RingSide Report

World News, Social Issues, Politics, Entertainment and Sports

How to Live Beyond Age 120 Part VIII

[AdSense-A]

By The Eismans (And we should know as we are doctors)

PART VIII

MEDICAL CARE

This is where I blow my own horn. We do not have all the answers. We cannot prevent or cure all disease. Cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, are rarely discovered in time for us to offer a cure. Getting your yearly physical, getting the recommended colonoscopies, and getting your vaccines tend to improve the odds.

I remember, when I was in medical school, a friend of mine, Louis Pasteur sitting next to me told me he had a great idea. Now, Louis was one of the top guys in my class, and I would sneak a look at his paper during tests. He was never wrong. So he whispered in my ear and said, “I discovered something very interesting. The women working on a farm do not get Small Pox. I bet it’s because the all get Cow Pax from milking cows, and that this relatively harmless disease gives them resistance to Small Pox that kill people like flies. I have a great idea for a research.

Many years ago, a physician published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine. The article declared that vaccines cause various problems in children such as Attention Deficit Disorder. Since that publication, the journal and the physician who wrote the article have apologized for their stupidity. When I was a child, infantile paralysis, a term describing Polio, was rampant. Many hospitals had floors dedicated to iron lungs, where children spent their life in machines that did the work of their breathing. When Drs. Sabin and Salk discovered their vaccines, there was no problem to convince mothers to get their children vaccinated. Today, Polio is rare in countries where the vaccine is available. Because of a vaccine, Small Pox exists only in a laboratory in Russia and the United States. Yet there are mothers who are stupid enough to deny measles vaccine to their children. There are now children, especially in California, who are dead or brain damaged due to the lack of vaccination. I still have patients who refuse influenza vaccine. People die from influenza. In 1918, we had an epidemic in the United States and 20,000,000 died (Yes, there is no decimal point in that number). Oh, we have antibiotics today. But, influenza is a virus, not bacteria, and loves antibiotics. It can grow on penicillin.

At present, about 50% of my patients refuse to get their influenza vaccine. I believe that this will change. The Corona Virus epidemic will teach people again, the importance of vaccination. A hard lesson!

Much of the problem, that we face, is due to our educational system. How many readers have taken biology? If your high school class was anything like mine, you learned about mollusks, frogs etc. Did you learn about the difference between viruses and bacteria? Did you learn human anatomy? What can be more important than learning about your own body? You do not need the intense training of a physician, but you should have been taught critical topics such as contraception, why antibiotics are useless against viruses etc.

Medical doctors start their training after they get a bachelor’s degree. Today, they spend four years in medical school; go through one year of internship, and then about four additional years taking a residency. Residency is sometimes longer, and specialties require Fellowships that last a few more years. That’s why we are advanced in years before we start the practice of medicine or surgery. Doctors in Osteopathy basically go through the same process.

Chiropractors also graduate from college, but their training consists of four years in a chiropractic school. Their philosophy markedly deviates from that of a physician of medicine. I have a cousin who is a chiropractor. He believes that with spinal manipulation, he can cure tuberculosis and cure cancer. Granted, most modern chiropractors probably do not have his beliefs, but their training is far removed from that of a medical physician. In our office you will not find a PA (physician assistant) or NP (nurse practitioner). I know that there are many physicians who utilize them, and we are in the minority, but we feel that a patient that comes to our office deserves a fully trained physician.

I have a patient who had breast cancer many years ago. She was treated and survived. In spite of this close call. She still refused mammograms. Now she has a breast mass that is fairly large. Okay, you don’t like it when they put your breast in a waffle iron. The price of neglect is very high. Get your colonoscopy. Yes, the laxative prep is miserable, but you sleep through the procedure itself. Colonoscopies save lives.

Modern medicine is an important factor in our lives. Just a bit more than 100 years ago, the average lifespan was 45 years. Today it is almost double that. Medical science cannot take full credit for this. We have markedly improved sanitation, and this may be the major factor. How many of you have gone shopping for a home, and found that some homes have no indoor plumbing, but rely on pumps for ground water, that were near the outside toilets?

