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| HEALTH TRIBUNE |
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Beware of
noisy knees Plan for
preventing diabetes AYURVEDA & YOU Exercise
causes changes in brain Heart
disease factors among kids Diet
governs cognitive health |
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Beware of noisy knees
Watch your knees at forty. Hope you are not walking with noisy knees. If you hear any noise or crepitus on bending or stretching your knees you need the help of an orthopaedic surgeon. When you cross the age of 40 you have to take care for your knees otherwise at 50 the bone surgeon might talk about total knee replacement. Yes, the Knee joint is replaced with a metal joint. This is not necessary if you start looking after your knees at 40. How and why? The answer is with you
only.
Are you saving your knees from early degeneration? In fact, the aging process or the degenerative changes start after the age of 40. Proper use, balanced diet, light exercise and weekly light massage are the key solutions to keep your knees fit and fine. The knee is the most important and best used joint in our body. This is a weight bearing joint and needs best care. You must have seen people walking with bow legs with knees wide apart or some people walking like a duck tilting the body on the left and right alternately. They are trying to balance their knees rather trying to take load on the less painful side of the knees. The usual age is 55 to 70 years, more seen in women. What is the basic cause of this degeneration? Yes, the proper nutrition does not reach the joints. The lubrication of joints depends upon their proper use and exercise. Too much and wrong use of joints leads to dry run and indirect trauma. Sedentary life-style leads to obese bodies and no exercise results in weak joints unable to carry the load of the body. This situation causes imbalanced knees which are exposed to minor traumas like the twisting of knees while getting up from a squat position in a “kirtan” session. If the process of degeneration is not checked and the damage continues, the knees will also start doing “kirtan'” one day. The noise from the knees becomes very painful after 55 years of age. So, the contributory factors are (1) excessive use of knees in squat postures (2) previous injury to knee joint (3) Any under-lying disease like rheumatoid arthritis (4) sedentary life-style with obese bodies (5) Lack of exercise which disturbs the knee balance. These common factors lead to secondary osteo-arthritis. The primary osteo-arthritis (OA) is due to the aging process only. If both combine they lead to early arthritis or degenerative changes in the knee joint. There is a misconception that spondylosis and osteo-arthritis are very common and serious diseases. These are not diseases but problems associated with the aging process. The secondary osteo-arthritis is of course, based on some disease or trauma. The changes around the joints brought about by calcification and bone formation are nature's response to reduce the function of a joint to avoid its misuse. In other words nature tries to consolidate the joint by excessive bone formation when it becomes painful. It is the first pain which gives you information regarding care. Occasional pain on walking or climbing stairs around the knee cap is the first symptom. It goes away with little massage around the knee cap and pain-killers. After five or eight years stiffness on the back of the knee starts and it may not become straight when you stretch on a flat bed. There is some inward bowing of the knee. A person continues with pain-killers and some local application of ointments. Gradually the knee starts tilting inside by the grinding of medial cartilage and imbalance of muscles acting on the knee. If the knee is not cared for at this stage a person starts walking like a duck, tilting the body on the left and right alternately while walking. The degenerative changes occur and the knee becomes more painful, swollen and stiff. Mostly both knees are involved, and the bowing of legs is seen. This is the stage when you cannot avoid total knee replacement. The writer is a Chandigarh-based orthopaedic surgeon
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Plan for preventing diabetes
Recent studies have proved that people at high risk for diabetes can prevent or delay the onset of the disease with 30 minutes of physical activity five days a week and losing 5 to 7 per cent of their body weight. In other words, you don't have to knock yourself out to prevent diabetes. The key is : small steps leading to big rewards. Goals should be simple, realistic and incremental. For example, the programme goal may be losing 5 to 10 per cent of the current body weight; a short-term goal may be something as simple as walking briskly for 10 minutes a day, at least three days this week. People who achieve short-term successes are more inclined to stay with the programme. First small step: know your diabetes risk based on these factors :
