Kidney Stones & Prevention

Kidney, filter for blood, the function is removing waste foodstuffs from the body and creation of urine. Another duty is to helps regulation of electrolyte levels that are important for body function.

Urine drains from the kidney through a narrow tube called the ureter into the bladder. When the bladder fills and there is an urge to urinate, the bladder empties to the outside through the urethra is much wider tube than the ureter.

Kidney Stones are formed by crystallizing of chemicals in the urine. These stones are extremely minute when they form, smaller than a grain of sand, but slowly can grow over time to 1/10 of an inch. The size of the stone doesn't matter as much as where it is located and whether it prevents urine from draining. Urolithiasis is the term that refers to the presence of stones in the urinary tract, while nephrolithiasis refers to kidney stones and ureterolithiasis refers to stones lodged in the ureter.

When the stone sits in the kidney, it infrequently causes troubles, but when it falls into the ureter, it acts like a dam. As the kidney continues to function and make urine, pressure builds up behind the stone and causes the kidney to swell up. This pressure causes the pain of a kidney stone.

Diet is one of numerous factors that can support or reduce kidney stone formation. Other factors are heredity, environment, weight, and drinking of water etc. The body uses food for energy health. After the body uses what it needs, waste foodstuffs in the bloodstream are passed to the kidneys and excreted as urine. Certain foods create wastes that may form crystals in the urinary tract. In some people, the crystals grow into stones and cause so many problems.

We can prevent the kidney stones by drink more water throughout the day. The other activities are eating fewer oxalate-rich foods, choose a diet low in salt and animal protein, continue eating calcium-rich foods, but use caution with calcium supplements etc. Medications can control the level of acidity in urine and may be helpful in people who form certain kinds of stones.

New Clues to How Gastric Bypass Surgery Combats Diabetes

Gastric bypass surgery has been known to improve blood sugar control, often sending people with type 2 diabetes into remission, but experts have long wondered exactly how that happens. Now, a new study provides some clues. Circulating amino acids linked with insulin resistance decline dramatically in those who have the bypass surgery, the researchers discovered. They compared 10 obese people with diabetes who had the surgery with 11 who lost weight through dieting. "Something happens after gastric bypass that does not happen as much after the diet-induced weight loss," said Dr. Blandine Laferrere, an associate professor of medicine at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center and Columbia University, both in New York City.

The surgery, which reduces the stomach to the size of a small pouch, also modifies the junction between the stomach and small intestine. It leads to a dramatic reduction in the level of circulating amino acids that have been linked with diabetes. "The fact that gastric bypass results in the remission of diabetes in the majority of patients is not new," said Laferrere. According to background information in the study, 50 percent to 80 percent of diabetes cases go into remission after the surgery. What doctors have been trying to figure out, she said, is why the bypass surgery is so good at making the diabetes disappear. "The diabetes improves almost immediately, before a significant amount of weight loss occurs," she said. "That points out it is something other than the weight loss."

In the new study, the researchers evaluated biochemical compounds involved in metabolic reactions in the participants. Each group had lost about 20 pounds. The investigators found that the bypass patients had much lower levels of amino acids known as branched-chain amino acids, and the amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine. "Those changes in the amino acids could be implicated in the mechanism of diabetes remission after gastric bypass," Laferrere said. Experts know the amino acids are linked with insulin resistance partly due to animal studies, she said. "If you supplement the diet of rats with branched-chain amino acids, you can induce more insulin resistance," she explained.

Fish Oil Might Help Fight Gum Disease

Eating even moderate amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, typically found in foods such as salmon and other fatty fish, may help ward off gum disease, new research suggests. Researchers divided nearly 9,200 adults aged 20 and up participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2004 into three groups based on their consumption of omega-3 fatty acids. Consumption was assessed by asking participants to recall exactly what they'd eaten during the prior 24 hours. Dental exams showed participants in the middle and upper third for omega-3 fatty acid consumption were between 23 percent and 30 percent less likely to have gum disease than those who consumed the least amount of omega-3 fatty acids.

