Category Archives: Health & Environment

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) on the New Spotlight

By Hui Xie-Zukauskas

Heart Care Blog_Pixabay & VeezeeIt’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Holiday shopping time. I’m fascinated by some new, popular products on the market. They seamlessly integrate into our daily lives or functions, through hand-free and hassle-free items or other products that make routine tasks more effortless, efficient, and enjoyable.

Equally fascinated by emerging technologies in medical science, I’d love to share some tremendous discoveries and developments that have transformed clinical landscape of therapeutics. But first off, critically important is putting cardiovascular diseases (CVD) on the spotlight. Why?

Based on the World Heart Federation, CVD is the world’s number one killer, causing over 20.5 million deaths each year (resulting from heart attack, stroke, and heart failure). However, there is hope—80% of premature deaths from CVD are preventable! Not to say, medical breakthroughs make CVD and some of its risk factors treatable.

Here I’d focuses on the conditions that are harmful to your heart, but sometimes overlooked.

1.      Obesity    

Overweight and obesity affects more than 70% of US adults and more than 50% of people worldwide, contributing to numerous health consequences. Overweight and obesity are independently associated with an increased risk of CV events. This holds true after excess weight-associated cardiometabolic risk factors (such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and type 2 diabetes) are accounted for (Khera et al., 2023; Lincoff et al., 2023; Drozdz et al., 2021).

Whether obesity as a disease that individuals are predisposed to develop as a result of genetics, biology and the living environment or as a condition due to complex factors, it’s important to double our awareness and effort to prevent or treat obesity for tackling CVD. For those who want to understand more about it, I’d recommend a Weight and Health video from New England Journal of Medicine. It eloquently and effectively delves into obesity from pathophysiology and the impact of weight bias or stigma, to therapy including benefits and risks of promising new medications.

Since weight gain usually takes place gradually, weight loss unlikely occurs quickly. So, monitor this significant risk factor closely, make small lifestyle modifications consistently, and seek medical treatment if needed.

Having emphasized on overweight and obesity, by no means I diminish or minimize other common risk factors or detrimental conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, smoking, alcoholism, poor diet, physical inactivity, and stress, in addition to the uncontrollable (age and genetics). It’s very possible that an individual may have multiple risk factors as these conditions are often interlinked and interact. All of that make regular check-up, lifestyle modifications, and early intervention crucial for the prevention of CVD.

2.      Climate change coupled dual threats—extreme heat and poor air quality

Global climate change affected environmental disaster is real! As we all see, extreme heat events are becoming more frequent, more intense, and longer. High temperatures stress the CV system by making the heart work harder and by putting extra strain on vital organs like lungs and kidneys. Exposure to poor air quality, especially to high concentrations of fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) is also independently associated with CV morbidity and mortality. When inhaled deep into the lungs, these fine particulates can irritate the lungs and blood vessels around the heart.

Recent findings showed that co-exposure to extreme heat and poor air quality synergistically increase the risk of fatal heart attack. In an analysis of 202,678 heart attack deaths between 2015–2020 in Jiangsu province of China, up to 2.8% of heart attack deaths were attributed to combination of extreme heat and high levels of PM2.5 (exceeding WHO target value of 37.5 µg/m3). Women and older adults were more vulnerable to the greater risk.

3.      “Athlete’s Heart” and exercise intensely

In January, the Bills’ 25-year-old Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field during Monday Night Football, which captured the national spotlight. Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in young athletes. According to Rakesh Gopinathannair, MD, specialized in clinical cardiac electrophysiology, intensive endurance training can cause a distinct pattern of functional and structural changes of the CV system, including heart muscle thickening and ECG changes. This results in so-called “athlete’s heart”. So, it reminds us to be more attentive to heart health among young athletes and ensure the readiness of life-saving equipment and teams involved.

I would also expand this issue to the non-athletic population, in particular a small percent of “fitness-fanatics” who exercise excessively. Without doubt, exercise reduces your risk of CVD, cancer, and all-cause mortality. However, excessive exercise or rigorous yet unproven fitness routines can negatively impact your heart health.

