Health news blog

Gingko Biloba

Gingko biloba, also referred to as maidenhair tree, is widely used in the orient to improve memory and slow down the ageing process. The maidenhair tree dates back more than 200 million years, making it the longest living tree species. It has long been extinct in the wild, existing only in Asian oriental gardens. It has only become recognized recently in the west for its amazing healing potential, especially on the brain.

Gingko’s active ingredients include ginkgolides, heterosides and quercetin. Gingko biloba’s main action is to improve circulation throughout the body, particularly cerebral and peripheral blood flow, thereby improving overall brain function.

Gingko is able to stabilize cell membranes and act as an antioxidant, mopping up and neutralizing cancer-causing free radicals. It not only destroys free radicals, it stops their formation and protects against free radical damage to the blood vessels, brain and heart.

Gingko increases oxygenation and is useful for depression, headaches, memory loss, tinnitus, leg cramps, asthma, eczema, heart disorders, kidney disorders and cancer. It has a strong ability to lower high blood pressure, improve memory and brain function, and prevent blood clots in the brain. Truly a miracle herb.

What is the best way to use gingko biloba?

• Herbal infusion – 50g of dried leaves with 500 ml of water.

• Tablets or capsules – 40 to 600mg/day in tablet form. Before purchasing Gingko biloba

tablets or capsules ensure that they contain at least 24% flavone glycosides and 6% terpene

lactones (mainly ginkgolides).

Ginseng

Ginseng is an ancient traditional herb used throughout Asia for centuries. People in Asia, including China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan, use ginseng every day in tea, fresh herb or tablet form. Asian people believe ginseng improves energy levels, increases longevity and promotes a healthy sexual function. It also improves brain function, increases the body’s ability to cope with stress, normalizes blood pressure and lowers high cholesterol.

Ginseng is reputed to be useful in the prevention of cancer and acts as a general tonic for overall well-being and health. Shortly before I realized I had cancer, I lived in Thailand for five years, working as a natural health practitioner. I had the pleasure of meeting thousands of beautiful Asian people, and ginseng was without doubt, the most regularly used supplement in their lifestyle. I often asked the age of many Asian people and was shocked when discovering that most of them looked 20 years younger than their actual biological age. Further investigation revealed ginseng and green tea had been a major part of their diet for many years.

Ginseng has strong rejuvenating properties and is available in many different varieties, each exhibiting slightly different actions. It is thought to reduce many of the side effects associated with radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

Panax ginseng, also known as American ginseng, has been shown in experimental studies to return cancerous liver cells to normal. Melanoma cells are believed to be reverted to normal by one of the chemicals in ginseng. American ginseng also aids in lung weakness, stimulates vital organs and helps to relieve fatigue.

Korean or Chinese ginseng strengthens the immune system, decreases fatigue by stimulating the adrenal glands and enhances mental function. It also strengthens the endocrine glands and builds vitality and resistance. The Asians attribute their amazing physical, emotional and mental endurance to the regular use of this variety of ginseng.

What is the best way to use ginseng?

• Chewing — the root of ginseng is often simply chewed.

• Herbal tea – put 1/2 teaspoon of powdered ginseng in a cup of water, bring to the boil and

simmer gently for 10 minutes. Drink 3 times daily.

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AND GLUTATHIONE

Glutamine

Glutamine is an amino acid best known for its function in decreasing alcohol cravings. Glutamine is a versatile amino acid with a variety of functions in fighting cancer. It improves the function of the immune system by stimulating the growth of lymphocytes and phagocytes (the immune army’s warriors).

The role of glutamine in tumour cells has been studied extensively. A number of new studies suggest that glutamine may be a potent cancer therapy because it increases levels of the powerful antioxidant glutathione. A study in the Annals of Surgery showed that glutamine may increase the effectiveness of anti-tumour drugs by sensitizing cells to chemotherapy. The Journal of Parenteral Enteral Nutrition reported that glutamine decreases the rate of tumour growth by promoting activity of natural killer cells. (Natural killer cells are often low in people with cancer. These cells are able to kill certain types of cancer cells.)

