Effects of poor control hypertension

Imagine there is a broken pipe, and the water in the pipe are pumped in a high pressure condition, what will happen? the water leaked out and the high pressure water have sufficient force to harm the surrounding   . What if similar events happened in our blood arteries? uncontrolled high blood pressure (BP) force the blood to weakened the blood vessels and prolonged high BP will causes the blood vessels to leak out, as a results, the surrounding cells cant get sufficient oxygen, and the heart need to work harder to pump more blood against the high BP blood vessels. 

3 most prominent areas which I will be highlight is the kidney, brain and eyes. These area are filled with tiny little blood vessels which are easily break, uncontrolled BP causes the effect such as hemorrhagic stroke, blindness and kidney damage. any of these events occur will significantly affect the life of the patients.

The problem with hypertension is that, it is symptom-less condition, patients often feel good in normal time until every single cells of these organ been damaged and ignored the importance of taking the hypertensive medicines. Continuous monitoring of the BP is important for hypertensive patients.

Please do remember, if the pipe is broken we can call for plumber to fix it, but if the blood vessels is broken, we cant do anything to fix it… So please take your medicines regularly and have a good control of blood pressure

Directions to take medicines

 

The interaction of medications and food is very complex and needs to be indvidualized for each patient and each medication. However, there are some generalizations that can be made. Some medicine can irritate the stomach which in turn causes damage to the stomach such as GI bleeding whereas effect of some medicine will be reduced by the presence of foods in the stomach, I had summarized few common examples of direction which usually told by doctor and pharmacist when you taking the medicines above, if you have any question regarding this topic, feel free to ask me 🙂

Food and Drug Interaction

 

Food that you eat may affect the way of medication act in the body in different ways, it may either, decrease the effect of the medication, causes ineffective treatment, causing severe harmful effect to you and might be fatal. it is important to avoid the above mentioned foods when taking medications: 

Dairy product such as cheese, milk, yogurt
Charcoal broiled food such as BBQ chicken, BBQ sausage
Green Leafy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli
Licorice is Chinese herbal medication which frequently used in herbal soup
Supplements product (OTC) might also affect the way medications react in the body, so it is important to inform your doctor regarding the OTC you are taking currently.

Few tips to avoid drug-food interaction:

• Always read drug labels carefully.
• Learn about the warnings for all the drugs you take.
• Keep medications in their original containers so that you can easily identify them.
• Ask your doctor what you need to avoid when you are prescribed a new medication. Ask about food, beverages, dietary supplements, and other drugs.
• Check with your doctor or pharmacist before taking an OTC drug if you are taking any prescription medications.
• Use one pharmacy for all of your drug needs.
• Keep all of your health care professionals informed about everything that you take.
• Keep a record of all prescription drugs, OTC drugs, and dietary supplements (including herbs) that you take. Try to keep this list with you at all times, but especially when you go on any medical appointment.

 

Balance of Omega 3 & 6

Balance of Omega 3 & 6

Both Omega 3 & 6 are essential fatty acids which our body can’t make them, we need to take them from our diet daily. The problems of modern day are we consume too much omega 6 and too few omega 3 in our diet.

 

Omega 6 produce hormones (prostaglandins) that promote inflammation, cell growth and blood clotting whereas the Omega 3 produce prostaglandins with the opposite effect. For example, in the event of injury, you need to have a good inflammatory response to heal quicker as the inflammatory response brings blood and immune cells to the wounded area. But if you have not been hurt, an imflammatory response can damage tissue and cause major problems such as asthma, arthritis and heart disease.

 

Therefore, it is important that we consume Omega 3 and Omega 6 in a balanced fashion so that the hormones produced will be balanced. Unbalanced prostaglandin causes serious health problems such as cancer, heart disease, inflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases.

 

So what are omega 6 fatty acids? These fatty acids are found in meats, margarines, peanuts, and many of our processed foods. Most of the foods we eat today are composed of omega 6 fatty acids instead of omega 3 fatty acids. The major sources of omega 3 fatty acids are found in cold water fish, flaxseed, soybeans, organic eggs and walnuts.

 

The oppose the effect of over omega 6 consumed, it it recommended that we consume these essential fatty acids in the ratio of 2:1, which means for the 20mg of omega 6 u consume, you must consume 10mg omega 3 to counter the effects.