Most commonly seen is atrial fibrillation (AFib; a heart condition of an irregular rhythm and often abnormally fast rate). This is because strenuous exercises put extra demands on the heart and cause damage to the CV system. It has been proven not only by scientific/medical research but also by people in real life. I know some folks—a family member, a neighbor, and a few doctors including cardiologist who admitted their heart problems were the fault of their own (i.e., exercised in extreme intensity, volume, and frequency when they were young). It all comes down to the benefits’ gain from proper exercises without overdoing it when the risk kicks in. A 30-minute walk is just as good as 30-minute intense cycling, depending on an individual. Adequate exercise is always better than none. If you have any concerns about your heart health, don’t hesitate to consult with your doctor or a healthcare professional.

The bottom line is—in the holiday season and the years ahead, don’t just indulge in hand-free, hassle-free gadgets to satisfy your convenience, do pay attention to your heart and keep it “hazard-free” for your wellbeing and life.

 

Image credits: Pixabay; Andres Ramos / Vecteezy

Climate Change Threatens Children’s Health – So Let’s Give a Holiday Gift to Our Children

By Hui Xie-Zukauskas

Climate Crisis for unhappy snowman_Pixabay+CPDI credit a recent Double Take Video from New England Journal of Medicine for inspiring this article on the holiday season. The instructional video focuses on Climate, Pollution, and Children’s Health. In about seven minutes, it eloquently highlights five key ways in which climate change causes a long-lasting negative impact on children’s well-being. I highly recommend everyone to watch it – a link is here.

When we face the reality of climate change, we realize that it has severe implications for human and planetary health, and certainly is a threat to children’s vulnerabilities. A growing body of research has shown that climate change has detrimental effects on children’s health through multiple pathways. So most unfortunately, climate change will have adverse impacts on children born today throughout their lifetime—their nutrition, health, education, and life.

Children are not little adults. They are at a higher risk for health hazards because of various reasons, including but not limited to

  • The way their bodies metabolize toxins during development,
  • The physiological fact that they breathe, eat, and drink more, relative to their body mass (or on a per pound basis), than adults do,
  • Their having less developed natural defenses (from skin and the blood-brain barrier to system and organ functions),
  • Thermoregulation – that is, they regulate their body temperature differently from adults,
  • Unique activity patterns and behaviors.

Understandably, children at varying developmental stages also respond differently to environmental extremes and stressors such as air pollution, UV exposure, increased frequency and severity of heat waves, and contaminated food or water.

Previously, I’ve talked about why the climate crisis is a health crisis and how climate change can impact cancer risk, and I’ve shared some ideas for taking “greener” actions combined with lifestyle modification on a daily basis. Now, let’s give extra attention to children.

As the global climate crisis intensifies, children are likely to bear the consequences of negative impacts over their life course if we don’t take action now. Worth mentioning is that disadvantaged children suffer from a disproportionally high and unjust health burden from climate change. As a result, the long-term impact of multiple physical and psychosocial stressors on children’s health may endanger their future.

Key Takeaway Point 

Climate change is a critical and huge problem. It cannot be solved by any one person. However, the solution can be achieved by collective efforts—from policy levels and organizational involvement to the practices of each of us. To this end …

This holiday, I’m giving my voice as a gift to this vulnerable population—not only my children but also all children in the world—for an important endeavor and a lasting purpose, in order to meet the challenge of climate crisis.

Please join me in taking action in whatever way you can and, consequently, promoting a harmony on earth where the coming generations can enjoy their holidays like us and, more importantly, for their long-term well-being.

Image credit: Pixabay; CPD

How Racism Impacts Public Health

By Hui Xie-Zukauskas

Health Disparities_Brown UnivThe COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the reality of two Americas in a way that many of us may have never before fully realized. In the wake of latest tragic killings of African Americans by police brutality, open outrage and massive, persisting protests have stirred social unrest. This calls us to examine racism at institutional levels and racial bias, implicit or explicit, in our conscience, too.

