Workout programs, exercise tips, and general fitness related news!: May 2012

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Warren Buffett Has Early Stage Prostate Cancer

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81-year-old billionaire's doctors spotted tumor before it had spread, prognosis good April 18, 2012 RSS Feed Print

WEDNESDAY, April 18 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. billionaire investor Warren Buffett says he has prostate cancer and will undergo radiation treatment in the coming months.

The 81-year-old chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said in a letter to investors on Tuesday that he has stage 1 cancer, an early form of the disease that is treatable.

"The good news is that I've been told by my doctors that my condition is not remotely life- threatening or even debilitating in any meaningful way," Buffett said.

After receiving the diagnosis last Wednesday, Buffett said he had other tests that "showed no incidence of cancer elsewhere in my body."

[Read: Warren Buffet Is Right.]

In his letter, Buffett said he expects to begin two months of daily radiation treatment in mid-July. It will restrict his travel, "but will not otherwise change my daily routine."

He added that, "I discovered the cancer because my PSA level [an indicator my doctors had regularly checked for many years] recently jumped beyond its normal elevation and a biopsy seemed warranted."

Experts noted that prostate cancer that is caught at stage 1, when it is localized to the prostate, is highly curable. According to the American Cancer Society, four of five prostate cancers are caught at stages 1 or 2, and the overall 10-year survival rate for men diagnosed with prostate cancer is 98 percent. About 242,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States each year, and about 28,000 die from the disease annually.

"Many patients can be cured if their prostate cancer has not spread," the U.S. National Cancer Institute noted on its website, and even "some patients whose cancer has not spread very much outside the prostate gland can also be cured."

[Read: Warren Buffett and the Mythical 'Congressional Reform Act.']

Typical treatments include surgical removal of the tumor, hormone-depletion therapy (male hormones are thought to act as "fuel" for prostate tumors) and radiation treatments.

If the tumor is deemed to be slow-growing, based on changes in levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), doctors often advise forgoing treatment and doing "watchful waiting" instead.

Speaking to msnbc.com, Dr. Christopher Kane, chief of urology at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, said that the fact Buffett is at stage 1 "implies the cancer is confined to the prostate, or that there is a low risk for metastases [spread] to other parts of the body."

In his letter to investors, Buffett noted that his condition at the present time is good. "I feel great -- as if I were in my normal excellent health -- and my energy level is 100 percent," he said.

More information

For more on prostate cancer, go to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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Monday, May 14, 2012

Shingles Vaccine Safe, Underutilized

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CDC recommends it for people 60 and older. April 23, 2012 RSS Feed Print

MONDAY, April 23 (HealthDay News) -- The shingles vaccine is generally safe and well tolerated by patients, according to a new study.

Shingles, which affects more than 1 million people each year in the United States, is a painful contagious rash caused by the dormant chickenpox virus, which can reactivate and replicate, damaging the nervous system.

Elderly people are especially at risk because immunity against the virus that causes shingles declines with age.

[Read: Shingles Vaccine Linked to Lower Disease Risk.]

In this study, researchers looked at data from more than 193,000 adults 50 and older who received the shingles vaccine, also known as the herpes zoster vaccine, over two years. There was a small increased risk of local reactions (redness and pain) from one to seven days after vaccination. This finding matches the results of clinical trials.

The shingles vaccine did not increase the risk for cerebrovascular diseases; cardiovascular diseases; meningitis, encephalitis, and encephalopathy; Ramsay-Hunt syndrome; or Bell's palsy, the researchers said.

The study was published online April 23 in the Journal of Internal Medicine.

[Read: Shingles Returns More Often Than Thought.]

The study supports the vaccination recommendation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices "and reassures the general public that the vaccine is safe," study author Hung Fu Tseng, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, Calif., said in a Kaiser news release.

Few people received the vaccine, which was licensed in 2006, the news release said. The CDC recommends it for healthy people aged 60 and older.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about shingles.

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Health Buzz: Brides Try Feeding Tube Diet

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By Angela Haupt

April 23, 2012 RSS Feed Print

Extreme Dieting: The Feeding Tube Diet is Catching On

Some brides-to-be are prepping to say 'I do' by inserting a feeding tube in their nose. Also known as the K-E method, it's the latest wedding crash diet, and it's raising eyebrows among health experts. The 10-day plan requires brides-to-be to live with a nasogastric tube inserted through their nose and threaded into their stomach. A protein pack dispenses a liquid mix of nutrients, but no carbs, supplying about 800 calories a day. (Most experts recommend healthy adult women get about 2,000 to 2,400 calories a day.) The feeding tube diet throws the body into starvation, and is touted as helping followers drop 20 pounds in 10 days. "People are taking an unnecessary medical risk by putting in a [feeding] tube," David Heber, director of the UCLA Risk Factor Obesity Program, told Time. "To do it for no reason seems to me overly risky. Without medical supervision … it's not safe."

