http://www.healthknot.com Explores the link between health problems and nutrition, toxic exposures, genetic malfunction and emotions. Includes overview of medical diagnostic tests, "recipe for health", health news, and more. en-us health Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:15:06 GMT Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:15:06 GMT healthknot.com http://www.healthknot.com/hypertension_risk.html The purpose of the entire recent move to reduce salt intake at the level of population is hopeful - but unsupported by the facts - expectation of significantly reduced rate of hypertension, and related adverse health effects. Is there something in the body of evidence suggesting better options? Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:15:05 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/salt_health.html Sodium is bio-electrolyte essential not only for maintaining optimum health, but for the very survival. No one disputes that fact. Without it, the subtle flow of electrical currents supporting life - called bio-electricity - would be irreparably interrupted. As we all know, nearly all of our sodium intake comes from salt, or, chemically, sodium chloride. Chloride itself is an essential mineral, so it is not in question whether we need salt, or not - only what is the safe limit to its intake. Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:39:32 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/salt_reality.html Is our present salt consumption unhealthful excess? The answer to that question is. like an open book, lying in front of our eyes. Wide range of salt intake levels in different countries and regions makes it possible to identify any significant effect of it on blood pressure and cardiovascular health, and either prove or disprove salt hypothesis. All that is needed is to gather data, process it, and make the conclusion. Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:59:46 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/dahl_intersalt.html Dahl's study from 1960 was groundbreaking in that it turned to human populations to look for the evidence of salt-hypertension link. Dahl's data was scarce, and of uncertain quality, but the dramatic correlation between salt and hypertension it showed made big impact on people's minds. It convinced many - beginning with medical professional - that current salt consumption is, indeed, major health hazard. Fri, 23 Jul 2010 04:42:41 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/diabetes_drugs.html If there were any doubts about the final score of the government's decade long "landmark study" aspiring to defeat diabetes by throwing best of drugs - and lots of them - at it, there's none left. Last month, the remaining two pieces fell in, and the quick summary is: can't do it. Fri, 23 Jul 2010 04:41:40 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/bone_drugs.html This month, many causal readers could caught headlines reporting of a recent study "adding more evidence that bone drugs work". Articles do not elaborate on what the old evidence is, but they are quick to add that the new study not only confirms that bone drugs work, but that its results are also "reassuring" of their safety. Fri, 23 Jul 2010 04:39:59 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/salt_studies.html Why is it that after thousands of studies on the subject of salt and hypertension we don't seem to be anywhere close to consensus on whether the present salt consumption makes people sick, or not? Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:03:26 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/salt_hypothesis.html What is the factual basis, and the sequence of events, that made the view that dietary salt intake tends to raise blood pressure - so called salt hypothesis - become so deeply rooted in the field of academic medicine that it became the determinant of governmental health policies? Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:59:11 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/hypertension_and_salt.html It is silent, but deadly: often without warning signs, high blood pressure (hypertension) kills well over 50,000 Americans each year. Moreover, it is among causative factors in another 300,000 deaths, or so. In short, it is an enemy with long and terrifying record. Two major governmental health organizations - Centers for Disease Control (CDC)and Institute of Medicine (IOM) - decided that it warrants declaring war on salt, which is for a long time linked to high blood pressure. Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:53:28 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/saturated_fats_unsaturated_fats.html Characteristics, types and health significance of saturated and unsaturated dietary fats. Wed, 21 Apr 2010 02:30:06 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/body_protein.html Significance and molecular structure of body proteins. Wed, 21 Apr 2010 02:09:46 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/metabolism.html Body metabolism: from food digestion to cellular respiration. Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:32:51 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/protein_requirement.html Requirements for dietary protein and essential amino acids, minimum and maximum safe intake and recommended daily intake. Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:02:55 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/protein_quality.html Are we mislead with the use of a term protein quality? A perfect protein food would contain just the right amount of protein, which itself would contain just the right proportion of non-essential and essential amino acids. While we can easily determine what foods have just the right amount of protein (for adults, with about 10 of the calories coming from protein, such ideal food is not protein-concentrated), it gets more complicated when it comes to the question of protein quality. Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:02:25 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/PDCASS.html Critical comments on the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score ( PDCAAS), the official FAO/WHO protein "quality" criterion. Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:01:40 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/optimum_intake_protein.html Dietary protein intake and health consequences. Optimum daily protein intake and nutritionally good protein foods. Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:01:01 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/dietary_fats.html Not all fats are created equal: good fats we must have to maintain health, and bad fats rob us of it. A few of them are in between, or nearly neutral health-wise. Some of the good fats your body doesn't need to get from the food (since it can make them), but consuming them won't hurt you unless taken in excess. Those that it can't make are called essential, and can only be obtained from food, or food supplements, preformed. Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:58:57 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/carbohydrates.html Types of carbohydrates, nutritional and caloric values, body function and health effects. Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:57:16 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/folic_acid_cancer.html Are you confused? After over a decade of having our foods fortified with folic acid, studies are coming in with worrisome, consistent indications that the elevated intake of this form of vitamin B9 - produced synthetically for food supplements and fortification - can increase the risk of developing cancer. Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:00:19 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/wakefield_proceedings.html Formal proceedings against a medical study author, such as the fiery controversy that has spun around Dr. Andrew Wakefield 1998 autism study, are extremely rare. Is the general absence of professional and ethical misconduct proceedings against those involved in authoring medical studies and presenting their data a proof that the vast majority of them are up to highest professional and ethical standards? Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:36:37 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/wakefield_autism_study.html Wakefield's autism study, implying causative link between "environmental triggers", including vaccination, and "developmental regression", mainly autism, has been fully retracted by Lancet at the beginning of this month. The first question that comes to mind is: "Why did it take so long"? The second: "What was the reason?". Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:36:11 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/the_MMR_vaccine.html The rant against Dr. Andrew Wakefield, started in 2004 by Brian Deer's media feeds, escalated to a full-blown campaign, not only very unusual in the circles of high-level medical professionals, but seemingly vastly overgrowing factual significance of his 1998 study. Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:35:41 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/physical_activity_benefits.html Most anyone knows that physical activity benefits health. This view is supported by both, medical research and statistical data. Besides being in better overall shape, physically active individuals are much less likely to succumb to acute and chronic diseases, or to day prematurely. Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:35:07 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/antibiotic_children.html That sounds odd, doesn't it: antibiotic children? Even more so if you think of the inherent meaning of "antibiotic", which is pretty much the same as "anti-life". How could possibly children be anti-life? Of course, they're not; but, these days, it literally becomes a part of their lives. Being generation born to antibiotics, they are bound to have some of their main attribute rubbed off onto them, one way or another. Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:34:28 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/cellular_metabolism.html It matters a lot how good is the food you eat, and how efficient is your digestion. But it still isn't enough to guarantee health. It is the smallest piece of the puzzle - your cellular metabolism - that ultimately determines how good you feel, and how long you live. As your cells assimilate small molecules of proteins, fats and carbohydrates broken down by digestion - i.e. amino acids, fatty acids and monosaccharides - the question of whether they will be able to use them efficiently for their - and yours - wellbeing is still unanswered. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:53:13 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/index.html Explores the link between health problems and nutrition, toxic exposures, genetic malfunction and emotions. Includes overview of medical diagnostic tests, "recipe for health", health news, and more. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:01:29 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/health_news_2010.html Health news, commentaries on health-related articles, studies, research papaers, trials and events. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:47:47 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/map.html Healthknot.www site map Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:44:09 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/smoking_health_hazards.html Some things we just know: for instance, a few cigarettes a day hardly can do any harm. Nothing to worry about. But a recent study on cardiovascular mortality and cigarette smoke begs to differ. Its data show that dose-response relationship matters little when it comes to smoking health hazards. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:49:37 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/rosuvastatin.html It shouldn't come as a surprise to see this news: on December 15th, FDA's advisory committee voted overwhelmingly (12 to 4) in favor of broadening indication for rosuvastatin - AstraZeneca's anti-cholesterol drug better known as Crestor - to include anyone at low to moderate risk for cardiovascular disease, whether their LDL cholesterol level is elevated, or not. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:49:03 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/high_sugar_diet.html Imagine you are a tiny little worm, happily feeding on bacteria, and also got lucky to have some steady sugar added to your diet. Everything looks - or should we say tastes - great ... until it's time to go. The bad news is that for you it comes 3-4 days sooner than for your counterparts without extra sugar in their diet; they get to live all of their 18-day lifetimes. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:48:18 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/high_protein_diet_effects.html If you are living in the U.S. - or most any Western country - your protein intake is likely to be between elevated and high. Health wise, any dietary excess is undesirable, and proteins are no exception. But what are, exactly, high-protein diet effects on health? How serious is the downside, and isn't there something good coming from it, at least in part compensating for its negative effects? Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:47:45 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/healthier_life.html What is a year of life worth? Or years of a healthier life, not bothered by poor health? Their value seems to be low for those relatively young and healthy, skyrocketing the closer we get to life's end, or the more we're crippled with a disease. So we keep falling in the same trap over and over again: we don't appreciate what we have while we have plenty, and when it's lost, we realize what it really meant to us, but it is often too late. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:47:09 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/folic_acid_studies.html For a while, we thought of folic acid - the most common synthetic form of vitamin B9, or folate - as a good friend of our health. Then, just as we stepped into this new century, a string of folic acid studies came to unexpected result: not only that this vitamin doesn't necessarily give us protective aura we thought it does, it can even partner with the most feared of all our health enemies - cancer. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:43:35 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/c_difficile_warning.html These days, anyone using medical services on a regular basis should be concerned about Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), tiny intestinal bug that can cause anything from severe diarrhea, colitis, hypotension and toxic megacolon, to sepsis and death. To a smaller extent, everyone else should be concerned as well: not only about the threat that this bug poses, but about the warning it delivers as well. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:40:23 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/autism_epidemic_worsening.html Is the incidence of autism among U.S. children so high to justify calling it autism epidemic? If one looks at the percentage number, it appears to be rather low; even if it keeps increasing - especially with respect to what it was, or thought to be, just a 2-3 decades ago - it is at present estimated to be "only" about 1. But one in hundred means that the total number of children affected by autism runs into hundreds of thousands. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:39:45 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/asthma_risk_and_waist_size.html Does enlarged waist makes women more vulnerable to succumb to asthma? Some previous studies did find positive statistical link between overweight/obesity and asthma risk. A recent study indicates that even wider waist alone, without overweight factor, increases that risk (Obesity, waist size and prevalence of current asthma in the California Teachers Study cohort, Behren et al, 2009). Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:38:49 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/hodgkins_long-term_mortality.html Specific information on long-term morbidity and mortality of highly toxic conventional treatments for Hodgkin's lymphoma is - for some reason - hard to come by where it should be given to you: doctor's office, hospitals, and governmental health organizations. Is there something to hide here? Read on, and decide for yourself. Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:05:06 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/glycemic_index_glycemic_load.html Glycemic index and glycemic load are the measure of food's potential to rise body's blood glucose level. They are a handy tool for making sure that your diet avoids both, chronic excess and unhealthy surges in blood glucose level. Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:27:12 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/gut_health.html Importance of healthy gut and good digestion for overall health. Causes of leaky gut, health consequences, diagnosing and treatment. Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:42:58 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/glucose_metabolism.html The balk of 85-90 of its caloric needs, the body satisfies by burning monosaccharides, primarily glucose, and fatty acids (roughly in even proportion between the two). As soon as it enters the cytosol, glucose is converted, irreversibly, into glucose 6-phosphate (G6P), the initial chemical metabolite of the anaerobic (not requiring oxygen) phase of the cellular glucose metabolism, called glycolysis.  Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:06:38 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/metabolic_type.html What would be the meaning - if any - of the popular concept of metabolic type? In general, it states that each of us has metabolic preference for one of these three basic types of diet: ∙ high in animal proteins and fats (carnivore) ∙ high in carbohydrates (plant-based) ∙ nearly balanced between the two. Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:59:14 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/fatty_acid_metabolism.html Unlike glucose, fatty acids that are burned for energy enter Krebs cycle after so called β-oxidation (due to these chemical reactions clipping off two carbons at the acid end of a fatty acid molecule, with the second carbon atom from that end being β-carbon). Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:58:37 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/body_cells.html Main types of body cells, cellular nourishment, metabolic rate and caloric balance. Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:57:22 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/amino_acid_metabolism.html Amino acids assimilated by your body cells face two possible fates. One of them is protein synthesis, either directly, in the form in which they have been assimilated into the cell, or after being restructured by transamination to specific other (non-essential) amino acids, needed by the cell to assemble particular proteins. Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:56:02 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/asthma_solution.html With all the hoopla about molecular medicine and new health discoveries, how much progress has been made in treating asthma? Not too long ago, the official asthma solution would fit in a short sentence: "You just have to learn to relax". Then pharmaceutical companies learned how to, more or less efficiently, suppress asthma symptoms with drugs. On the opposite end, environmental medicine was trying - often successfully - to find, address and neutralize by far the most significant asthma's causative factors - body's environmental interactions, including those diet related. Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:55:38 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/vitamin_d_status.html Is abundant skin exposure to sunshine unreliable in securing good body vitamin D status, as the Binkley et al results imply? Is the nominal blood level of the primary vitamin D metabolite, 25[OH]D, by itself sufficiently accurate indicator of vitamin D status? These questions concern our very basic understanding of our needs for this important nutrient (or, more accurately, secosteroid hormone), necessary to preserve, or regain health. Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:28:16 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/vitamin_D_deficiency.html Is your child getting enough of vitamin D? What if not? And what is "enough", anyway? As we are becoming increasingly aware of its importance to health, answering this questions becomes more pressing. Two recent studies found that vitamin D deficiency in children is rather common. The real picture, though, is likely worse than what the studies present. Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:27:36 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/unhealthy_habits.html Everyone is talking about the importance of healthy lifestyle for sustaining health. But how much those typical unhealthy habits - like excess body weight, junk foods, smoking or lack of exercise - really hurt? A recent CDC (Center for Disease Control) study comes up with some specific numbers for these four main offenders. Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:26:31 GMT http://www.healthknot.com/pill_crush.html Have you checked on your gut health lately? There is no health without well functioning gut - and the good news is that a novel diagnostic gut test makes it even easier to assess its performance. All it takes is breath analyzer. Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:21:32 GMT