Substance Abuse Linked to Suicide Risk

The latest study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration clearly links substance abuse with suicide.  Their overall numbers are that 32,000 suicides occur in the United States each year, but among people with a substance abuse disorder, 11% had considered suicide compared to 3% for people without such disorders.  This year, there was another important twist in the study.  In the past, the only people asked about suicide were those suffering from depression.  But according to this new report, a wide variety of people with and without depression were asked.  The other high-risk group included people between 18 and 25.  It’s very important when we talk about substance abuse, we understand that there are high-risk groups and groups that really cannot be ignored. 

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Acetaminophen for Treating Pain?

So how good is acetaminophen at treating pain? Tylenol, Tempra, the other brands, are they good? Yes, they are good. They’re good for osteoarthritis. They actually work in a way to control temperature, clearly, but they also will help with inflammation. Now, in the long term, some of the other medications like the nonsteroidal and the cox inhibitors are medications that actually can work more effectively for severe problems. But initially, if you don’t use it too much, that acetaminophen can be very helpful in dealing with pain.

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What are the Benefits of Bottle Feeding?

Bottle feeding doesn’t necessarily get good press. You hear a great deal about breastfeeding and the advantages of that, but bottle feeding actually can be quite effective. First of all, mom can spend plenty of time with the baby at the nipple of the bottle. As long as mom is bonding with the baby, that’s what’s important. Secondly, bottle feeding can be effective from the nutritional standpoint because they are now making formula, and have been making formula, that simulates what the human body has. So, all in all, bottle feeding can be a very good thing.

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Grilling and Carcinogens

Labor Day is around the corner, and according to health officials, you need to be aware of certain risks when you're grilling. The problem is the fine balance between cooking burgers long enough to protect against bacterial contamination, and not cooking them long enough to produce high amounts of HCAs, or heterocyclic amines. HCAs are human carcinogens. If you cookout this could be a risk, but there are ways to cut down on the harmful HCAs. One option, marinate the meat first in a sugar, oil, vinegar mixture. Another idea is a tart cherry. They reduce heterocyclic amines. But be aware of tomato based marinade which can increase the carcinogens. Once again if you cook out every now and then, you don’t have to be overly concerned.

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Over-Consumption of Junk Food Can Trigger Addiction-Like Responses in the Brain

We have suspected this for quite some time, but a study in rats reported in the journal Neuroscience has found that over-consumption of high-calorie food can trigger addiction-like responses in the brain, and that junk food can turn rats into compulsive eaters in a laboratory setting.  When the researchers regularly offered rats a choice of high-calorie foods such as bacon, sausage, cake, and chocolate in addition to their regular food choices, the animals over-consumed calories and gained weight rapidly.  The study gets even more interesting, the team trained their rats to expect painful foot shocks when seeing a light signal.  Although normal rats stop eating even the most delicious junk food when the light comes on, the obese rats used to the high-calorie diet just keep feeding.  The desire for junk food overcame the fear of pain.

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What is Glaucoma and How to Detect It

It has been called by some ‘high blood pressure of the eye,’ but it exacts a terrible toll. Glaucoma is the leading cause of permanent blindness in the world. Now certainly, it affects over 3 million people in the United States alone. Although the condition is most severe in the elderly, glaucoma affects all ages, including the newborn. Once vision is lost from glaucoma, it is lost forever. Unfortunately, many individuals who have glaucoma won’t know it until it’s too late. As the population ages and we live longer, glaucoma and it’s devastating consequences are expected to reach near epidemic levels. Now, a regular visit to your ophthalmologist can help detect a problem early and lead to treatment. It is not painful. It’s an easy test. In a sense, what they do is take a little ‘poof’ which hits your eye. If you’ve ever had it, it’s annoying, but it does not hurt and it can save your vision.

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Update on Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is not that common of a form of cancer but when it hits, it is extremely aggressive. There are about 16,000 to 17,000 new cases in the United States each year. The problem is that it can also run in families, but for some, it occurs sporadically. We don’t really have great warning signs for ovarian cancer. There are certain things that can tip it off like feelings of the stomach being bloated and distention. But those types of things can occur for other reasons as well. That’s why we have to be so careful.

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