Can Diet Affect Acne?

30 Apr

Acne most commonly affects us during our adolescent years, but it can strike at any time during our adult lives. Unfortunately, usual treatment seems restricted to taking oral antibiotics along with some form of topical agent such as benzoyl peroxide, topical retinoids, or topical antibiotics. This begs the question: Is there a safer and equally effective method to treat acne? Let’s take a look…

Though it’s not particularly well understood, researchers know that hormones (androgens), bacteria (P. acnes), and an overproduction of sebum (oil) all play important roles in acne causation. Recently, oxidative stress and inflammation have gained more attention, as some researchers report that inflammation may even start the acne process.

Opinions regarding the function that diet plays in acne care range between having no role at all to diet being a vitally important player. However, recent studies show that diet may be very important with regards to both cause and treatment. One such study placed subjects on a diet high in fiber, omega-3 fatty acids from fish and seafood, and total protein, and low in sugar and saturated fats. After twelve weeks, the researchers observed a clinically significant improvement in acne with an average of 22 fewer acne lesions in those consuming the special diet vs. participants who maintained their normal diet.

Similarly, in a one-year study, 87% of over 2,200 acne sufferers reported improvements in their acne after switching to the South Beach diet, which is similar to the findings from the study mentioned above. Of the total, over 80% reported that their acne improved within three months of starting the diet and 91% reported either discontinuing or reducing their acne medication use.

What about milk? Harvard University-based researchers published three important studies involving over 60,000 individuals that concluded avoiding dairy products, with the exception of fermented yogurt, can help manage acne.

RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY (Please consult with your doctor before starting any diet): 1) No dairy; 2) Omega-3 (1-4g/d); 3) Anti-oxidants such as vitamins A and E (20mg/d), selenium (400mcg/d), and curcumin; 4) Zinc (oral 15mg/d and topical); and 5) Chromium (200-400mcg). Many doctors of chiropractic can assist with nutritional counseling to help guide those with acne in deciding which dietary approach may work best for them.

This information should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all healthcare concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a healthcare professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

Whiplash – Can We Predict Long-Term Problems?

23 Apr

Whiplash associated disorders (WAD) are most often associated with motor vehicle collisions (MVC) but can occur from any form of trauma arising from slips and falls, sports injuries, and more. A question patients suffering from WAD commonly ask is, “How long will this take to get better?”

There are many factors in play with regards to how quickly one recovers from any injury: the type and degree of injury, the type of care, the “will” to get better, the patient’s education level, gender, emotional factors, and so much more. But what does the research say regarding risk factors for a prolonged recovery from WAD?

A Danish study found that WAD patients with immediate, high-intensity neck pain and stiffness were more likely to be disabled one year following their injury than those with a delayed onset of symptoms or those with low-grade pain. By combining scores for neck pain and stiffness along with other non-painful symptoms (such as blurred vision, nausea, and dizziness), the authors found that they could identify those at risk for long-term disability within a week of their accident.

Their study included 141 adults who contacted the ER within two days of the MVC complaining of neck pain or headaches arising from rear-end collisions without loss of consciousness or amnesia. None had prior neck or back pain or a history of severe headaches. The researchers found that 75% of patients with reduced neck motion still reported disability after one year.

Interestingly, the research team observed that patients involved in ongoing litigation (lawsuits) were at no greater or lesser risk of suffering long-term disability. In a recent large-scale study using an online survey completed by 127,959 respondents, researchers found that collision severity, poor expectations of recovery, victim mentality, dizziness, numbness or pain in the arms, and lower back pain each increased the risk of a poor recovery.

This information should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all healthcare concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a healthcare professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

Slouching – Does It Really Matter?

23 Apr

Last month, we discussed how slouching can contribute to neck pain and headaches, but we didn’t go into any detail about the other negative health ramifications of bad posture.

DIGESTION: Prolonged sitting is bad enough all by itself, but adding a slouched, slumped posture can distort or compromise the space that houses internal organs and negatively affect MANY vital functions, including digestion. This can lead to complaints including (but not limited to) discomfort, constipation, and heart burn.

BREATHING: Slouching can also reduce the space occupied by the lungs, hindering the ability to take in a deep breath and/or force air out of the lungs. This is the reason why good conductors have their musicians sit up straight with both feet on the floor (it’s not just to “look good”)!

