CHANGE IN MONTHLY CHATS

   The last page of the magazine “Consumer Reports on Health,” usually contains answers to the questions submitted by readers and is always interesting.  Now the editor has announced a new page is being introduced covering how to avoid future illnesses before they take root in the system.  July 2012 features the first one called “Getting Personal,” and is a three minute consult submitted by Walter C. Willent, M.D., chairman of the Harvard School of Public Health, and co-author of “Eat Drink & Weigh Less.” He was asked to tell us more about a Nurses Health Study that was started in 1976 with 121,700 registered nurses about how nutrition relates to heart disease and cancer.  His answer, “We stayed in touch by sending the nurses a questionnaire every two years on smoking, contraception and post menopausal hormone use, diet and exercise.  In 1999 we enrolled another 116 thousand nurses.  We also have 30,000 men in our Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

   “What did turn out to be related to breast cancer? The doctor was asked. His answer, “One is weight gain as an adult and the other is the use of hormone replacement therapy after menopause.  It is not the percentage of calories from fat in the body.  Fat in the body is a serious issue, but not the percentage of calories from fat.  Alcohol is also related to breast cancer risk and adult weight gain.  The type of diet had been centered on heart disease, but diet is found to be related to almost every condition, whether cataracts, diabetes, gallstones, infertility, kidney stones and macular degeneration.  What’s wrong with our diet?  It is not the total fat but the type of fat. The largest problem is the quality of carbohydrates - ignored until recently.  They provide half of the calories that the body quickly switches to blood sugar.  The biggest single culprit is the sugar-sweetened beverages.

   What should we be eating?  “Healthy whole grain high fiber sources of carbohydrates.  Healthy vegetable oil means less red meat, and instead more protein from nuts, beans and modest amounts of poultry and fish with plenty of fruits and vegetables.”  He has given his three minute consultation the title, “YOUR HEALTH IS WHAT YOU EAT.”  My brother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer and after two surgeries and one chemo treatment changed his diet to include one meal of blended raw vegetables and fruits with some nuts each day.  After nearly four years he is now cancer free.