Unlike other cells in our bodies, which require oxygen to live, tumour cells are anaerobic and use glutamine as their fuel. To get the food they need, tumours are equipped with glutamine traps, which literally wait for glutamine to float by so they can grab it. If tumour cells consistently sap our natural stores of glutamine, our body will run out and the tumours will demand more. This causes muscle wasting. An obvious solution is to supplement with glutamine to stop the wasting and stimulate the body’s natural killer cells. However, herein lays the controversy: glutamine may actually promote tumour growth, as tumours feed on glutamine among other nutrients. Despite glutamine’s potential role in alleviating the growth of tumour cells, the danger of the opposite result leaves scientists wary. Still, the beneficial possibilities warrant further research.

Glutamine is an essential amino acid to take while receiving chemotherapy. Glutamine minimizes the damage caused by chemotherapy by:

• enhancing the repair of intestines during chemotherapy;

• repairing the damage chemotherapy does to the immune system;

• preventing many of the side-effects of chemotherapy treatment;

• enhancing the actions of chemotherapy – tumours may decrease in size by 45 per cent if taking glutamine, compared to 25 per cent without glutamine;

• increasing the survival rate of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy;

• soothing and relieving the pain of and quickly healing sores in the mouth (oral mucositis). Patients in a hospital in Boston, USA, receive 5000mg of glutamine six times daily to relieve these painful side effects.

Glutathione

Glutathione is a tripeptide or protein produced in the liver from the amino acids, cysteine, glutamic acid and glycine. It is a powerful antioxidant and inhibits the formation of and protects against the damage from free radicals. Glutathione defends the body against damage from cigarette smoking, exposure to radiation, chemotherapy and toxins such as alcohol. It is able to detoxify heavy metals and drugs, and aids in the treatment of blood and liver diseases.

Glutathione guards against many forms of cancer and is similar in its protective functions to beta-carotene. Glutathione protects cells by neutralizing oxygen molecules before they harm cells.

Glutathione has the ability to protect the tissues of the arteries, brain, heart, immune system, kidney, lenses of the eyes, liver, lungs and skin against oxidative damage. Glutathione plays a role in protecting against cancer and the effects of ageing. Older cells contain 20 to 30 per cent less glutathione than younger cells.

Red blood cell integrity and structure is improved with the use of this handy amino acid. Glutathione detoxifies arsenic, aluminum, cadmium, lead and mercury and inhibits the excess production of cytokines. It facilitates the transport of essential nutrients to white blood cells and protects white blood cells from damage.

Glutathione deactivates dangerous free radicals, making them harmless to the body thereby helping to prevent the onset of cancer.

Good sources of glutathione include apples, grapefruit, spinach, tomatoes and carrots.

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Coenzyme Q10 is an essential component in the body’s respiratory chain, where energy is produced. CoQl0 is necessary for human life to exist and a deficiency can contribute to ill health, rapid ageing and disease. Since its discovery 40 years ago, hundreds of clinical research studies have been done on CoQl0 and it is now abundantly clear that this nutrient is absolutely vital to health.

Coenzyme Q10 is found throughout the body in cell membranes, especially in the mitochondrial membranes and is particularly abundant in the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, pancreas and adrenal glands. The total body content of CoQl0 is only about 500-1500mg and decreases with age.

Coenzyme Q10 is necessary for the formation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a compound which acts as an energy donor in chemical reactions. Within the mitochondria of a cell (the cell’s power plant where 95 per cent of the cell’s energy is created) CoQl0 is needed to not only create energy but to prevent the excess production of free radicals caused by insufficient energy production. If too many free radicals are created because of a lack of CoQl0 the DNA and RNA (our genetic material found in the cell) becomes mutated. This can ultimately lead to cancer formation.

Coenzyme Ql0’s energy production and antioxidant properties help the body to protect against the formation of free radicals. It also works hand in hand with vitamin E as an antioxidant and as a vital friend in helping to protect vitamin E from damage.

Antioxidants are substances that scavenge free radicals, damaging compounds in the body that alter cell membranes, tamper with DNA and even cause cell death. Free radicals occur naturally in the body, but environmental toxins (including ultraviolet light, radiation, cigarette smoking, and air pollution) can also increase the number of these damaging particles. Free radicals are believed to contribute to the ageing process as well as the development of a number of health problems, including heart disease and cancer. Antioxidants such as CoQl0 can neutralize free radicals and may reduce or even help prevent some of the damage they cause.