Pre-diabetes is a significant risk factor for type-2 diabetes. In fact, before people develop type-2 diabetes, they almost always have pre-diabetes. Most people with pre-diabetes develop type-2 diabetes within 10 years. Pre-diabetes is not simply an "early warning" of diabetes. Individuals with IGT have a 1.5 times greater risk of cardiovascular disease compared to people with normal blood glucose. Pre-diabetes is diagnosed using either the fasting plasma glucose test (FPG) or a two-hour oral glucose tolerance test (2-hour OGTT). It is recommended that individuals aged 45 years or older, especially those who are overweight or obese, be screened for diabetes/prediabetes and retested every three years if normal. Individuals at increased risk because of obesity, family history, gestational diabetes, or other recognised risk factors for diabetes should be considered for screening every few years. Big reward : Diabetes prevention means lowering the risk for heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, amputation and other serious problems. That is a big reward for you, your family and friends. Second small Step: Commit to a game plan Work with your health-care provider to set realistic short-term and long-term physical activity, weight reduction and nutrition goals. If you never had a regular exercise routine, start with 10 minutes of brisk walking 3 to five days a week. You can then increase your walking to 30 minutes per day, five days a week. The frequency and intensity of physical activity can be increased gradually. Losing 5 to 7 per cent of your weight is one big step to reduce the risk of diabetes. Record your weight every day — this is an effective way to reach goals. You can set fat and calorie goals using the chart below. It may be hard to reach the fat gram and calorie goals at first. Try to get as close to goals as possible, first focusing on fat grams and then on calories. Healthy eating involves eating less fat and fewer calories. Eating too much fat causes weight gain and is related to heart disease and diabetes. Eating too many calories from any type of food is fattening. Big reward: Setting goals will help you stick to your game plan and help you track your success! Third small step: Track your game plan progress. Use the food and activity tracker (which are simple tables of daily and weekly food consumption and activity done along with the goals, are not being published because of space constraints but can be downloaded from www.ndep.nih.gov or obtained from the author) to help you lose 5 to 7 per cent of your weight. The purpose of the food and activity tracker is to provide a tool to reach daily adherence to nutrition and activity goals. Just jotting down what you eat and drink each day is one of the most powerful ways to lose weight and keep it off. Make sure you track the number of calories and fat grams you consume each day. You may buy a fat and calories counter at a supermarket or bookstore or use the on-line counters (http://hin.nhlbi.nih.gov/menuplanner/menu.cgi). Also, be sure to record how many minutes of physical activity is performed each day. Check with your health-care provider about what goals are best for you. Add healthy changes every week and always try to get back on track even if you fall off a few times. Big reward: Losing weight can help prevent diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers and many other chronic diseases. You will also look better and feel better. Fourth small step: Start walking. Start off slowly and work up to 30 minutes of brisk walking a day. Or try dancing, swimming, biking, jogging or any activity that helps get your heart rate up a bit. Big reward: Even modest amounts of activity helps cut the risk of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. |
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Diet scheme for ‘pitta’ people by Dr R. Vatsyayan While classifying various “prakritis”, ayurvedic texts have described that persons with “pitta” dominance have the best appetite and a strong digestive system. They usually get away with occasional dietary aberrations but the effects of a consistently wrong diet may effect them through metabolic disorders and infectious diseases. “Pitta” is generally aggravated by sour, salty and pungent tastes whereas eatables of sweet, bitter and astringent tastes have a pacifying effect on it. “Pitta” people are medium built persons having warm and moist skin which is prone to moles, freckles and early wrinkling. They usually possess moderate, fine and soft hair but also have a tendency to get premature graying of them or even becoming bald. Profuse sweating, a strong body odour and a feeling of extreme discomfort in hot and humid weather are their other characteristic features. Usually they possess sharp intellect, are methodical and are also forceful about expressing their ideas and feelings. They have a tendency to become irritable and tense under stressful conditions. Ayurveda advises that persons having an overwhelmingly “pitta” humour should choose a diet plan which has more of a cold post-digestive effect. Usually three regular meals are sufficient for them but these should not be taken in angry, irritable and upset mood. Most of the whole grains with barley, rice and wheat in order of preference are good for “pitta” persons. Small amounts of legumes except the red one suit them. Having an excessive urge for food and thirst, they are advised not to eat beyond their capacity, but should consume sufficient water in routine. As most of the fruits are cooling, calming, harmonising