Drink And Obesity Behind 60 % Rise In Liver Death Toll
Binge drinking and obesity are fuelling a surge in deaths from liver disease, experts have warned.
The number of lives claimed by damaged, diseased and worn-out livers has soared by 60 per cent in only a decade.
Liver disease, including cancer, claimed 9,719 lives in England in 2008 – up from 6,058 ten years earlier, a report by MPs says today.
The fifth biggest killer, it is the only one that is claiming more lives year after year.
Soaring rates of binge drinking, obesity and the viral disease hepatitis C mean the number of deaths is predicted to double in only 20 years.
Alcohol is 75 per cent cheaper now in real terms than in 1980. Heavy drinking can inflame the liver, causing jaundice, and leading to comas and even death. Read more
Where Can You Find Vitamin K?
Vitamin K affects everything from blood clotting to calcium absorption. Some scientists think it even fights cancer. Vitamin K has several types: vitamin K1, found in plants, vitamin K2, created by bacteria in your intestines, and vitamins K3, K4, and K5, which are synthetic.
Why do we need it?
Without vitamin K, the blood loss from a paper cut could be on par with a knife wound. Vitamin K also plays a part in bone mineralization and stopping osteoporosis – basically, calcium is only part of the picture for strong bones. A Belgian study, first published in the European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, even showed vitamin K to help destroy cancer cells. Read more
Migraine Sufferers Have Higher Risk Of Dying From Heart Disease And Stroke
Individuals who suffer from migraines with aura (temporary visual or sensory disturbances before or during a migraine headache) are at a higher risk of dying from heart disease or stroke, according to research published today in the British Medical Journal.
This is the first large population-based study showing a link between migraine and overall mortality as well as specific mortality.
The findings support increasing evidence that migraine, particularly with aura, is associated with death from heart disease. The researchers stress, however, that the individual risk for a migraine sufferer remains low.
The authors, led by Larus Gudmundsson from the University of Iceland, assessed the impact of mid-life migraine episodes in 18,725 men and women born between 1907 and 1935 who took part in the Reykjavik Study (set up in 1967 by the Icelandic Heart Association to study heart disease in Iceland). In total the research team explored over 470,000 person-years of data with a follow-up of 26 years.
Gudmundsson and colleagues used questionnaires to assess migraine with and without aura. Read more
Study IDs ‘Alarming Disparities’ In Child Obesity
While the extent of obesity among kids overall seems to have peaked, it’s still climbing among African American and Native American girls, new research from California shows.
And the biggest obesity increases over the past decade have occurred among the heaviest youths, no matter what their gender or ethnicity, Dr. Kristine Madsen of the University of California, San Francisco, and her colleagues found. “Our heaviest kids are getting heavier,” Madsen said in an interview.
Recent national data suggest that the percentage of children who are obese has plateaued, “representing the first sign of abatement in the pediatric obesity epidemic,” Madsen and her team note in the September issue of Pediatrics. But that same data, covering 1999 through 2008, also show Hispanic and black children were more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic whites. Read more
China Expands Tests After Babies Grow Breasts
China will test a wider range of dairy products and even breast milk as authorities investigate claims that a brand of infant formula caused apparent breast growth in a small number of babies, an official newspaper reported Saturday.
It was the latest food safety scandal to shake China, which drew worldwide attention two years ago when more than 300,000 children were sickened and six died after drinking infant formula tainted by the industrial chemical melamine. It had been added to fool tests for protein content.
The Health Ministry is currently conducting quality tests on dairy products in Beijing and Shanghai, the People’s Daily reported, citing physician Liang Li, who is on an expert panel at the ministry. Read more