As an antioxidant, Coenzyme Q10 may have a role to play in both cancer prevention and cancer treatment. Coenzyme Q10 has been shown to reduce tumour growth, stimulate the immune system, possibly increase the size of the body’s thymus gland (the maestro gland of the immune system) and improve cellular energetics. It appears to be very effective in breast cancer. Even in patients that presently have cancer, CoQl0 is believed to prevent the spread of cancer, improve the quality of one’s life, prevent weight loss and reduce pain.

Coenzyme Q10 normalizes cancer cell energetics, thereby improving one’s chance of beating cancer. One of the most beneficial functions of coenzyme Q10 is its ability to improve oxygenation throughout the body. It enhances the body’s immune system by doubling the body’s levels of antibodies and is useful for lowering high blood pressure, lowering cholesterol levels, improving the function and condition of the heart and improving general circulation. Coenzyme Q10 is also thought to promote longevity. It is a wonderful nutrient for improving energy levels and increasing the effectiveness of cancer treatments such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

The level of CoQl0 in humans peaks around the age of 20 and then declines fairly rapidly. The decrease in CoQl0 concentration in the heart is particularly significant with a person of 77 having only 57 per cent less CoQl0 in the heart muscle than a 20-year-old. Research shows that many people, especially older people and people engaging in vigorous exercise, may be deficient in CoQl0 and may benefit from supplementation.

Good sources of CoQl0 include hazelnuts, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pistachio nuts, peanuts, mackerel, salmon, sardines, eel, yellowtail, organ meats, soy beans, rice bran, wheat germ and rapeseed oil. Average amounts of Co Q10 are also found in broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, garlic, onion, eggplant and carrot.

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Stents are tubes, implanted and left in place to hold open a space that otherwise would collapse or be compressed—in this case, in the urethra where it’s choked by the prostate. The tubes are not visible and can be implanted quickly, in outpatient surgery that lasts about fifteen minutes. They are a good option for older men who are too ill to be eligible for other procedures. They’re also a major addition to the meager range of alternatives formerly available to these men. Until recently, this consisted mainly of bladder catheters, left in place indefinitely, whose presence in the body over time leads to urinary tract infection, sepsis, bladder stones, and even kidney damage.

With the stents, there’s no need for a urinary catheter, and the procedure can be performed under local anesthesia. There’s hardly any bleeding during or after the operation, minimal recovery time, and sexual function is not impaired.

The stents come in several models. The newest ones are made of nickel-titanium alloys, which are flexible and have an intrinsic memory—they expand when heated, and become flaccid and increasingly malleable when cooled. They’re easy to install and, when positioned correctly, will expand when irrigated with warm water. If it becomes necessary to remove them, these stents can be irrigated with cold water, which cause them to contract and become malleable again. They’re designed to be incorporated into the body, to meld with the epithelial tissue lining the urethra—a feat that takes the body about three to six months to accomplish, as the tissue knits a thin blanket of cells to cover the tube. Why is this coverage necessary? It’s like greasing a pan before cooking so nothing will stick to it—except the “grease” here is the body’s own cells. (During this time, bicycle riding and other activities that put pressure on the perineum should be avoided.)

One drawback of the stents is that no prostate tissue is removed and sent to a pathologist for examination. Also, the possibility exists that, over time, the epithelial tissue lining the urethra could do such a good job of covering the tube that it might overgrow the stent, and surgery to correct this may be needed. Stents aren’t a good option for men with BPH in the middle lobe; the site of enlargement interferes with the coverage of epithelial cells.

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Do you have BPH? There are some telltale symptoms. These include: A weak urinary stream, hesitancy in starting to urinate, and difficulty maintaining and stopping the stream (this can include a small amount of “dribbling” afterward). Also, many men with BPH have to urinate ffequentiy, especially at night, and often with a strong sense of urgency. If not treated, these symptoms can lead to some serious problems, including urinary retention—when the bladder stays completely or partly full—and even kidney damage.