Specifically, the researchers found that the omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) were associated with less gum disease. The association with linolenic acid (LNA) was not statistically significant. "Eating a very feasible amount of fatty fish seems to have a lot of benefit," said senior study author Dr. Kenneth Mukamal, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "But we found no benefits to eating tons of this stuff." Since the study was a snapshot of a single day's diet, Mukamal said researchers could not determine exactly how much fish oil people should consume regularly.

The following guidelines from major organizations such as the American Heart Association, which recommends eating fatty fish at least twice a week, is probably a good idea, not just for gum disease but for overall health, they noted. "There are a lot of benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. We have good evidence they prevent sudden death caused by heart rhythm disturbances. We have some evidence omega-3 fatty acids can reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke," Mukamal said. "This is a great example of another potential benefit." In the study, researchers took into account other factors that could affect the likelihood of having gum disease, such as age, income, education and other health and socioeconomic factors.

Trans Fats While Breast-Feeding May Plump Up Baby

Breast-fed babies are much more likely to put on excess body fat if their mother's diet is high in trans fats, finds a new study. U.S. researchers looked at 96 women and their babies. Infants whose mothers consumed more than 4.5 grams of trans fats per day while breast-feeding were twice as likely to have a high percentage of body fat than babies whose mothers consumed lower amounts of trans fats. The study also found that mothers who consumed more than 4.5 grams a day of trans fats had a nearly six times greater risk of excessive fat accumulation. This suggests that intake of trans fats could have a more significant weight gain effect on women when they're breast-feeding than at other times in their lives, said the University of Georgia researchers.

The findings were recently published online in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Further research is needed to learn more about how a mother's consumption of trans fats may affect her child's long-term health. "It would help to be able to follow the child from when the mother was pregnant, through birth, and then adolescence, so that we can confirm what the type of infant feeding and maternal diet during breast-feeding have to do with the recent epidemic of childhood obesity," study co-author Alex Anderson, an assistant professor in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences, said in a university news release.

Poor Health Habits Linked to Subpar Work Performance

People who engage in unhealthy habits such as smoking, eating a poor diet and not getting enough exercise turn out to be less productive on the job, new Dutch research shows. Unhealthy lifestyle choices also appear to translate into a greater need for sick leave and longer periods of time off from work when sick leave is taken, the study reveals. The finding is reported in the Sept. 28 online edition of the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

"More than 10 percent of sick leave and the higher levels of productivity loss at work may be attributed to lifestyle behaviors and obesity," Alex Burdorf, of the department of public health at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues noted in a news release from the journal's publisher. Between 2005 and 2009, Burdorf and his associates surveyed more than 10,600 people who worked for 49 different companies in the Netherlands.

Participants were asked to discuss both lifestyle and work habits, rating their work productivity on a scale of 0 to 10, while offering information about their weight, height, health history and the number of days they had to call in sick during the prior year. The investigators found that 56 percent of those polled had taken off at least one day in the preceding year because of poor health. Being obese, smoking, and having poor diet and exercise habits were contributing factors in just over 10 percent of sick leave occurrences.

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Low-Dose Aspirin May Reduce Colon Cancer Risk

Taking low-dose aspirin daily may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, new research finds. Prior research has shown higher doses of aspirin reduces the risk of colon cancer. But this study is among the first to show that lower doses which have less risk of side effects such as gastrointestinal bleeding may also be effective, said Eric Jacobs, strategic director of pharmacoepidemiology for the American Cancer Society. For this study, researchers in Scotland asked 2,279 people with colorectal cancer and 2,907 people without colorectal cancer to answer questions about diet and lifestyle choices could affect cancer risk. Participants were asked how often they took low-dose aspirin, as well as non-aspirin NSAIDs such as naproxen and ibuprofen in the year prior to their cancer diagnosis or recruitment in the study.

