Staying Healthy : News, products and health information for you and your loved ones.

I know several people who have diabetes so this was of some interest to me. As an alternative to the standard injection of insulin that diabetics have to deal with daily, the FDA has given their stamp of approval on Inhaled Insulin. This could be a great development for those who are diabetic but less likely to take their insulin if it requires shots.

There are of course cautions by some advisers: smokers and people who have lung disease in particular are cases that they want to do more research on. Also, while the inhaled insulin definitely seems to help control blood sugar levels in Type I and Type II Diabetes, it would not completely replace the need for injections in those with Type I Diabetes. In addition, Type 2 Diabetes can sometimes be effectively treated with pills which would elimimate the need for the inhaled type of insulin.

Source: CNN / AP

The rare disease known as Progeria (approximately one case in four million) is a truly sad one that affects children and causes them to age prematurely and at an extremely accelerated rate. Many do not last into their teens. They take on the appearance of older people, with white hair and wrinkles and thinner bones.

There was a study I read about that showed the possibility of certain cancer drugs helping to reverse the cellular damage in the body caused by Progeria. The medicine in question is a family of drugs called FTIs (farnesyltransferase inhibitors). In addition to the team at UCLA that held the study, several other teams of people have noted similar results including researchers at HGSI and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In addition to the FTIs, other newer therapies have showed promise in treating Progeria including RNA interference as well as a drug meant to be used by sufferers of osteoporosis.

Source: The Reuters / CNN

I read today in the news about the possible benefits of very low fat diets for those who have prostate cancer. Heart-related health expert Dr. Dean Ornish, who is somewhat famous for proposing strict vegetarianism combined with lowfat diets and exercise, led an intial study regarding prostate cancer. The study, which was published in The Journal of Urology showed that the participants who followed Ornish’s low fat diet and regimen had a 4 percent decrease in prostate specific antigen (PSA) which is an indicator of the growth of this type of cancer.

Those in the study who weren’t treated by the Ornish method saw an increase of 6 percent in PSA. While the research and results are extremely preliminary, the researchers note that it is promising and because of the multitude of other benefits of a low fat diet (reduction in weight and heart problems) it is definitely something to consider for men who have prostate cancer.

Source: The Associated Press / CNN

I came across the Alzheimer’s Association the other day. Their site is chock full of information about the Alzheimer’s disease including the causes and symptoms of Alzheimer’s, diagnosis and treatment and statistics and myths about it.

They stress making “brain-healthy” life choices and have this pretty cool section about 10 basic ways for “maintaining your brain”. This includes things like exercising all parts of your body (not just your brain), keeping your brain active by games and other activities, protecting your head from injuries and eating healthy while avoiding habits that are unhealthy for your brain like alcohol and drugs.

Source: The Alzheimer’s Association

An interesting news blurb on how one of the compounds that occur in tumeric, which is a main ingredients in curries, has been shown in laboratory tests to actually interfere with skin cancer (melanoma) cells. The studies were done at the University of Texas’s Department of Experimental Therapeutics M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The compound in the tumeric is Curcumin and was found to suppress certain proteins that tumor cells rely on to keep themselves going.

Source: CNN/Reuters