Men who have any of these symptoms should see a doctor to determine exactiy what the problem is. It’s important to know if you have BPH. It’s equally important to make sure you don’t have a more serious condition such as prostate cancer, urinary tract infection, bladder cancer, bladder stones, a neurogenic bladder (a bladder affected by a neurological disease), or a urethral stricture (scar tissue that blocks the urethra); all of these can mimic BPH.

The doctor’s evaluation will include a detailed medical history, a physical, including a digital rectal exam; a urinalysis (examination of urine for bleeding and infection); and blood tests to check the level of PSA (an enzyme produced by the prostate) and to evaluate kidney function. Depending on your symptoms, you also may need other tests including a measurement of urinary flow rate (uroflowmetry), a check for residual urine in the bladder, an evaluation of the upper urinary tract with ultrasound or X-rays, cystoscopy (a “periscope” view of the urethra and bladder), and, for some men, bladder pressure tests to rule out neurological conditions.

After the diagnosis of BPH has been confirmed, the next step is to decide, with your doctor, what to do about it.

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When cancer invades bones, they become brittle. Brittle bones break. Therefore, men with metastatic prostate cancer are prone to broken bones (called pathologic fractures). Most susceptible are bones that bear much of the body’s weight, in the hip and thigh. Sometimes, doctors can take steps to protect bones at risk—putting pins in the hip bone to strengthen it, for example. Such steps are a good idea when a bone has a large chunk of cancer (greater than three centimeters in diameter) that takes up at least half of the bone’s outer shell.

Other Complications

Urinary Tract Obstruction

If you’re having any of these symptoms—weak urine flow; hesitancy in starting urination; a need to push or strain to get urine to flow; intermittent urine stream (starts and stops several times); difficulty in stopping urination; “dribbling” after urination; a sense of not being able to empty the bladder completely; or not being able to urinate at all—it’s probable that the cancer has become extensive enough to block your urinary tract. Several procedures are available to ease these symptoms, including a TUR procedure or the placement of stents.

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Doctors have long known that hormones play a major role in the life of the prostate. In 1786, an English surgeon named John Hunter became the first to demonstrate in animals that a radical operation, castration, caused the sex accessory tissues, including the prostate, to shrink.

But it wasn’t until the 1930s that anyone discovered why this happened. At the University of Chicago, a trio of investigators discovered that removing the testes shut down production of testosterone. And, when shots of testosterone were injected back into castrated animals, these tissues were restored to normal size and function. This Nobel Prize-winning research included another valuable finding—that castration also could shrink prostate cancer.

The researchers were able to achieve the same effect chemically; they found they could shut down testosterone with doses of female hormones called estrogens. Estrogens blocked a signal, transmitted in the brain by the pituitary gland, called luteinizing hormone (LH), which stimulates testosterone. The oral estrogen, called DES (diethylstilbestrol), is what’s known as a chemical castrator; it causes impotence.

For now, hormonal therapy means one of two main choices: Surgical castration, a “one-shot effect”; or chemical castration, a lifetime of medication.

Impotence is likely with almost every kind of hormone therapy; 90 percent of men on hormone therapy lose sexual drive and the ability to have an erection. In the future, however, new hormone treatments (discussed later in this chapter) may prove effective without causing impotence.

For a time, hormone therapy does control prostate cancer. But what some doctors used to believe—that prostate tumors are nourished only by hormones, that hormone starvation will stop the cancer from spreading—is, unfortunately, not the whole story. Ultimately, hormone therapy will not stop the disease’s progression.

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Radical prostatectomy is certainly not a new cure for prostate cancer; it’s been around since 1904. There are two versions of this operation—the perineal approach, and the retropubic approach. The radical retropubic prostatectomy used to be notorious among surgeons for the extreme bleeding that went along with it, and both of these procedures used to have two devastating side effects— impotence and incontinence.

