Rod's Health

I found an interesting video recently. It claims that eating the fruit of the saguaro cactus can help keep a person hydrated. If true, this would be highly relevant for many parts of the United States at the moment – in the Northeast we have been baking in temperatures close to or above 100°F (that’s 38°C for those readers outside the US). The humidity is also very high here, so the temperature is well above 100º.

The saguaro cactus is unique to the Sonoran desert, although it does not grow in all parts of it. The National Park Service has a nice informational pdf available for free download that provides a lot more information about the cactus. It is noted that the fruit can be used for food, but nothing about helping to guard against dehydration, so I wonder if it is true? A search on Google did not find any evidence of that use, but apparently the Seri indians use it for the treatment of rheumatism. I did not find any other references to medicinal uses.

NaturalNews is a nonprofit sites, so has no advertising. Some of the content may be a little controversial, but there are interesting snippets of information for those who are interested in alternative treatments. Also, in the case of the video above, it provides food for thought about plant sources of medicines. I would be very interested to know what is actually responsible for the help with hydration that the cactus is supposed to provide.

Let me know what you think about the video, and some of the thoughts that it stimulates. If I do find out more about this interesting plant, I will make another post.

As those who have been following my blog for a little while know, I have sleep apnea. Recently, I have started getting it under better control by adjusting a few things that don’t need a doctor’s permission. For example, I turned off the humidifier, using just the fan part of the CPAP machine. The first night I did that, I disconnected the humidifier and attached the hose directly to the part that contains the fan.

I kept waking up during the night because the fan had seemed to become very noisy. I could understand why people complain about the noise of CPAP machines. My wife also commented that it was noisier than usual. So the next night, I reattached the humidifier, but did not put any water in it. When I turned the machine on that night, I made sure the humidifier was turned to zero, allowing the air to pass straight through without being moistened.

My apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) was coming down closer to 1 event per hour, but then I had a night where I couldn’t sleep. The next day I saw somewhere that a low dose of melatonin might help with getting to sleep. I was able to pick up some 1.5 mg tablets at Walmart. I took one that night – out like a light, and slept well. Apparently, there were some strong thunderstorms during the night. I vaguely remember hearing something, but turned over and went back to sleep. Obviously, the melatonin worked for me! However, it is not something I want to take every night. It makes me feel too sleepy the next day!

I was interested to know what had happened to my AHI, so first thing in the morning I took the data card from my CPAP machine and read it into my computer (it is a standard card, so there was no difficulty there). The software told me that my AHI was 0.9 – the lowest it has been for several months. Of course, this was only one night, and I have to continue for several more nights before I can claim I have found the fix that helps my machine get my apnea under control. You certainly have to be persistent with these darned machines, but it is still better than the alternatives.

With my apnea under better control, I am feeling like I want a nap less and less during the day, and I am even starting to exercise more. I am starting to look forward to getting on my bicycle again – it has been a while since I did that. When I lived in New Zealand a few years ago I cycled around Lake Taupo – it took me all of a very long day, but the feeling when I finished was absolutely amazing. I wasn’t racing, but I also wasn’t last ! Nothing like that planned for now, but may be tomorrow I will go out and do 15 to 20 miles – just for fun. Here is a pic of Lake Taupo – it looks huge …

Cycling around here took all day ...

Recent research from the University of Pennsylvania shows that if you listen to what your doctor tells you, it may help you have a better outcome. The study, which is published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing in the July/August issue, looked at several markers of cardiac stress and general inflammation. Patients with heart failure who took their medications as directed, ate a low sodium diet, and exercised, as well as monitoring their symptoms, had low levels of cardiac stress and general inflammation.

This is important information because lower levels of cardiac stress and inflammation markers have been shown to be associated with a lower risk of death, less need for insertion of a device to help the heart beat, and less need for heart transplantation. the heart failure is a difficult disease to treat, so something as easy as doing what the doc tells you is going to be very helpful.

Source: University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing press release.

