 |
|
| HEALTH TRIBUNE | Wednesday, August 6, 2003, Chandigarh, India |
|
Diarrhoea and dysentery: prevention is cheaper than cure Be careful, your child may be suffering from anaemia Nutrition: gout advice takes the cherry Medical students live longer Homoeopathy & you |
|
|
Diarrhoea and dysentery: prevention is cheaper than cure WE are encountering a number of cases of diarrhoea and dysentery, affecting all age groups, mostly children, in all the eight health care centres being by us in urban, rural and slum areas of Chandigarh and the adjoining districts of Punjab and Haryana. This number is likely to increase during the rainy months, as seen in previous years. By a universally accepted general definition, gastro-intestinal disorders in which three or more watery or semiformed stools are passed daily, with or without griping, and with or without vomiting, are included under diarrhoeal disorders. Non-infective diarrhoeas may be due to an over-dosage of a cathartic laxative, or due to an allergic item of food, particularly certain vegetables and fruits, which may irritate the bowel mucosa and draw extra fluid from the blood stream into the intestines, by nature’s own mechanism, to wash out the allergic irritant from the system. Nevertheless, most diarrhoeas or dysenteries are caused by infections, invariably ingested through food or drink. In India, in our tropical environment, the day-to-day temperatures, with little variation in its maximum and minimum ranges, and high relative humidity, particularly from June to September, are factors optimally suitable for the proliferation of infective organisms responsible for diarrhoeal and dysenteric disorders. Diarrhoea may even be a side- effect or a sequel to an indiscriminate use of antibiotics, causing psudomembranous colitis and, instead of a cure, may aggravate morbidity. Prevention always costs less than cure, and in the case of gastro-intestinal disorders, it costs nothing. And yet we lose 1.5 million children and half a million adults because of diarrhoeas and dysenteries in our country every year. As all the infections have an access through oral route into the gastro-intestinal system, through food and drink, a high degree of awareness in this regard is most essential, by enlightened parents at home and by health educators at school. In rural and slum areas the bug-bear is the sewerage leaking into the drinking water supply, lack of liberal potable water supply, necessitating the use of shallow ground water hand-pumps. Therefore, it is essentially the task of the public health engineers and doctors. There is necessity for free supply of chlorine tablets to the residents in these areas. During the peak summer and rainy months it is safer to drink only boiled water. However, in the urban areas, the bane is the contaminated food, at home as well as at restaurants. One can never be sure of ice-creams. It is safer to eat freshly cooked meals, and to boil or steam the raw items. Curing diarrhoeal disorders is essentially based on the sole principle of prompt replacement of fluid loss through stools and vomiting. The oral rehydration solution (ORS) recommended by the WHO is being universally adopted. It can easily be prepared at home by dissolving sodium chloride 3.5 g, sodium bicarbonate 2.5 g, potassium chloride 1.5 g and glucose 20 g in one litre of drinking water. In mild and moderate cases, 50-100 ml/kg of body weight, depending on the severity of the case, of ORS must be administered within two-four hours. Ready-made ORS packets are also easily available at all drug stores. Food should not be denied even during the diarrhoeal stage. It should be given in accordance with the patients’ desire and tolerance. Starvation adds to the severity of dehydration and hampers the intestines’ ability to absorb nutrients. In the case of infants and children, frequent breast-feeding must be given. Dr (Brig) Kataria, a socio-medical relief worker, is Chairman, Health-Care (India), running a number of charitable urban, rural and slum health-care centres.
|
|
Be careful, your child may be suffering from anaemia DESPITE being one of the easily manageable diseases, anaemia remains an ignored problem. It occurs due to iron deficiency in the body, and affects the work efficiency of an adult and the learning ability of a child. The problem takes a more severe turn among pregnant women and children. “Unfortunately, people do not take anaemia very seriously, but in reality it affects the overall performance of an individual. It can be very easily tackled with simple preventive measures,” says Dr Arun K. Aggarwal, Assistant Professor, Community Medicine Department, PGI. The National Family Health Survey reveals that 52 per cent of the married women were anaemic in India. Some of the symptoms could be fatigue, exhaustion, breathlessness, pale face, nails and eyes. Doctors warn that without treatment anaemia can worsen and can become an underlying cause for chronic ill health, impaired foetal development during pregnancy and reduced physical activity. “It is haemoglobin (Hb) which binds with oxygen and carries it to the body tissues. So, with low Hb, the oxygen carrying capacity gets reduced, having an adverse impact on performance,” says Dr Aggarwal. There could also be genetic reasons for a person to be anaemic, like thalassaemia, but the percentage of such people is small. Anaemic pregnant women may face complications like miscarriages, abortions, still-births or a low weight baby. “An anaemic pregnant woman needs a double dose of iron pills than a normal anaemic person. As per the national nutritional anaemia prophylaxis and control programme, she should take about 180 tablets,” say doctors. Anaemia is mainly a nutritional disorder. “Among children, the problem could arise due to the consumption of junk food like pizza, burger and coke with a low nutritional value,” explain dieticians. Another reason for a child to be anaemic may be the presence of worms like hookworm. Frequent diarrhoea and gastrointestinal infections, particularly among children, may also lead to anaemia. Though anaemia can be tackled with iron and folic acid tablets, the best way is to take an iron-rich diet. “One very important point is the proper absorption of iron in the body. Therefore, vitamin C must be taken in one form or another like lemon or orange,” point out doctors. Among the iron-rich foods are green leafy vegetables, pulses, jaggery, cereals, legumes, nuts, liver, meat and fish.