Here, I’d like to zoom into the topic of racism through the lens of the black Americans’ health. Racism is a public health crisis, and it is colliding with the COVID-19 crisis. Clearly, the pandemic has devastated communities of color and preexisting health disparities are worsened.

Let’s start with the impact of systemic racism, spotlighted by the pandemic

Think about the stunning statistics: approximately 60 percent of COVID-19 patients are Blacks and Latinos in some U.S. cities or counties where the minority population is about 30% or so. Black Americans are disproportionately infected with and died of coronavirus. Why?

There are three apparent reasons:

First, black Americans have limited access to affordable healthcare. We know that 27.5 million Americans are uninsured; about 11 percent blacks among them, based on U.S. Census Bureau. During the outbreak, they are less likely to get tested and treated in a timely way when infected with coronavirus.

Second, black Americans have disproportionately higher rates of chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, respiratory illnesses, and cancer than white Americans. These underlying conditions make them more vulnerable to COVID-19 and compromise the treatment.

Third, these individuals bear the burden of socioeconomic inequality and injustice. Most of them are low-income folks, living in congested households packed with multi-generations or multi-families, and taking public transportations with no or little luxury for social distancing; not to mention those who are in shared housings situations such as homeless shelters and prisons. Moreover, people of color are also likely to reside in neighborhoods with higher levels of air pollution. A recent study from Harvard indicates that chronic exposure to high levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is 8 percent more likely to die from COVID-19. Plus, they are likely “essential workers” with increased exposure to the virus.

All these situations put black people at a higher risk for many illnesses including COVID-19.

Leave aside the evident overrepresentation of black people in poverty and white people in relative wealth. Let’s have a glance at some aspects of inequities that touch on black people’s daily struggles.

  • Education track

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Education from elementary school to college influences not only one’s occupation and career but also health literacy, lifestyle choices, and disease prevention. Do black kids receive the same health education in early school years as white ones? Think about black kids living in high-crime communities—do they have equal time or freedom to play outdoors after school like white children?

  • Environment injustice

Communities of color are hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent research in the US and from Europe showed that air pollution is closely associated with a higher death toll from the coronavirus infection. Look around: where are locations of those air pollutant-producing plants, incinerators, or landfills? They are much more likely be in low-income neighborhoods in which people of color live, not in the white, high-income communities. Then consider asthma. Living with asthma, one has frail lungs and weakened immunity—both worsening COVID-19 outcomes. We know that air pollution, especially PM2.5, contributes to not just asthma and lung disorder but high blood pressure, cancer, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

  • Emotional stress

The health risks for blacks amid the pandemic is only compounded or exacerbated by other life sufferings. These individuals, especially black men, have a constant fear of being hurt or killed by law enforcement when leaving their houses. Also, many blacks are grappling with other adverse circumstances, including mental scars from traumas such as the loss of young fathers, maternal and infant mortality, or challenges brought on by birth defects. Then it goes without saying that black people face discrimination in finding jobs and at work.  In the end, chronic stress and depression impair immune functions. Mental, physical and social sources of stress contribute to graver health outcomes among blacks than whites or other ethnic groups.

  • Eating choices or diet variables

Low-income black families also lack access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food that can meet their dietary needs and support a healthy life. Food insecurity leads to health disparities. With food insecurity, nutritional intake among many black pregnant women is consistently inadequate, which results in malnutrition of infants and low-weight newborns. With food insecurity, susceptibility to diabetes is greater and self-management of diabetes is more challenging.

One more fact is that black people suffer from heart disease, kidney disease and stroke at a higher rate than whites. After all, these are clinical consequences of hypertension. And black people have higher rate of hypertension. Genetics plays a role for sure, but also important is adequate care.

In addition, there will be adverse impacts on our black citizens that we may not see right now. For instance, during the pandemic, delayed cancer screening (or none from the uninsured) and delayed diagnosis will cause many avoidable deaths in the long-term.