MOOD: Did you know that sitting for seven or more hours per day increases the risk of depression by 47% compared with sitting for four hours a day or less? Our energy levels also decrease with prolonged poor posture, further complicating this negative side effect.

WORK PERFORMANCE: Researchers have observed that sitting up straight increases alertness, reduces fatigue, and improves productivity. Moreover, co-workers may conclude that someone slumped over their desk is unmotivated, disinterested, or at the least, tired. Sit/stand workstations are gaining popularity, especially with the availability of low-cost options to transform a traditional desk into a standing desk. Studies show improved work performance when we have the option to change positions as needed during the day. Exercises you can perform at your desk, such as chin retractions, help strengthen the deep neck flexor muscles, which can help reduce poor neck posture. Stretching the chest muscles and keeping the “core” fit with pelvic stabilization exercises are also GREAT methods to improve our sitting posture!

VARICOSE VEINS: Prolonged sitting raises the risk for the formation of spider veins, especially in women, which can lead to varicose veins. Compression from sitting alters the flow of blood into the legs, and a proper fitting chair and sitting “correctly” can reduce the risk of developing circulatory dysfunction leading to varicosities or worse, blood clots.

This information should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all healthcare concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a healthcare professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

What Can Be Done for Kneecap Pain?

19 Apr

Patellofemoral (PF) pain (or pain in the area of the knee cap) is a very common problem, especially in women because they naturally have a wider pelvis. A wider pelvis can cause a “knock-knee” effect, which can be exacerbated by flat feet and ankle pronation (rolling in at the ankles). The net result is that outward pressure increases on the patella, which can be quite disabling and interfere with weight bearing activities. So, what can be done for individuals with patellofemoral pain?

Because we cannot change the width of the pelvis, the focus must shift to the foot/ankle and hip/knee muscle balance. A 2014 study set out to prove (or disprove) that exercises that target BOTH the hip and knee vs. the knee only would yield better long-term outcomes.

Here, researchers randomly assigned 31 women with PF pain to one of two treatment groups: Group A participated in BOTH hip & knee exercises for eight weeks and Group B engaged in ONLY knee exercises for eight weeks. Following the completion of each eight-week exercise program, the researchers examined each participant, followed by a re-examination three months later. The investigators found that patients in Group A experienced greater improvements with regards to pain and function.

The authors of the study concluded, “An intervention program consisting of hip muscle strengthening and lower-limb and trunk movement control exercises was more beneficial in improving pain, physical function, kinematics, and muscle strength compared to a program of quadriceps-strengthening exercises alone.”

The “take-home” message here is that patients obtain the best results when treatment—in this case, exercise—is applied to more than just the area of complaint. Chiropractic care includes assessment of the whole person, not just a localized area where the patient feels pain. Perhaps this is why chiropractic almost always scores highest in “patient satisfaction” surveys when compared with other healthcare delivery systems.

This information should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all healthcare concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a healthcare professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

Are Egg Yolks and Grass Fed Beef Really What I Should Eat?

16 Apr

Our basic premise is that your body is amazing.  You get a do over. It doesn’t take that long, and it isn’t that hard if you know what to do.  In these notes, we give you a short course in what to do so it becomes easy for you and for you to teach others. We want you to know how much control you have over both the quality and length of your life.

To borrow from a chapter we are authoring for a book to be published about a year from now: “There are plenty of health concepts that are easy to visualize even if you can’t see them such as a broken bone, a clogged artery, or a torn muscle. At the chemical level, it gets a little trickier to see your anatomical world working. Because of that, perhaps, it can be harder to grasp the scale and importance of certain health events. That’s really the case when it comes to inflammation.”

Yet inflammation—in its chronic form—ranks as one of the most important concepts you should familiarize yourself with. That’s because, in the beginning, inflammation serves as a positive process in your body. Inflammation is a signal that your body is fighting off something that shouldn’t be there. But if your body thinks you’re constantly under attack, such is the case when you have too much blood sugar circulating through your veins, then inflammation can persist with negative consequences.

For example, when you eat egg yolks or red meat, it raises your inflammation, which damages your blood vessels, which makes it more likely to increase your lousy (LDL) cholesterol as your body attempts to heal itself. That cycle happens all over your body with all kinds of organs, cells, and systems. This places you at higher risk for developing heart disease, stroke, cancer, arthritis, memory issues, pain, hormonal issues, organ damage, and more.