|
|
|
Nutrition: gout advice takes the cherry LONDON: In a former life I was once a lowly junior doctor working in a hospital in St Albans. One weekend while I was on call, a good friend asked me if I would see her dad, who was complaining of a painful toe. This charming gentleman from the Emerald Isle turned out to be suffering from a classic case of gout in the ball of his foot. Apart from doling out painkillers, I felt some dietary advice was in order. My knowledge of nutritional matters was practically nonexistent in those days, but one thing I did know was that alcohol is a common instigator of gouty attacks. Accordingly, I advised cutting back on the hard stuff. Later that day, I was delighted and amused to receive thanks for my medical attention in the form of a bottle of Bushmills Irish whiskey. While advice to limit alcohol is par for the course for sufferers of gout, the condition may be amenable to other nutritional approaches. Gout sufferers are advised to reduce their intake of dietary elements known as purines, which are found in fish, meat, seafood, beans and lentils. In the body, purines can be broken down into urate, excessive amounts of which can crystallise out in the joints to give rise to the exquisitely painful condition known as gout. However, while a low-purine diet is an oft-used strategy in gout, its usefulness is limited by the fact that the majority of purines in the body do not come from the diet but are made naturally in the body. A novel dietary approach to gout has come out of the fact that most sufferers have been found to have signs of insulin resistance syndrome (IRS). Believed to be a precursor of heart disease and diabetes, IRS is characterised by a constellation of bodily imbalances that include excess weight (generally congregated around the middle of the body) and high levels of the unhealthy blood fats cholesterol and triglyceride. IRS is likely to have various underlying factors, such as the overconsumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates in today's diet. In one study, the benefits of a carbohydrate-restricted diet were tested in a group of middle-aged male gout sufferers. In addition to limiting bread, potatoes, rice and pasta, the subjects were also told to emphasise healthy fats in the form of olive oil, nuts and fish. After 16 weeks, the men enjoyed a lowering in their cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and lost an average of 12lbs to boot. Although this diet did not limit purine-rich foods, it nonetheless led to a significant lowering of urate levels and a reduction in the number of gouty attacks. It seems cutting back on the carbs helps combat not only IRS, but gout, too. One folk remedy for gout is the cherry. In a study published this year, cherry-eating was found to bring down blood levels of urate. Other research has found that half a pound a day can help keep gout attacks at bay. While those prone to gout might like to have their fill of cherries while they are in season, I regret to report that similar benefits are unlikely to be had from cherry brandy. —
The Guardian
|
|
Medical students live longer LONDON: Medical students live longer than all other graduates except possibly engineers, according to latest research. British epidemiologists investigated the link between mortality and faculty subject in 9,887 men who had health check-ups while studying at Glasgow University between 1948 and 1968. “We can conclude that during the period of over 40 years after university entrance, doctors are at lower risk of death than their peers — some compensation, perhaps, for the reported unhappiness in their profession,” said Dr Peter McCarron. McCarron headed the research team and is now based at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France. The findings, reported in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, show that the medics’ mortality was lowest even though they had the second-highest rates of smoking at university. The risk of death was 42 per cent higher among former arts students and 30 per cent higher among law students. Divinity students had the lowest blood pressure and were least likely to consume alcohol but their risk of dying was still 10 per cent higher than the medics. Only engineering students did marginally better than the medics. Arts students were twice as likely as medical students to die of lung cancer but half as likely to die from accident, suicide or violent means. However, the medics were twice as likely as all other students to die from alcohol-related causes. The researchers said there were several possible explanations for the longer life expectancy of medical students. A medical or science degree was more likely than an arts degree to result in a permanent job and good income, a factor known to benefit health. Although the medical students smoked more than anyone else except law students, they may have been more likely to quit and therefore to have gained the health benefit.
— Reuters |
||
 |
Homoeopathy & you SEDENTARY life-style, prolonged work hours, excessive mental strain and consumption of rich food stimulants such as alcohol, coffee and tea have made gastric problems like acidity into routine disorders. Not adding to the already “not-so-health-friendly” regimen that we follow, homoeopathic medicines are non-toxic and by far the safest form of treatment available for such ailments.
Gas formation Although some gas formation is considered normal during digestion, excess of it can cause great discomfort at times .Recent researches show that people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome have very low tolerance to gas formation. Thus, for some even moderate amount of gas can cause major symptoms. Signs and symptoms can vary — distension, bloating pain in the abdominal area, discomfort extending to the chest
area, etc. Carbo vegetablis (better known as carbo veg) is the most preferred homoeopathic medicine for treating acute gas attacks. Carbo veg is made from vegetable charcoal. It can be used in cases that complain of immediate bloating after meals and also where the abdomen becomes hard and their are abdominal pains too. Everything that the patient eats seems to turn into gas. Three doses of 30c potency taken internally at an interval of 15 minutes each should help in relieving the distressing symptoms.
Acidity or heartburn Acidity or heartburn is a burning discomfort that is generally felt in the chest just behind the breastbone. The burning sensation results when harsh stomach juices come in contact with and irritate the delicate lining of the esophagus, the tube-like structure that connects the mouth to the stomach. Natrum carb is an important homoeopathic medicine for the treatment of hyperacidity or heartburn. Three-four doses of natrum carb 30 c each taken at an interval of 15 minutes should be sufficient to relieve the acute suffering. Please note that the treatment mentioned here is only for acute phase of the diseases. Self-medication should be avoided in chronic cases and also when medical help is easily accessible. Schedule your meals And also our digestive system needs rest. So when we sleep the process of digestion also slows down. Food left undigested can cause discomfort, so if you plan for a heavy meal in the evening, make sure that you have it in time. A simple walk after dinner may aid digestion. Go
slow Break up your intake — The writer is a Chandigarh-based homoeopath.
|
Pitiably, a few cases, mostly children in slums, have also been reported to have died, more due to severe dehydration than the severity of infection when all diarrhoeas and dysenteries are claimed to be preventable and curable.