The adverse effects on those who hold racism or prejudiced views

Racism, bias, and bigotry exist both consciously and subconsciously. Racism related hate and anger are negative emotions that lead to undesirable or destructive behaviors including violence. Negative emotions alter health conditions through “stressors”. For example, research shows that stress derived from anger and aggression is linked to heart disease and hypertension, whereas subconscious bias can cause sleep trouble such as insomnia.

On a broader scale, racism-related hate crimes and violence not only affect local communities but also disturb peaceful society, thereby negatively impacting the well-being of everyone, especially our children.

Surely, we can wait for government acts or policy changes to combat racism, but each individual can also do something constructive and ultimately health-preserving. To help healing, here are three immediate, achievable actions everybody can take:

  1. Be at peace with all people including those who don’t look like us. Be aware of bias in each of us and don’t let this roadblock deter our common good.
  2. Become a valuable contributor to improving equality. Show up and shore up for black communities. For instance, donate or raise funds for relevant causes close to your heart, share your skills for education or empowerment, or participate in a community effort such as a food drive, etc.
  3. Protect environmental health and defend against any form of pollution. Demoted environmental safety is one of the inequities responsible for minority’s poor health outcomes, and protecting the environment for us all is a job for everybody.

Closing words

Racism impacts black people’s health and lives in a profound way in various areas. There are many scientific studies with alarming data on long-standing health disparities, but the trouble is that what’s known has been largely ignored or less invested in from top policy makers.

Now, racism has again bubbled to the surface and maybe will finally grab our attention. Health inequalities go far beyond what I mentioned above. This means that there is a lot of work ahead. Likewise, this means everybody can be involved in creating solutions.

So, let’s embrace each other in our society by sparking love and care for a positive change! Let’s improve health and improve lives together.

Finally, a friendly yet important reminder: Stay safe and wear a mask while out. 

P.S. Wearing a mask is a caring act that demonstrates a public health conscience, and not a political statement.

 

Image credit: Brown.edu

A New Hope to Keep Cancer at Bay

By Hui Xie-Zukauskas

Hui-s Book_12-2019(This is Part 1 of Miniseries.)

Cancer is a devastating disease and indiscriminate regarding age, sex, genetic, economic or social status.

Do you want to avoid cancer? Do you know what to do to prevent cancer?

My book titled “Key Strategies for Cancer Prevention” is recently released. It translates science into life-saving strategies and speaks in lay people’s term.

This book helps you discover how to prevent cancer. It addresses the driving forces behind cancer development, and provides a comprehensive, concrete guide for a daily, healthy lifestyle in an enjoyable way. Through prevention, you can optimize your overall well-being.

The book starts with dissecting how cancer risk factors exist and influence your daily life, then addresses potential contributors to cancer before it draws your attention to the most common and deadliest cancers. The book also offers extra advice or tips for a healthy and cancer preventive lifestyle.

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Yes, most cancers are preventable! A lifestyle of mindfulness and modification can take you a long way, and importantly, you can achieve proven results with joy and love through step by step, incremental progresses.

My goal is to have more people embrace the powerful knowledge and ultimately save more lives.

If you are among folks who are eager to learn and take actions for a healthier, happier, and longer life, the book is for you.

Now please join me and help me bring this life-saving book to light. The book is available at bookstores (e.g., iUniverse, Barnes & Noble), and Amazon in paperback and kindle/eBook formats. Other eBook venues include Apple, Google Play, etc. Once you get your copy, read it, tell people around you, and desirably post review on Amazon.

Sharing is caring. By helping me spread the words about it, you also make a big difference in saving lives!

 

Let Your Well-being Shine through in 2020

By Hui Xie-Zukauskas

Wrapup 2019, Start 2020_CPDAs the year 2020 approaches and, like many people, we reflect on the past and make New Year’s resolutions, I trust you will take care of your health and wellness in the coming year.