About 18.1 percent of those without cancer reported taking aspirin during that time, compared to 15.5 percent of those who had colorectal cancer. Participants who reported taking low-dose aspirin regularly for a year or more were about 22 percent less likely to have colorectal cancer. The reduction was clinically significant among those who reported taking low-dose aspirin for more than five years, according to the study: They were 30 percent less likely to develop cancer than their peers who didn't take the painkillers. Although the greatest risk reduction occurred in those consuming more than 525 milligrams of aspirin a week, the protective effect was present even for the lowest daily dose.

"The new case-control study from Scotland is one of the largest to date to have specifically examined low dose aspirin, and provides some evidence that using low-dose aspirin for five or more years may also reduce colorectal cancer risk," said Jacobs, who was not involved in the research. "However, previous studies of low-dose aspirin and colorectal cancer have had mixed results, and results of this study need to be confirmed." The study also found that taking any NSAID regularly was associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer, compared to those who didn't use the painkillers. The subjects and controls had been matched for age, gender and locale as well as smoking, alcohol and fiber intake, and the findings held true even after results were adjusted for weight, body-mass index and other factors, according to the study, which was published in the current issue of the journal Gut.

College Students Reminded to Wash Their Hands

As college students begin to settle into their new dorm rooms at campuses nationwide, one New York City-based public health advocate is offering some basic advice to help them stay healthy during the upcoming flu season. Kathryn Hutchinson, executive director of health and wellness at St. John's University, pointed out that the first thing students should do, ideally before leaving home, is to discuss the option of getting a flu vaccine with their parents and physician. This may help alleviate any anxiety students have about whether or not to get the shot.

Beyond taking that step, Hutchinson encourages students to arrive at school armed and ready to keep their hands clean and maintain a sanitary environment. That means stocking a supply of soap, as well as cleaning supplies to wipe down desks, sinks, computer keyboards and any other shared surfaces. Frequent handwashing is a must, and hand sanitizers are useful when washing is impractical. But, Hutchinson stressed, sharing glassware, utensils and personal items such as toiletries (razors, toothbrushes, combs) is definitely not a good idea.

Also, students are urged to keep a digital thermometer on hand, and their health insurance card in case they need medical attention. One good way to keep from spreading germs is to practice "cough etiquette" in other words cover the nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, throw away any used tissues immediately, and wash your hands as soon as possible. Overall, Hutchinson said, most students will find that the usual recommendations an exercise routine, a healthy diet and adequate sleep are the keys to staying healthy, as well as reducing their stress. But if and when health problems arise, she advises students to contact a health care professional immediately.

Sleep-Deprived Teens Eat More Fat, Study Finds

Teens who sleep less than eight hours a night are more likely to eat a high-fat diet that puts them at risk for obesity and the many health problems connected with it, new research shows. The study, published in the Sept. 1 issue of the journal Sleep, found that these sleep-deprived teens consumed 2.2 percent more calories from fat, and ate more snacks than those who slept eight hours or more a night. They also ate more total calories. "There's been a lot of research over the last five years implicating insufficient sleep with obesity," said study author Dr. Susan Redline, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

"Some experimental studies on sleep deprivation in controlled laboratory environments show a craving for fatty foods among the participants" who got less sleep, she said. Redline, a professor of medicine with the school's division of sleep medicine, said sleep-deprived teens may suffer from metabolic disturbances that have been linked to obesity and insulin resistance in other research with shift workers whose sleep was also irregular. Metabolism is the body's process for turning calories into energy. Lack of sleep can affect metabolism by changing the level of appetite-regulating hormones like leptin and ghrelin, setting the stage for poor eating habits, Redline explained.

In addition to being a possible cause of metabolic problems, fewer hours of sleep provided teens with "more opportunities to eat," Redline said. Teens need about nine hours of sleep every night to feel rested and alert the next day, but few teens get that amount, experts said. "I almost never see anyone who is sleeping more than seven hours a night," said Dr. Paula Elbirt, an associate professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Insufficient sleep among teens is "the rule, not the exception," she said. Elbirt said the "adolescent lifestyle" encourages teens to stay up late.