However, what we must always keep in our mind that medicine and science in general is not religion. When you last went to a bookstore, and purchased a copy of the bible. Did it state on the face page, that it is a newly revised edition, and that the first chapter has been completely rewritten, and that in the beginning God did not separate the heavens from the earth, and that this new edition features the “Big Bang.” Don’t laugh; you may be surprised that the first article regarding this concept was published in a physics journal by a Belgium priest – a Father Lamatra. He was the first person who used the term, “The Big Bang.” He sent his idea initially to Einstein and Hubble. They agreed that he had a great concept and that he should send his paper in for publication. Of course, his concept is not mentioned in even the latest editions of the Old Testament. You see, religion never changes. Science always changes. Wait a few years and our ideas regarding diet will completely change. Good nutrition will require the addition of 3 pints of beer and one pound of lamb chops each day. Be sure you do not discard the fat as it is loaded with saturated fat which is necessary for our daily production of cholesterol. Who knows?

Cheer up, I have a Crispr on order.

We hope you have enjoyed reading our little guide to health today. The following is a long list of references which nobody will read.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. I refer you to the original work by Shelly, “Frankenstein,” Also the many works in the cinema where Dr. Frankenstein exclaims, “I have discovered the meaning of life.”
2. science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6452/420
3. The prolongation of the Lifespan of rats… www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22498298
4. Am J. of Lifestyle, Dec 11, 2019
5. N. Eng J. Med, April 25, 2013;368:1575-1584
6. International Journal of Exercise Science 11(2): 32-41, 2018 (A review article that sites many studies).
7. Multiple articles: BreastCancer.ORG
8. 10th Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol and Health. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
9. Kloner RA, Rezkalla SH. To drink or not to drink? That is the question. Circulation. 2007 Sep 11;116(11):1306-17.
10. Dietary guidelines for Americans 2015-2020. U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/appendix-9/. Accessed 7/23/2018.
11. World Cancer Research Fund, American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective. Washington, D.C.: AICR, 2007.
12. Scoccianti C, Cecchini M, Anderson AS, Berrino F, Boutron-Ruault MC, Espina C, Key TJ, Leitzmann M, Norat T, Powers H, Wiseman M. European Code against Cancer 4th Edition: Alcohol drinking and cancer. Cancer epidemiology. 2015 Dec 1;39:S67-74.
13. Behavioral Health Trends in the United States: Results from the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FRR1-2014/NSDUH-FRR1-2014.pdf. Accessed 4/23/2018.
14. Crime characteristics, 2006. U.S. Department of Justice.
15. Impaired driving: Get the Facts. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html. Accessed 4/23/2018.
16. Alcohol Facts and Statistics. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. June 2017. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics. Accessed 4/23/2018.
17. Smith-Warner SA, Spiegelman D, Yaun SS, Van Den Brandt PA, Folsom AR, Goldbohm RA, Graham S, Holmberg L, Howe GR, Marshall JR, Miller AB. Alcohol and breast cancer in women: a pooled analysis of cohort studies. JAMA. 1998 Feb 18;279(7):535-40.
18. Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer. Alcohol, tobacco and breast cancer–collaborative reanalysis of individual data from 53 epidemiological studies, including 58 515 women with breast cancer and 95 067 women without the disease. British journal of cancer. 2002 Nov 18;87(11):1234.