Human well-being is connected to important social and ecological issues. So, I also encourage you to pay special attention to some critical health challenges that both you and our society face. Here I outline three of them.

1.      Climate change impacts human health.

We need to take the urgent threat of climate change seriously. However, many folks still cannot see its seriousness or simply ignore it and, needless to say, some national leaders deny it.

The pressing perils of climate change are undeniable. Consider questions such as the following. Does climate crisis add to your mental distress? Does it threaten your physical body in various ways (e.g., food chain contamination, water pollution, or pathogen multiplied)? Does it have any consequential effect on our younger and future generations?

Let your voice of conscience guide you to give up some conveniences that are not ecologically friendly. This can benefit you, the earth, and others. There are many ways you can practice a healthy lifestyle in combination with eco-friendly acts, as mentioned in this CPD article: https://www.cancerpreventiondaily.com/the-climate-crisis-is-a-health-crisis/

You can do much more. For example, the Washington Post has a recent article on how to plan eco-friendly travel. It’s worth pondering.

How you can reduce your carbon footprint when you travel …

https://www.washingtonpost.com › lifestyle › travel › 2019/11/27

2.      Cancer remains the No. 2 killer (with the possibility of moving up).

I’ve been emphasizing the significance of, as well as some specific risk factors and strategies for, helping to prevent cancer. Cancer may seem inevitable as a part of modern life and aging, but blindly accepting it would cause more unnecessary deaths. The truth is that overwhelming evidence has shown that most cancers are preventable.

Breakthroughs in cancer diagnosis and treatment have saved millions of lives. However, there are some new and sober trends. First, cancer has surpassed heart disease as the No. 1 killer in some wealthy countries and in some U.S. counties. Second, the incidence and death of the deadliest malignancy, pancreatic cancer, are rising—it is projected to be the second-leading cancer killer by 2030 from being the current fourth-leading cause of cancer mortality. And finally, cancer death rates are climbing among young and middle-aged adults.

Lifestyle modification is a key to preventing cancer—and cardiovascular disease as well. So, integrate ways of eating more plant-based food by committing yourself to a balanced diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, beans, and nuts, but with limited red and processed meats. Keep body and mind more active; sleep more and manage emotional stress better.

3.      The HIV epidemic is not over.

According to the WHO, “December 1st, 2018, marks the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day—a day created to raise awareness about HIV and the resulting AIDS epidemic. Since the beginning of the epidemic, more than 70 million people have acquired the infection, and about 35 million people have died. Today, around 37 million worldwide live with HIV, of whom 22 million are on treatment.”

Look at the picture in the U.S: approximately 1.1 million people are living with HIV today, and about 15 percent of them (1 in 7) are unaware that they are infected.

Thanks to advances in HIV treatment, significant progress has made. However, by the end of 2018, an estimated 1.7 million people worldwide became newly infected with HIV, including about 38,500 cases of new infections in the U.S. (based on USAID, CDC, and HIV.gov data). Among them, certain populations or ethnic groups continue to be disproportionally affected.

Healthcare systems surely bear the responsibilities to provide HIV prevention, treatment, and care for those with comorbidities (e.g., tuberculosis, mental health, and some noncommunicable diseases).

It matters to us, too. If any folks don’t see how the HIV epidemic is related to you or your life, I present only three perspectives, among others.

  • If you care about public health domestically or globally, it matters.
  • If you care about your community as a whole and/or the health and wellness of others—whether an HIV-infected friend or a stranger who may live with fear, stigma, and suffering—it matters.
  • If you care about stopping the opioid crisis, it matters. Substance users and abusers are at a higher risk for HIV because of being infected through needle-sharing and injections.

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The bright side is that HIV is a preventable disease, and proven effective strategies are to know the risk factors, avoid and reduce HIV transmission. In addition, you can help address and tackle social and structural factors underlying the HIV epidemic. 

Collectively, with these outlooks in mind, let’s work together to find solutions.

Have a healthier and happier 2020 !

