saving lives.
Scientists have found nearly 500 molecules whose concentration in the blood changes when a person develops lung cancer. These molecules — nucleic acids — either increase or decrease in numbers in the blood. And it is these that can be detected as a way to know if lung cancer is developing, according to a new study.
The best part is that these changes still happen if the tumor is in a very early stage. In lung cancer, there are four stages. In stages three and four, the outcome is likely not good and the best doctors can do is postpone eventual death. But stage-one lung cancer can be treated surgically and it can even be cured. The problem: only about 15% of these tumors are detected that early. The hope is that this simple blood test could raise the number of patients whose cancer is found early.
Such a test could be performed with results measured in the same day. The future of lung cancer treatment will depend in large part on early detection. And a screening test may be part of routine practice. The doctor takes a blood sample and, within a day, knows with a fair degree of certainty that lung cancer is present. And that is despite there being no symptoms yet.
The study investigated the blood of over 200 smokers. About half of them had lung cancer; the others were either entirely healthy or suffered from another lung disease. So they went to see if a test could differentiate lung cancer patients from healthy subjects. It is then that they found the nucleic acids and the patterns.
So, what’s happening now? There are plans for a much larger study to confirm the results. If true, there would be nothing standing in the way of developing the blood test to the point of being ready to be put on the market. And that is good news for everyone.
Tags: cancer prevention, health breakthrough, Health News, lung cancer
Health Breakthrough for Diabetics with Kidney Problems
There is news of a health breakthrough that may help diabetics who have impaired kidney function. It comes in the form of healing foods. Researchers have for the first time found that a special high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet may reverse that impaired kidney function. Those with type 1 and type 2 diabetes might be interested in learning more about the “ketogenic” diet.
Researchers evaluated mice that were genetically predisposed to have type 1 or 2 diabetes. The mice were allowed to develop “diabetic nephropathy”, a.k.a. kidney failure. Half the mice were put on the ketogenic diet, while the control group maintained a standard high-carbohydrate diet. After eight weeks, kidney failure was reversed in the mice on the ketogenic diet.
This is the first health news to show that using diet alone can be enough to reverse this serious complication of diabetes. And it may be very positive for adults diagnosed with diabetic kidney failure.
What is a ketogenic diet? It is a low-carbohydrate, moderate protein, and high-fat diet typically used to control epileptic seizures. “Ketones” are molecules produced when blood glucose levels are low and blood fat levels are high. When cells use ketones instead of glucose for energy, it means blood glucose is not used. The researchers believed that a ketogenic diet could block the toxic effects of glucose.
It is a relatively extreme diet and should not be used over the long term. But exposure to the diet for as little as a month may be sufficient to reset the entire process that led to kidney failure. In the study, they also found an array of genes that are expressed during kidney failure as a result of stress. The expression of these genes was reversed in the mice on the ketogenic diet.
The researchers believe that this special diet could help treat other neurological diseases and retinopathy — a disease that results in vision loss. It is a promising natural remedy that may make the news more and more in the coming years. For now, speak to your doctor about possibilities with this diet.
Tags: diabetes, diet, healing foods, health breakthrough, Health News, ketogenic diet, kidney