 

Studies have proven that a relatively small number of omega-3 food sources can have a measurable impact on your blood levels of omega-3s, including those two key omega-3 fatty acids, EPA (eicosaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). For example, two weekly servings of a non-fried, omega-3 containing fish such as salmon is enough to boost your blood levels of omega-3s.

 

What foods provide omega-3 fatty acids?

Sardines, salmon, flax seeds and walnuts are excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Very good sources of these healthy fats include cloves. Good sources of these fats include shrimp, cod, tuna, soybeans, tofu, kale, collard greens, and winter squash.

 

 Few ways to cut your omega-6:

1.              Change your cooking oils from vegetable oils to omega-3 rich oils

2.              Limit processed foods

3.              Reduce dressings, margarine, and mayonnaises  

4.              Consume low fat or fat free foods

 

Diabetic 101 – Consequences of excessive glucose in the blood

 

Diabetic 101 => Consequences of excessive glucose in the blood

Explanation of the importance of good glucose control in Diabetic patients (simplified)
symptoms such

 as
– weight loss
– excessive thirsty 
– excessive urination (even at night)
– blindness
– ED
– ketone smells
– infections
– progressive kidney damage

Chocolates and its Benefits

Chocolates

“Chocolate is a complex food with over 300 compounds and chemicals in each bite”. It is a delicious food that caught my heart for long times, there are chocolates lover everywhere, especially the girls.

 Is chocolate good for health?

Well, that’s depends on the type of chocolate you are consuming, you should pick dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate or white chocolate, noticed that many dark chocolate packaging labeled the percentage (%) of cocoa, the higher the % the more health benefits the chocolate contains.

* Dark chocolate contain at least 65% cocoa content

 Doesn’t Chocolate have a lot of Fats?

Some of the fats in chocolate do not impact your cholesterol. The fats in chocolate are 1/3 oleic acid, 1/3 stearic acid and 1/3 palmitic acid:

• Oleic Acid is a healthy monounsaturated fat that is also found in olive oil.
• Stearic Acid is a saturated fat but one which research is shows has a neutral effect on cholesterol.
• Palmitic Acid is also a saturated fat, one which raises cholesterol and heart disease risk.

That means only 1/3 of the fat in dark chocolate is bad for you.

“Don’t” of chocolate

Don’t consume when you are constipation

Chocolate does not cause constipation in most healthy adults, but it can be a factor if you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Stop eating chocolate, if it causes constipation, and call your doctor.

Don’t eat too much chocolate

Don’t consume too much chocolate at once, a little bit of chocolate is all you need. One study found that as few as 30 calories of flavanol-rich dark chocolate lowered blood pressure. Too much chocolate will cause weight gain and raise your blood sugar level.

 Don’t use it to increase sexual desire

Men have long believed that giving a woman chocolate will put her in the mood to get busy. We hate to break it to them, but scientists have not been able to prove that chocolate increases sexual desire in women.

Don’t consume it when you can’t sleep

Chocolate contain theobromine, which is a caffeine relative compound, it is a mild stimulant substances which can make you awake, do not consume chocolate when you are insomnia, and avoid consuming chocolate few hour before you sleep

Don’t Eat with Nougat

Always look for pure dark chocolate and avoid anything with caramel, nougat or other fillings which add sugar and fat to your diet.

Don’t Consume with Milk

Research shows that absorption of antioxidants in chocolate will be decrease by consuming chocolate with milk.

Benefits of chocolate:

1. Healthy Heart

A small bar of dark chocolate everyday is good for your heart, study found that cocoa powder may contribute to a reduction in LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) and elevated HDL (the good cholesterol). Besides that, chocolate can reduce blood pressure in individual with high blood pressure.

In fact, a Swedish study from 2011 showed that women who ate 45g of chocolate per week were 20% less likely to get a stroke than women who ate less than 9g.

2. Healthy Teeth

Chocolate may help prevent cavities and plaque build-up on the teeth, and research has found that the theobromine in chocolate prevents tooth decay by eliminating bacteria found in the oral cavity that contributes to tooth decay.

3. High in Antioxidants

Cocoa contains flavanols, a type of flavanoid that is only found in cocoa and chocolate. Flavanoids are naturally-occurring compounds that occur in plant foods that act as antioxidants and help counteract free radicals in the body.