 

Image credit: Pixabay/PublicDomainPictures; CPD

 

A Wellness Alternative to Outdoor Nature

By Hui Xie-Zukauskas

Mom-s Plants in Living RoomWho doesn’t love nature? Experience in nature and exposure to the great outdoors not only elevate our spirits but also enrich our health benefits.

Walking in the natural forest (or forest bathing—popular in Japan) can increase human natural killer cells, and therefore strengthen the immune system of participating individuals.

Sitting by the ocean or walking along the beach can provide us a relaxed body, a stress-free sensation, and the admiration of tranquility.

Digging dirt in the garden is no less wonderful. Gardening enthusiasts or devotees like my husband can give you a long list of how gardening is good for your mind and your body. He most favorably says “It’s therapeutic.”

What happens if you have to constrain yourself to an indoor setting due to certain reasons (e.g., time or physical limit)? Or what if at the end of a busy day at work, you arrived at home with mental/emotional stress and physical exhaustion but no desire to stop at a park?

How about the idea of accommodating nature at home or in an indoor environment?

Interestingly, a study, conducted on 16 residents at a rehabilitation center in Norway, has found that the experience of window views and indoor plants improve their sense of care and the resilience to stress. These recoveries are attributed to the healing environment.

The therapeutic value of plants in the hospitals for surgical patients is known for years. These houseplants serve as a complementary medicine to enhance the healing environment. Live plants, especially those with an oxygen-releasing ability, can improve or clean indoor air. There are also plants that help eliminate some harmful chemicals from the air and reduce our health risk.

If the patients can benefit from the positive influence of a view of nature during their recovery, we can devise and implement several remedies to better our wellness in daily life, without sweating out on some big home-building projects.
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How can you transform outdoor nature into interior nature? Seven practical tips

  1. Grow plants or flowers in your living room. My mom has done so for decades, and I displayed some of her “crops or produces” here in the image.
  2. Grow some herbs in the kitchen. I did this years ago, and it went well with basil, chives, and rosemary, etc.
  3. Apply natural wonders to your decorations. For example, maple leaf as a bookmark, lovely leaves as the background of family photos, roses from your garden as a spectacle, or nature-inspired paintings.
  4. Create an art piece using stones, rocks, and wood, or combine natural objects with a little water fountain. It’s quite cool and calming.
  5. Add one special touch to your room with preferable or memorable natural charm.
  6. Use household items or housewares made from natural materials such as baskets, stone countertops, or bamboo varieties.
  7. Consider nature sounds. Listen to nature-stirred music with tunes or melodies like wind, rain, water flow in a stream or creek, and forest birds. Have a pet or friends such as birds.

The list can go on and on. Can these techniques help lower the level of your distress?

Whether you describe it as nature decoration or nature therapy, the strategy can attach an appreciation or essence of the natural world to your own home, and more likely, improve your mood and vitality. You may delight to relax or reflect in the refreshing environment with a sense of harmony and serenity.

Of course, you can hang plants and flowers at the patio or balcony too. My dear friend Mary is talented at it. Her colorful plants and blooming flowers are always greeted by and mingled with numerous chirping or singing birds, which formed a sector of natural beauty and cheer in the residential area where I once lived. What a blessing for us!

So, let’s cultivate enjoyable and peaceful moments in life, especially where we spend quality of time. Stay wholesome through embracing nature and a health-promoting environment. As a result, stress reduction helps lower the levels of inflammation in the body and thus may enable the immune system to rest and revitalize.

The Climate Crisis Is a Health Crisis

By Hui Xie-Zukauskas

Green Power & Plant in hands_PixabayApril is here, and the annual Earth Day, a worldwide drive to celebrate the natural world and its wonders and to protect our environment, will soon be here (April 22). So it is appropriate for us to address rising concerns about climate change.

Climate change is not a buzz word nor science fiction, but rather an urgent crisis based on scientific facts. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 13: Climate Action) calls for the world (i.e., us) to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact.”

