HEALTH

Pursuing the cause of organ donation
Tribune News Service

Dr Jaison stressed the need of routine medical check-up after the age of 45. To avoid kidney failure, it was very essential to control high blood pressure and blood sugar because both were harmful to kidneys. A regular schedule of medical check-up, diet control and regular exercise was required to push aside risk factors.

Take a drink for longer life

IF you’ve been reluctant to give up your martini at the end of a hard day or your favourite wine with dinner, here’s some good news. According to Richard Doll, one of the pioneering researchers in the field of smoking and lung cancer , and one who caused a whole generation to swear off cigarettes, says that we can relax when it comes to moderate indulgence in the pleasures of alcohol.

In an article in the British Medical Journal, Doll says that evidence of health benefits from one or two drinks a day are now ‘’massive.’’ A host of studies indicate reduction of mortality from heart disease by a third. Heart disease is a major cause of death in middle and old age. And though moderate alcohol consumption can have harmful effects, such as an increased risk of breast cancer in women, yet its beneficial effects outweigh the harmful ones.

All this is not exactly news, with the first scientific reports appeared as early as 1926. But, says Doll, ‘’ The belief that alcohol is bad for health was so ingrained in our minds that the idea of taking amounts might be good for you, was hard to envisage, and it is only in the past 10 years that cardiologists and specialists in preventive medicine have begun to take it seriously.’’

Doll cites a number of key studies during the past decade. A California pre-paid health plan studied 20,000 men and women over an eight-year period. The American Cancer Society studied 490,000 Americans aged 30 and above. Doll and his associates conducted a study of 12,000 middle-aged and elderly British doctors.

Even after adjusting for risk factors such as dietary fat, smoking and socio-economic standing, these studies establish a strong link between moderate drinking and reduced mortality.

Which one is better?

According to Doll, the only proven benefit is from ethanol in alcohol, so it doesn’t matter whether your drink of choice is wine, beer or spirits. Experiments have shown that ethanol has a number of helpful effects, including raising the amount of ‘’good’’ cholesterol and acting on platelets in the blood to prevent clotting.

As a way of explaining the ‘’French paradox’’-Frenchmen who eat lots of saturated fats but still live a long life, researchers had long suspected health benefits from wine, results of a new study by Serge Renaud of about 34,000 middle-aged men living in eastern France may offer supporting evidence. Renaud reported a 30 per cent reduction in death from all causes with two to three glasses of wine a day, a 35 per cent reduction from heart disease and 18 to24 per cent reduction in cancer cases. The latter findings, he claims, are due to the anti-oxidant action of polyphenol compounds in grapes.

And of course, the very pleasure and relaxing effect of a drink or two, especially in the company of friends, may partly account for the health benefit—a possibility that deserves more research.

How much is enough?

Regardless of what you drink or why it’s good for you, Doll and Renaud both emphasise that moderation is the key. Virtually all the research supports a ‘’U’’ or ‘’J’’ shape relationship between drinking and mortality. This means that mortality risk is higher for teetotallers,who put themselves at risk from alcohol-related accidents, cancers and liver disease.

What actually constitutes moderation or excess is not so easy to define. According to a French study, adverse effects begin to occur after four glasses of wine a day. In the study discussed by Doll, optimal consumption levels varied. Both heavy and moderate drinkers tend to understate how much they imbibe, especially in societies where alcohol consumption is in general disrepute. And the definition of ‘’ one drink’’ varied among studies.

Further studies will refine the details, but meanwhile, the basic message is clear; once we reach middle age, enjoying one or two drinks a day reduces the risk of premature death.
— Dr. R. Chawla

SPORT

Ludhiana players shine in karate tourney
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, July 20 — Ludhiana boys and girls achieved a remarkable feat at the third Punjab State Full Contact Karate and Shotokan championship which concluded at Nakodar recently.

Karate players from all over the state took part in the junior and sub- junior categories of the championship.

Nine players from the Chinese Martial Art Kungfu Academy, Ludhiana, participated in the competition. All of them bagged gold medals in various categories.

The winners included Arjun Adhikari (8) in 23 kg, Sahil Verma (8) in 26 kg, Bishnu Bhadur (9) in 43 kg, Captain Gur Rattan (10) 44kg, Sashi Kanta (11) in 46 kg, Lovleen Bharrat (15) in 45 kg, Santosh Mandal (16) in 52 kg, Ruth(7) in 20 kg and Michael (32) in 80 kg category.

ADMINISTRATION

DC assures prompt disposal of complaints
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, July 20 — The deputy commissioner, Mr S.K.Sandhu, today emphasised time bound disposal of complaints and asked the officials to give top priority to redressal of grievances of the Army personnel and the ex-servicemen.

He was presiding over a sangat darshan programme in mini secretariat here, in which people from almost five dozen villages in the district submitted their complaints, relating to various government departments. Most of the complaints were disposed of on the spot.

On a complaint of Ms Surinder Kaur, a resident of village Maksoodra, that police had taken no steps to apprehend the killers of her husband, the Deputy Commissioner directed the SSP of Khanna to take immediate action and to report the progress on weekly basis in the sangat darshan programmes.

The senior officials of the PSEB were instructed to take remedial action on the complaints of inflated bills and non-execution of 24-hour power supply project, submitted by a resident of Daba village and the panchayat of Shekhupura village respectively. Responding to another complaint of Mr Karnail Singh, a resident of Dhaipai village, about a land deal, he instructed the tehsildar (west) and the SHO, Sudhar to enquire into the matter and submit the report by Thursday next.

He urged the officers to be responsive and prompt towards redressal of complaints of the people and to make the weekly sangat darshan programme purposeful. In particular, he directed the officials of the revenue department to speedily provide copies of the land deeds. The rural development department was asked to take up the work of clearing encroachments on panchayat lands on priority basis so that the income of panchayats could increase.

Officials of various departments, including Mr Harjinder Singh, Joint Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, Mr Bharat Bhushan, Executive Magistrate, Mr Sukhminder Singh Gill, SDM, Khanna and Mr Arjun Singh Pawar, district revenue officer, were present on the occasion.