4. Fix the Gloomy Day

Chocolate contains serotonin, a natural anti-depressant. Chocolate also stimulates endorphin production, which creates feelings of happiness and pleasure.

5. Cancer Fighter

Two ways that chocolate works as a cancer fighter is by inhibiting cell division and reducing inflammation, though research is ongoing and will probably find additional ways in which chocolate fights cancer.

6. Longer Life and Less Disease

One Dutch study followed 200 men over 20 years and found that those who consumed large amounts of chocolate, both milk chocolate and dark, lived longer and had lower overall disease rates than men who ate little or no chocolate.

A Harvard study on the Kuna tribe of Panama resulted in similar findings. The Kuna consumed large amounts of raw cacao every day and the study found them to have lower overall disease rates and longer life expectancy than neighboring tribes who did not consume as much raw cacao.

To further strengthen the case for dark chocolate as a life extender, the world’s longest-lived person, Jeanne Louise Calment, lived to the age of 122 and many ascribed her longevity in part to her consumption of 2.5 pounds of dark chocolate a week.

7. Brain Health

Many studies have shown that dark chocolate is good for the brain. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that it can protect the brain after a stroke by shielding the nerve cells from further damage. Dark chocolate has also been found to improve memory. Researchers at California’s Salk Institute found that a chemical in chocolate called epicatechin improved the memory of mice.

References

1. http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/2009/02/dos-and-donts-of-chocolate#ixzz24NX66JMB
2. http://www.livestrong.com/article/412104-can-chocolate-cause-constipation/#ixzz24NewMUo7

Anti Oxidant and how its work

 

Free Radical

Our normal metabolism in the body created side products, and some of these side products are harmful to our body, for example, free radical, free radicals are atom or molecule which have 1 unpaired electron on their orbital, and due to this unpaired, the electron tends to snatch over the electrons of other molecule, and this eventually will target the most vulnerable side of our body, the human cells.

The cells are responsible for our daily work such as providing us energies, synthesis of our body proteins, the damaged cells lead to reduce performance of our daily activities, prolonged damaged of the cells lead to degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, and other degenerative diseases. Several researches had shown that free radical are correlated with the aging of our human being too.

What can our body do to counter the effect of free radical?

The answer is Anti oxidant, which refers to the vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals (plant chemicals) and other natural compounds that protect your body from free radicals. the free radical acts by providing additional electron to the free radical so that the free radicals attack the anti oxidant instead of attacking our cells and damage the important cell component. 

Basically there are two types of anti oxidant, fat soluble anti oxidant and water soluble anti oxidant, each of the anti oxidant have its own specialty, for examples:vitamin c is water soluble and is therefore the best antioxidant to target free radicals within the blood and plasma. Vitamin E and coenzyme Q-10 are fat soluble and they are the best anti oxidant within the cell membrane. Glutathione is the best anti oxidant within the cell itself. Member of these anti oxidant network rescue one another when they become oxidized by free radicals.

Sources of antioxidant in our dietary:

Vitamin C – Kiwifruits, orange, lemon, grapefruits, papaya

Vitamin E – Sunflower oil, avocados, wheat germ oil

Coenzyme Q-10 – Fish (salmon, sardine), Heart of animal, soybean oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil

Glutathione – Asparagus, spinach, thistle milk, garlic (all these serve as glutathione booster as it is synthesized naturally in our body) 

Lipoic acid – dark green leafy vegetables, including spinach and collard greens; broccoli; animal foods such as beef steak; and organ meats such as calf’s liver

Doctor or Pharmacist for minor ailment?

 

With refer to http://www.ageuk.org.uk/health-wellbeing/doctors-hospitals/do-you-really-need-to-see-your-doctor/ and the recently arise article “To Whom We Should Get The Advice From, A Doctor Or Pharmacist?” (China Press, 5 July 2012)

How a Pharmacy can help you in Malaysia?

A pharmacy can provide:
– instance solution to your minor ailment without any extra charges, you just need to pay for your medication cost
– A pharmacist know more about the medication you are taking than a GP which including the storage, side effects, precaution, and interaction
– Additionally, a doctor visit require extra time than a visit to the pharmacy
– A pharmacy can provide you wider choices of medication (Price, Brands, form of the medication such as syrup or tablet)
– you can also ask the pharmacist for ways to prevent the disease and gain the knowledge of active healthy lifestyles