June 29th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in News
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Well, having grown up on a yogurt farm – nothing delights me more than scientific evidence that this fine dairy treat is good for your health. Hats off to my friends at the Imperial College, London who just published a study showing that elderly, hospitalized individuals may use yogurt to avert nasty bacterial infections that cause explosive diarrhea.
Yes, it’s the battle of the bugs at its best – the most common yogurt bacteria: Lactobacillus casei, L. bulgaricus, and Streptococcus thermophilus work together as pretty effective colonic bouncers for enemy bug C. difficile. In this study, elderly patients (n=57) at risk for hospital acquired diarrhea (due to antibiotic use) were given 2 small active culture yogurt drinks/day during the time they received antibiotics and for one week afterwards. Another group (n=56) was given similar drinks, but the yogurt cultures had been sterilized with heat (so there were no actual live bacteria in the yogurt).
And guess what? None of the patients who drank the live yogurt got C. difficile infections, while 9 in the other group did! That means that for every 5 elderly people in the hospital (and taking antibiotics) you could potentially save one from getting a painful gut infection.
So if grandma’s in the hospital on antibiotics, you might want to ask her doctor if she can eat yogurt. It may make the difference between a short stay and a long and unpleasant healthcare experience.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
June 19th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in News
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This was one of the strangest news items in my inbox this week. Apparently, British cattle are catching tuberculosis from the local badger population. Now, the only thing that I thought the two animals had in common was their coloring… but I guess they must hang out together with sufficient frequency to pass on TB infections.
In fact, one BBC News report suggests that farms with larger hedges had lower rates of cattle TB infections… presumably because the hedges kept the badgers from fraternizing as much with the cows. This finding provides a nice alternative to badger culling, a practice that the animal rights folks do not endorse.
But what does this mean for humans? Well, according to the CDC, cattle TB (caused by a special strain of mycobacterium – M. bovis) has been virtually eradicated in the US due to herd culling and milk pasteurization methods. Cattle TB doesn’t tend to infect the lungs, so it’s less transmissible via droplets and such. So even if you’re in England and Bessy the cow sneezes on you, you probably won’t catch TB. But if you drink Bessy’s unpasteurized milk or cheese products, you’ve got yourself a risky situation. As for badgers – they’re not very affectionate anyway, so I wouldn’t try to befriend them.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
May 21st, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in News
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I was interested to see this news piece about how Vitamin D may improve the body’s ability to fight off Tuberculosis. Vitamin D is found in some foods, but can also be created in your body when it’s exposed to UV light. In the 1940′s Tuberculosis sanitoriums used “heliotherapy” (sun exposure) as a modality to treat TB. I had often wondered about the utility of such treatments – with this photo etched in my mind. And now it seems that they had it right.
Of course, we don’t know how many of those patients developed skin cancers later in life… (Always a trade off, isn’t there?) In the US, milk and orange juice are fortified with Vitamin D – however in Britain they have no such requirement and they are seeing an increase in TB cases. “Got Milk?” only works if it’s “Got Vitamin D Fortified Milk?” I guess…This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
January 14th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in News
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Some evidence suggests that tea promotes relaxation (dilation) of arteries, thus improving blood circulation. This effect is believed to be mediated by a type of compound found in tea, called catechins. (I also think it might be related to caffeine). Researchers found that those who drank tea with 10% volume of hot milk mixed in did not have the same increase in arterial diameter that was observed in subjects drinking plain tea. They speculate that milk proteins mop up catechins, thus reducing (or eliminating) their relaxing effect on blood vessels.
I wonder if sugar has a similar effect? I guess that’s another study for another time.
This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