19. Scoccianti C, Lauby-Secretan B, Bello PY, Chajes V, Romieu I. Female breast cancer and alcohol consumption: a review of the literature. American journal of preventive medicine. 2014 Mar 1;46(3):S16-25.
20. Allen NE, Beral V, Casabonne D, Kan SW, Reeves GK, Brown A, Green J. Moderate alcohol intake and cancer incidence in women. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2009 Mar 4;101(5):296-305.
21. Kim HJ, Jung S, Eliassen AH, Chen WY, Willett WC, Cho E. Alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk in younger women according to family history of breast cancer and folate intake. American journal of epidemiology. 2017 Aug 10;186(5):524-31.
22. Cao Y, Willett WC, Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ, Giovannucci EL. Light to moderate intake of alcohol, drinking patterns, and risk of cancer: results from two prospective US cohort studies. BMJ. 2015 Aug 18;351:h4238.
23. Baglietto L, English DR, Gertig DM, Hopper JL, Giles GG. Does dietary folate intake modify effect of alcohol consumption on breast cancer risk? Prospective cohort study. BMJ. 2005 Oct 6;331(7520):807.
24. Zhang S, Hunter DJ, Hankinson SE, Giovannucci EL, Rosner BA, Colditz GA, Speizer FE, Willett WC. A prospective study of folate intake and the risk of breast cancer. JAMA. 1999 May 5;281(17):1632-7.
25. Zhang SM, Willett WC, Selhub J, Hunter DJ, Giovannucci EL, Holmes MD, Colditz GA, Hankinson SE. Plasma folate, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, homocysteine, and risk of breast cancer. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2003 Mar 5;95(5):373-80.
26. Downer MK, Bertoia ML, Mukamal KJ, Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ. Change in Alcohol Intake in Relation to Weight Change in a Cohort of US Men with 24 Years of Follow‐Up. Obesity. 2017 Nov;25(11):1988-96.
27. Goldberg IJ, Mosca L, Piano MR, Fisher EA. Wine and your heart: a science advisory for healthcare professionals from the Nutrition Committee, Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, and Council on Cardiovascular Nursing of the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2001 Jan 23;103(3):472-5.
28. O’Keefe JH, Bhatti SK, Bajwa A, DiNicolantonio JJ, Lavie CJ. Alcohol and cardiovascular health: the dose makes the poison… or the remedy. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2014 Mar 1 (Vol. 89, No. 3, pp. 382-393). Elsevier.
29. Zhang C, Qin YY, Chen Q, Jiang H, Chen XZ, Xu CL, Mao PJ, He J, Zhou YH. Alcohol intake and risk of stroke: a dose–response meta-analysis of prospective studies. International journal of cardiology. 2014 Jul 1;174(3):669-77.
30. Bell S, Daskalopoulou M, Rapsomaniki E, George J, Britton A, Bobak M, Casas JP, Dale CE, Denaxas S, Shah AD, Hemingway H. Association between clinically recorded alcohol consumption and initial presentation of 12 cardiovascular diseases: population based cohort study using linked health records. BMJ. 2017 Mar 22;356:j909.
31. Lin Y, Kikuchi S, Tamakoshi A, Wakai K, Kawamura T, Iso H, Ogimoto I, Yagyu K, Obata Y, Ishibashi T, JACC Study Group. Alcohol consumption and mortality among middle-aged and elderly Japanese men and women. Annals of epidemiology. 2005 Sep 1;15(8):590-7.
32. Mukamal KJ, Conigrave KM, Mittleman MA, Camargo Jr CA, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Rimm EB. Roles of drinking pattern and type of alcohol consumed in coronary heart disease in men. New England Journal of Medicine. 2003 Jan 9;348(2):109-18.
33. Renaud SC, Guéguen R, Siest G, Salamon R. Wine, beer, and mortality in middle-aged men from eastern France. Archives of internal medicine. 1999 Sep 13;159(16):1865-70.
34. Thun MJ, Peto R, Lopez AD, Monaco JH, Henley SJ, Heath Jr CW, Doll R. Alcohol consumption and mortality among middle-aged and elderly US adults. New England Journal of Medicine. 1997 Dec 11;337(24):1705-14.
35. Camargo CA, Hennekens CH, Gaziano JM, Glynn RJ, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ. Prospective study of moderate alcohol consumption and mortality in US male physicians. Archives of Internal Medicine. 1997 Jan 13;157(1):79-85.