7 Wacky Celebrity Diets and Weight-Loss TricksBest Diets

Is a Gluten-Free Diet Smart for Weight Loss?

Miley Cyrus is looking leaner than ever these days, fueling mass speculation of an eating disorder. Earlier this month, she took to Twitter to defend her slim physique: "For everyone calling me anorexic, I have a gluten and lactose allergy. It's not about weight, it's about health. Gluten is crapppp anyway!"

While Cyrus' weight loss may be due to a legitimate food allergy, scads of other celebrities and non-famous folks alike are adopting a gluten-free diet—for weight reasons, not health. "It's definitely trendy now. Everyone is talking about it," says Elisabetta Politi, nutrition director at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C. And the food industry is apparently cashing in on the trend, too: By 2015, sales of gluten-free foods and beverages are expected to hit $5 billion, according to Packaged Facts, a market research firm. "I see the positive side of being more aware of gluten and trying not to overdo it," says Politi, "but I don't think it's a good way to lose weight."

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye, as well as many common food additives. It gives dough elasticity and baked goods their chewiness. (It's found in pizza, beer, burgers, and pancakes, for example.) Those who have celiac disease—caused by an overactive immune response to gluten in the small intestine—are encouraged to go gluten-free to avoid digestive symptoms like pain and diarrhea, and even permanent intestinal damage or malnutrition. There's no cure or medication other than a gluten-free diet. About 1 percent of the population suffers from celiac and about 10 percent have a less specific sensitivity, according to the Mayo Clinic. [Read more: Is a Gluten-Free Diet Smart for Weight Loss?]

Gluten-Free Diet: a Cure for Some, a Fad for MostBest Diets Overall

Surprisingly Unhealthy Restaurant Meals

Everyone knows that trademark fast food like Whoppers and Big Macs doesn't fit comfortably under a "diet" label. But sit-down family chains have eye-opening menu entries, too, that can supply as much or more fat or salt as anything dished out at a drive-thru window. Here's a look at some of America's favorite family restaurants—and one juice joint—and their surprisingly unhealthy offerings.

Boston Market. You may think grabbing a Boston Market salad in lieu of rotisserie chicken is the healthier choice. Think again. Its chicken Caesar salad has 660 calories and 43 grams of fat—slightly more than what's in the half-chicken á la carte. The salad also has 1,590 mg of salt, approaching the 2,300 mg per day the government recommends you stay below, and exceeding the 1,500-mg limit for anyone who is 51 or older, African-American, or has hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease.

Olive Garden. "When you're here, you're family," goes the Olive Garden pitch, but you might think twice about feeding your family this much fat. The government urges adults to ingest no more than 20 to 35 percent of daily calories from fat. That equates to a max of 44 to 78 grams of total fat per day if you're on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet. Olive Garden's fettuccini Alfredo has a whopping 1,220 calories, 75 grams of fat, and 1,350 mg of salt—the caloric equivalent of two Big Macs and an order of small fries—and that's before the all-you-can-eat breadsticks, which have 150 calories each. Even without the creamy Alfredo sauce, the restaurant's dishes can be packed with calories, salt, and fat. The chicken and shrimp carbonara has 1,440 calories, 88 grams of fat, and 3,000 mg of salt, while the chicken parmigiana has 1,090 calories, 49 grams of fat, and 3,380 mg of salt, for example. [Read more: Surprisingly Unhealthy Restaurant Meals]

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Best Hospitals Best Health Plans Best Nursing Homes Best Diets Featured Videos

Depression

Learn how to recognize the symptoms.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis can affect the young and old alike.

Suffering from Migraines?

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Get the Guidebook

Best Hospitals 2012

The definitive U.S. News guide to hospitals, with 172 full-color pages of rankings, special reports, and more.

Order it now Hospitals » Hospitals by Specialty Cancer Hospitals Cardiology & Heart Surgery Hospitals Diabetes & Endocrinology Hospitals Orthopedics Hospitals Hospitals »

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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Warren Buffett Has Early Stage Prostate Cancer

Monday, May 14, 2012

Shingles Vaccine Safe, Underutilized

Health Buzz: Brides Try Feeding Tube Diet

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