That picture has changed. The last fifteen years have seen dramatic improvements to the retropubic approach, based on new understanding of the prostate’s anatomy. The development of new techniques has lessened the awful blood loss, and the operation has become far safer for patients. And, with what surgeons call “a bloodless field,” it’s now possible for them actually to see what they’re doing—a major improvement! In the process, critical structures can be looked for and saved that previously were unrecognized and damaged as surgeons blindly felt their way. More precise techniques have reduced the likelihood of troublesome urinary incontinence to about 2 percent (and even those 2 percent aren’t incontinent all the time). New anatomical discoveries also have made it possible for surgeons to preserve potency in the majority of men.

And perhaps most exciting, better understanding of the anatomical terrain means surgeons can now remove more tissue along with the prostate than anyone ever thought possible—which improves the operation’s chances of cutting out all the cancer.

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Masters and Johnson found that simple advice on and attention to technique, such as in the list below, provided the answer for one in eight of their so-called ‘infertile’ patients.

Excessive exercise and jogging have been associated with subfertility and so should be moderated.

Y-fronts-To function effectively the testes need to be cooler than the rest of the body so it is sensible not to wear Y-fronts which prevent the testes moving downwards when hot.

Miscarriage-Even if fertilisation and implantation are achieved the foetus may still be lost. In fact up to three-quarters of all conceptions are lost, usually without the woman even knowing she had conceived.

Loss of the foetus later on is a more obvious miscarriage and has a much more profound effect on a woman and her partner. Ironically, even though Nature seems to reject so many foetuses we humans too add to the number by electing to terminate unwanted pregnancies. The active process by which we do this is called abortion.

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Some men suffer from a delay in reaching orgasm and cannot ejaculate with their penis in a vagina. Some can be masturbated or fellated to orgasm by the woman if they withdraw, whereas others cannot be brought to orgasm by a woman at all, by any means, and may not be able to ejaculate if a woman is even in the same room. Some men who are successfully treated for premature ejaculation then suffer from retarded orgasm and vice versa. The majority of the partners of such men are distressed by it. Some women conclude that they have over-stretched their vagina during masturbation or childbirth and that this is the explanation.

However, the problem sometimes presents itself directly in the form of complaints that the vagina is too large or too wet or that the penis, or some portion of it, has lost its sensation. Some men in this group are discovered to compress their penises tightly during masturbation. They have simply mis-trained themselves and now cannot respond without tight penile pressure. Others complain of intense penile pain, which they naturally want to avoid, at orgasm. In all such cases intercourse or pleasure is being avoided in order to reduce anxiety.

Diabetes and various drugs can be the cause in men who complain of a lack of sensation, but more often their ultimate unconscious need is to deny that they are having intercourse. It is only by doing this that they can function at all. Some, who unconsciously equate genital fluids with excretion, want to avoid soiling the woman and others unconsciously equate the woman with their mother. Their response is not to stop sex with her but not to ejaculate inside her. Others who, it is easily imagined, were rebuked and punished by women — sometimes even by older sisters — for genital activity in childhood, are simply afraid to lose control and reach orgasm in the presence of a woman.

Relatively inexperienced men who have this problem say that at some point during intercourse the whole business loses its excitement and that distracting thoughts enter their minds. The explanation is that as their level of pleasure and therefore, to them, sinfulness, rises, so does their anxiety, so reducing the pleasure. Some maintain their erection and others simply lose it. Although most, but not all, men enjoy intercourse more if the woman also moves her pelvis, this activity or what she says can be the distraction which intrudes into the man’s mind. It increases his self-awareness and thereby his anxiety about what he is doing.

Various fears can cause the same problem, although they may only be vehicles for yet deeper fears. These include a fear of making the woman pregnant, a fear of VD or AIDS and fears about other men with whom the woman has had intercourse. Thinking about other men makes him jealous or makes him worry that her previous lovers were better endowed sexually than he or were better lovers.

Treating the underlying cause, together with re-education, a decrease in anxiety, a reduced emphasis on orgasm, and an increase in penile pleasures and eroticism, all with the involvement of the woman, with the aim of increasing the efficiency with which the man responds to her manual or oral stimulation, forms the first stage of treatment. Once the woman can reliably bring the man to orgasm she, without saying anything, can on occasions, when he is near orgasm, quickly get on top of him and thrust rapidly so as to make him ejaculate in her vagina. Usually his perceptions change and his anxiety falls.

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