and thirst-relieving, they make the best of the evening refreshment for “pitta” people. As too much of sour taste is unsuitable to them, they should take juice of citrus fruits after mixing it up with a little of sugar. Similarly, they can take most of the vegetables but should avoid an excessive use of tomatoes, garlic, methi and brinjal which are hot in effect. As most of the “pitta” persons have high metabolism, they digest and assimilate all nutrients in the food very quickly. “Pitta” people are also well able to digest dairy products, particularly milk. Though moderate use of unsalted butter and ghee is good for them, they should consume curd only after blending it with water and a small quantity of sugar. Most of the oils are hot and greasy in nature and should be used in small quantity. Nuts are again warm and oily and should be avoided. Only coconut has the exception of being oily but at the same time cool in effect. Fresh coconut juice has been described as the best anti-dote of many “pitta” related diseases. It cures hyperacidity, is nourishing and very beneficial if given in recurrent mouth ulcers, hemorrhagic conditions and in burning micturation. Almost all spices are hot in effect, but still “pitta” persons tend to take them in excess. They are advised to use less of spicy food and if ever they want to use pepper, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and hing, their hot potency can be neutralised by adding cardamom, mint and coriander (dhania). Although most of them need a good amount of nourishing diet, still they are best suited to be a vegetarian. As red meat is too intense for them, they can occasionally consume a small amount of poultry meat or egg without yolk. Excessive and prolonged use of tobacco, coffee and alcohol also has an adverse and irritating effect on them. Ayurveda believes that amla among the herbs is the best and all-round medicine for “pitta” people. By adding a little of sugar with it, one or two gm of its dry powder, if taken with milk or water once a day, is the best and safe home remedy to sooth and cleanse their system. The writer is an ayurvedic consultant based at Ludhiana. E-mail:
sanjivni@satyam.net.in |
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Exercise causes changes in brain WASHINGTON: By increasing blood flow to the brain, exercise allows a person to be more mentally engaged, concludes a U.S. study presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans recently. “While we already know that exercise is good for the heart and reduces the incidence of obesity, this study shows exercise can literally cause physical changes in the brain,” claims Judy Cameron of the Oregon Health and Science University. “Furthermore, we believe the study results show exercise causes a person to be more ‘engaged’ and provides another reason for individuals to make physical activity part of their daily regimen. This is especially true in the case of older people with whom decline in mental function over time is a common occurrence,” she adds. In the study, 24 monkeys were divided into three groups: a “running” group, which exercised on treadmills for a set distance five days a week for 20 weeks. A second group did not exercise during this period and a third group exercised for 20 weeks and then remained sedentary. Following the exercise period, scientists then measured the volume of small blood vessels, called capillaries, in the motor cortex region of the brain in all three animal groups. “What we found was a higher brain capillary volume in those monkeys who exercised than in those monkeys who did not. Specifically, changes were most noted in older animals that were ‘less fit’ at the start of the study,” said Cameron.
— ANI
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Heart disease factors among kids
WASHINGTON: Experts have warned that one in eight schoolchildren have three or more risk factors of the metabolic syndrome, which leads to cardiovascular
disease. University of North Carolina researchers presented their report at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2003. The metabolic syndrome is a clustering of the cardiovascular disease risk factors high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or “good” cholesterol) glucose intolerance, elevated insulin levels and excess body weight. The syndrome puts a person at early risk for diabetes and coronary heart disease. — ANI
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Diet governs
cognitive health WASHINGTON:
Scientists believe that having a ‘right’ diet, especially those high in antioxidants may defend astronauts from brain damaging cosmic rays on future manned missions to Mars. The new research also suggests that some of the environmental chemicals present in food through the application of herbicides and insecticides can be very harmful for children. Other studies are beginning to shed some light on the neurological reasons why men lose unwanted weight easily than women. “The role of diet in cognitive function is one of the vastly understudied areas in the neurosciences. As these recent studies show, significant new findings are appearing which highlight the importance of this research on diet and cognitive function,” claims Dr. Carl W. Cotman of the University of California.
— ANI |