36. Camargo CA, Stampfer MJ, Glynn RJ, Gaziano JM, Manson JE, Goldhaber SZ, Hennekens CH. Prospective study of moderate alcohol consumption and risk of peripheral arterial disease in US male physicians. Circulation. 1997 Feb 4;95(3):577-80.
37. Klatsky AL, Armstrong MA, Friedman GD. Risk of cardiovascular mortality in alcohol drinkers, ex-drinkers and nondrinkers. American Journal of Cardiology. 1990 Nov 15;66(17):1237-42.
38. Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA, Willett WC, Speizer FE, Hennekens CH. A prospective study of moderate alcohol consumption and the risk of coronary disease and stroke in women. New England Journal of Medicine. 1988 Aug 4;319(5):267-73.
39. Koppes LL, Dekker JM, Hendriks HF, Bouter LM, Heine RJ. Moderate alcohol consumption lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis of prospective observational studies. Diabetes Care. 2005 Mar 1;28(3):719-25.
40. Solomon CG, Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA, Speizer FE, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Manson JE. Moderate alcohol consumption and risk of coronary heart disease among women with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Circulation. 2000 Aug 1;102(5):494-9.
41. Mukamal KJ, Maclure M, Muller JE, Sherwood JB, Mittleman MA. Prior alcohol consumption and mortality following acute myocardial infarction. JAMA. 2001 Apr 18;285(15):1965-70.
42. Muntwyler J, Hennekens CH, Buring JE, Gaziano JM. Mortality and light to moderate alcohol consumption after myocardial infarction. The Lancet. 1998 Dec 12;352(9144):1882-5.
43. Mukamal KJ, Chung H, Jenny NS, Kuller LH, Longstreth Jr WT, Mittleman MA, Burke GL, Cushman M, Psaty BM, Siscovick DS. Alcohol consumption and risk of coronary heart disease in older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2006 Jan;54(1):30-7.
44. Booyse FM, Pan W, Grenett HE, Parks DA, Darley-Usmar VM, Bradley KM, Tabengwa EM. Mechanism by which alcohol and wine polyphenols affect coronary heart disease risk. Annals of epidemiology. 2007 May 1;17(5):S24-31.
45. Tolstrup J, Jensen MK, Anne T, Overvad K, Mukamal KJ, Grønbæk M. Prospective study of alcohol drinking patterns and coronary heart disease in women and men. BMJ. 2006 May 25;332(7552):1244.
46. Mostofsky E, Mukamal KJ, Giovannucci EL, Stampfer MJ, Rimm EB. Key findings on alcohol consumption and a variety of health outcomes from the Nurses’ Health Study. American journal of public health. 2016 Sep;106(9):1586-91.
47. Grodstein F, Colditz GA, Hunter DJ, Manson JE, Willett WC, Stampfer MJ. A prospective study of symptomatic gallstones in women: relation with oral contraceptives and other risk factors. Obstetrics and Gynecology. 1994 Aug;84(2):207-14.
48. Leitzmann MF, Giovannucci EL, Stampfer MJ, Spiegelman D, Colditz GA, Willett WC, Rimm EB. Prospective study of alcohol consumption patterns in relation to symptomatic gallstone disease in men. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 1999 May;23(5):835-41.
49. Conigrave KM, Hu BF, Camargo CA, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Rimm EB. A prospective study of drinking patterns in relation to risk of type 2 diabetes among men. Diabetes. 2001 Oct 1;50(10):2390-5.
50. Djoussé L, Biggs ML, Mukamal KJ, Siscovick DS. Alcohol consumption and type 2 diabetes among older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study. Obesity. 2007 Jul;15(7):1758-65.
51. Hines LM, Stampfer MJ, Ma J, Gaziano JM, Ridker PM, Hankinson SE, Sacks F, Rimm EB, Hunter DJ. Genetic variation in alcohol dehydrogenase and the beneficial effect of moderate alcohol consumption on myocardial infarction. New England Journal of Medicine. 2001 Feb 22;344(8):549-55.
52. www.onlinejacc.org/content/67/5/545

Dr. Eisman is the author of Bitter Medicine. To purchase a copy, click HERE.

[si-contact-form form=’2′]