March 21, 2006 [Volume 7, Issue 7]
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In this issue of To Your Health:
- Lower Your Cholesterol the Natural Way
- Calcium Reduces Complications of Pregnancy
- What Makes for the Ideal Doctor?
Lower Your Cholesterol the Natural Way
People who are concerned about their financial well-being routinely monitor their portfolio - a collection of investments, securities and other valuable items - and make the appropriate changes when necessary. If you suffer from high cholesterol, it might be time to examine your dietary portfolio and alter it to one that more closely resembles the diet used in a recent study.
In the trial, 55 middle-aged men and women, who were already on a heart-healthy diet, were asked to follow a more rigid food plan that included high amounts of specific items such as raw almonds, tofu, soy, oatmeal, barley, okra and eggplant. The subjects stayed on the new diet for 12 months, after which researchers collected blood samples to measure changes in cholesterol levels.
Patients who followed the new diet faithfully lowered their cholesterol by an average of 29 percent - a rate similar to that seen in people who had taken statin drugs for a month before starting the diet. For people who did not adhere to the new diet, cholesterol levels remained roughly the same as they were before the start of the study.
If you are concerned about your cholesterol levels, talk to your doctor of chiropractic about adjusting your diet to include foods such as tofu, soy and oatmeal. Your doctor can also create an exercise plan to be used in conjunction with a diet for even greater health and wellness. For more information, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/nutrition.
Jenkins DJA, Kendall CWC, Faulkner DA, et al. Assessment of the longer-term effects of a dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods in hypercholesterolemia. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition March 2006;83(3):582-591.
Calcium Reduces Complications of Pregnancy
Preeclampsia occurs in between 5 percent and 10 percent of all pregnancies. While rarely fatal, preeclampsia can make an otherwise normal pregnancy quite complicated, and cause conditions such as hypertension and edema. Previous research has suggested that women who do not consume enough calcium may be at increased risk of developing preeclampsia during pregnancy. A new study lends weight to that theory, and has found that women who increase their calcium levels are far less likely to suffer many of the disorders associated with preeclampsia.
In the trial, more than 8,300 pregnant women who already consumed low amounts of calcium were assigned to two groups. One group took a total of 1.5 grams of calcium supplements per day (one tablet, three times per day at mealtime), or placebo tablets that were identical in taste and appearance. All of the women were recruited before the 20th week of their pregnancy, and received either calcium or the placebo from the time they enrolled in the study through to delivery.
While the overall reduction of preeclampsia was low, the development of other conditions, such as eclampsia and severe hypertension, was significantly lower among women in the calcium group. Overall, there was a 25 percent reduction in severe preeclamptic complications, and a 30 percent reduction in neonatal mortality, among women taking calcium supplements.
If you are pregnant and concerned about the amount of calcium you eat, talk to your doctor of chiropractic about ways to increase your calcium intake. Dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt are extremely good sources of dietary calcium. Other good sources include meat, fish and cereal products. For more information, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/women.
Villar J, Abdel-Aleem H, Merialdi M, et al. World Health Organization randomized trial of calcium supplementation among low calcium intake pregnant women. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology March 2006;194:639-649.
What Makes for the Ideal Doctor?
Steven Covey has made a fortune from his bestselling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. A new study of patients treated in Arizona and Minnesota, incidentally, shows that there are seven habits that make for a highly effective doctor.
In the study, researchers conducted interviews with 192 patients seen in 14 different medical specialties of the Mayo Clinic system. Patients were asked to describe their best - and worst - experiences with a doctor at the clinic, and to give specifics of their encounters. The researchers then checked transcripts of the interviews to identify traits that patients favored or disliked.
According to the patients, the ideal doctor would be confident, empathetic, humane, personal, forthright, respectful, and thorough. Of those traits, "thorough" was named most often by patients. Conversely, the patients listed seven traits they associated with bad doctors - timid, uncaring, misleading, cold, callous, disrespectful and hurried.
While the quality of a patient's relationship with their doctor is often overlooked, it is extremely important. Not only does it affect a patient's comfort level with their doctor, it can also have an effect on how the patient responds to the doctor's treatments or recommendations. For more information, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/general/other.
Bendapudi NM, Berry LL, Frey KA, et al. Patients' perspective on ideal physician behaviors. Mayo Clinic Proceedings March 2006;81(3):338-344.
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