A member of my wife’s family was diagnosed with colon cancer a while ago. We have been looking at the value of various supplements in support of the treatment she is reading. Several studies have linked low vitamin D levels to reduced risk of many diseases, including colon cancer.

My training as a pharmacist warned me that vitamin D can be dangerous if taken at very high levels. What levels are dangerous? I found a study that was published in the journal Anticancer Research in February of this year. The researchers believe that intake of up to 40,000 international units/day are not likely to result in signs of significant toxicity (poisoning). This is a huge dose, and closer reading of the abstract shows that the dose required to get the serum 25(OH)D level above 40 ng/mL was almost 10,000 international units/day.

The full article was available at no charge. So I took a look at it. The authors enrolled more than 3600 patients and measured their 25(OH)D levels. They found that most people were taking less than 500 international unit each day. The authors noted that this is the first analysis of a relation between vitamin D levels and vitamin D supplements measured in a community of patients. The patients were not taking a single brand of vitamin D, so it is not possible to say which brand anyone should take. The study raises a lots of questions, but they made it clear that what was thought to be a high dose a few years ago may actually be what most people need.

Of course, an individual should not be taking the second day without consulting with a physician. There are just too many things that should be considered to be able to suggest a dose that will work for everyone. Some of the things include where you live, how much time you spend in the sunshine, and any dietary sources of vitamin D. Other research has suggested that some diseases may be associated with low levels of vitamin D, but whether the disease or the low vitamin D levels come first is not known.

I was asked this question the other evening, so I had to do some research. The questioner was interested in a possible use for cancer. Obviously, we cannot say that anything will cure cancer. However, asking if a product will help is a good question. This post is the result of my initial research.

The Mayo Clinic says that flaxseed contains some things that your body needs. These things include fiber (you know that is good for you, right?), omega-3 fatty acids (also helpful), and some chemicals called lignans.

So what exactly are lignans? My training as a pharmacist tells me that they have a very complex chemical structure, which I am not going to repeat here. Lignans are found in many plant products, although the greatest amounts are found in flaxseed and sesame seeds. The active ingredient is called secoisolariciresinal diglucoside, which usually gets shortened to SDG. SDG is broken down in the body, where it reacts with special structures called estrogen receptors (they come to life when the hormone estrogen becomes attached to them). This SDG is what has been investigated for possible anticancer effects in a number of clinical and animal studies.

Some types of cancer may respond to increased eating of flax seeds, but much of the research that shows up on PubMed (an index of articles that discuss treatments for diseases) is in mice or rats. Whether the findings in humans will match those in animals remains to be seen. The particular types of cancer that have been investigated include breast, colon, prostate, and skin. It appears that taking flax seed or that SDG that we talked about above, may be best in the very early stages of cancer, but again don’t stop taking the medicine that your doctor prescribes if you have been diagnosed with any of these diseases.

A recent study, published by Dr. Hijova and colleagues, from Safarikiensis University in Slovakia, was particularly interesting, so I took a look at the full article. These researchers gave rats a high-fat diet and then gave them a prebiotic alone or in combination with horse chestnut extract or flaxseed oil. Another group of animals got the prebiotic and both horse chestnut extract and flaxseed oil. What they found was that in the animals that got the treatments there was a reduction in concentrations of an enzyme that they say has been found to be increased in patients with colon cancer. There were also reductions in total cholesterol, triacylglycerols, and bile acids compared with animals that got only the prebiotic.

The design of this study doesn’t allow us to draw any conclusions about whether the same thing will happen in humans. The authors make a very valid point in their conclusion, however. That is that diet may be very important in prevention of disease, and the role of nutritional supplements, like flaxseed oil and horse chestnut extract, needs to be studied in the future.

Looking at the research that has been conducted that flaxseed or the oil that comes from the seeds may be helpful in improving the chances of medications working in a number of different areas. It appears that flaxseed may be good for you, with little risk of side effects. Of course, check with your doctor before taking flaxseed for any ‘medicinal’ purposes.