However, you can do a lot to help quiet inflammation by eating foods that will help shush the immune response. Your anti-inflammatory all-stars:

Fruits and vegetables: Mix produce of all colors into your diet to get a wide range of vitamins and nutrients.

Fish, nuts, oils: Healthy fats are some of the strongest foods to bring down inflammation. This is one of the reasons why a salad with salmon and a little olive oil and a few walnuts may be the most powerful meal that your body can have.

What Not To Eat: Added sugars, syrups, simple or stripped carbs, foods with saturated or trans fats all stimulate inflammation. And anyone who says eating egg yolks with their choline content doesn’t cause inflammation should have their books, columns, and blogs banned from your reading materials.  The science of harm from carnitine, lechithin, and choline that Drs. Hazen, Tang, and colleagues first found at the Cleveland Clinic is strong and repeated in animals and four other human studies.  Anyone who says red meat (whether grass fed or not) or egg yolks are great or even okay for you to eat should justify to you why the Hazen-Tang science is wrong—it isn’t the saturated fat, although that is a little bad. The major bad is the inflammation caused by the amino acids and proteins that accompany that saturated fat in the red meat and egg yolks (egg whites are fine).

And it may take nearly 20 years for such bozos who are ignoring the science or don’t understand this science (even if some of them are from a noted institution like mine and ignore the data from their own noted scientists) to admit they caused more deaths and disabilities. Okay, let’s give ‘em a break and say they are just trying to stimulate more studies that confirm they are wrong…

I want you to thrive: The science was strong in 1998 (there were more than 4 studies that linked egg yolk and red meat consumption to shortening of life spans and an increase in disabilities) and there have been over 10 randomized studies since then confirming that data of harm from these on one or more aspects of heath.  Hopefully Hazen and Tang will find an antidote for this harmful effect of red meat and egg yolks.

 

Thanks for reading. Feel free to send questions to: AgeProoflife@gmail.com

Dr. Mike Roizen

 

PS: Please continue to order the new book by Jean Chatzky and myself, AgeProof: Living Longer Without Running Out of Money or Breaking a Hip.
NOTE: You should NOT take this as medical advice.
This article is of the opinion of its author.
Before you do anything, please consult with your doctor.
You can follow Dr Roizen on twitter @YoungDrMike (and get updates on the latest and most important medical stories of the week).  The YOU docs have two newly revised books: The patron saint “book” of this column YOU Staying Young—revised and YOU: The Owner’s Manual…revised —yes a revision of the book that started Dr Oz to being Dr Oz.  These makes great gifts—so do YOU: ON a Diet and YOU: The Owner’s Manual for teens.  
Michael F. Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. His radio show streams live on http://www.radioMD.com Saturdays from 5-7 p.m. He is the co-author of 4 #1 NY Times Best Sellers including: YOU Staying Young.

CTS and Other Causes of Hand Numbness

12 Apr

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) occurs when the median nerve is compressed at the wrist. However, there are other anatomical locations in which the median nerve can experience interference, and the median nerve is not the only nerve that ventures into the hand. So if you experience a symptom like hand numbness, CTS may not be the culprit…

After CTS, the next most common nerve pinch is the ulnar nerve at the inner elbow, which is technically called “cubital tunnel syndrome” (CuTS). This is often caused from over-use of the arm such as lifting and/or gripping with the palm up. The unique difference between CuTS and CTS is that the pinky and ring finger are affected but NOT the index, middle, and thumb-side ring finger, which are the median nerve-innervated fingers affected by CTS. Because over-use is also a common cause of CTS, these two conditions can co-exist, in which case all five fingers may be affected but not necessary all at the same time.

The shoulder is yet another fairly common location for a pinched nerve and is referred to as “thoracic outlet syndrome” (TOS). The most common nerve pinched here affects the fourth and fifth fingers, similar to CuTS; however, with TOS the upper arm is also affected, not just the elbow to the inner hand.

Another relatively common location for a pinched nerve affecting the arm is at the neck, often from a herniated disk and/or an arthritic spur where the nerve exits the spine. Depending on which nerve is compressed and the amount of compression, the numbness/tingling can affect different parts of the arm and/or hand.

Doctors of chiropractic are trained to differentiate between these various “syndromes” and to safely deliver treatment to the affected joints, muscles, and other soft tissues to reduce pain and restore proper motion so patients can return to their normal activities of daily living.

This information should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all healthcare concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a healthcare professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.
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