So, how urgent? And how does climate change affect you?

A plain fact is that greenhouse gases (especially carbon dioxide, CO2) absorb heat. The climate becomes warmer and warmer, because CO2 has been released into the atmosphere in increasingly faster and larger amounts. This acceleration of the greenhouse effect results from the expansion of fossil fuel burning, livestock farming, deforestation, and other practices over past decades. Basically, these are human activities.

Consequently, we see more and more extreme heat, rising seas, flooding(s), wildfires, hurricanes, and disasters. These events endanger the beauty and richness of the planet and the harmony of the ecosystem, and they threaten national security (seriously). More alarming, they take not only economic tolls but tolls on human lives by their severe impact on public health.

We have a window of 12 years to reduce carbon emissions. The well-being of future generations depends on and demands our speedy actions.

Let us focus on exactly how climate change can impact human health.

We know that dangerous storms resulting in flooding by heavy rains cause more contaminated water, more environmental pollutants, and more disease-spreading pathogens, leading to more human deaths. As the World Health Organization assessed, rises in malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress caused by climate change could kill an additional 250,000 people each year by 2030 and forward.

We know that warmer regions harbor more disease-carrying insects, and climate change has altered the geographic pattern of these bugs. For example, Lyme disease, an infection spread by tick bites, reached its highest occurrence, with a reported 40,000 cases, in 2017 after steadily growing since 1991, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s data.

We also know that extreme heat waves and extreme weather patterns cause more psychological distress, depression, and other mental health concerns.

Some people in some demographics might dismiss the urgency of dealing with climate change, thinking it doesn’t affect them. It is true that the poor and minorities are often the victims most at risk of suffering from communicable diseases, and among them, the most vulnerable are children. However, climate change affects everyone, because evidently it is causing growing incidences of non-communicable diseases (e.g. heart disease and cancer) in both low-to-middle income and high-income countries.

We know that more water vapor creates a thicker blanket of pollutants—not only warming the earth but producing reduced air quality. Additionally, high temperatures render inert chemicals more volatile and more soluble; some of them are carcinogenic or possibly carcinogenic, and human exposure to them is increasing. The more pollutants around, the more asthma, respiratory diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.

All of this is indisputable.

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There are numerous ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and I’d like to share seven top ideas for taking “greener” actions and lifestyle modifications on a daily basis:

  1. Bike or walk instead of driving whenever possible to reduce the carbon fingerprint and overcome a sedentary lifestyle.
  2. Buy local to reduce fossil fuel for transportation and greenhouse gas emission, and if it is close to home, walk to the farmers’ market; needless to say, the better quality of food you will likely find there doubles your health benefits.
  3. Cut meat consumption, especially red meats, and embrace a plant-based diet. Note: Less meat ¹ No meat. By eating less meat, you help curtail livestock production and coexistent greenhouse emissions, while lowering your intake of potentially carcinogenic agents.
  4. Recycle, recycle, and recycle. And even better, minimize the use of plastics from water bottles to plastic bags and straws, in order to prevent pollution and cut carbon emissions.
  5. Reuse items when possible to reduce wastes in landfills. Reuse grocery/shopping bags and reuse other household products or personal items after repairing. You may also donate still-useful items to charitable organizations.
  6. Unplug electronic devices, turn off TVs, and switch off lights when not in use, to curtail carbon dioxide emission by consuming less electricity and preserving more natural resources; particularly in the evening, doing so will also promote a good night’s sleep.
  7. Plant a garden or a tree around the house if you haven’t yet, to offset the greenhouse effect and global warming, as plants and trees take in carbon dioxide. Plus, gardening keeps you physical active.

It all comes down to behavioral change and at times it takes giving up some convenience. You have a choice to act on one thing or all of the above, and certainly you can go further beyond.

I challenge you to make a thoughtful resolution or update your New Year’s resolutions, and contribute your personal efforts to combating global warming.

Imagine when that effort is multiplied many times, what changes it will bring to the world.

Again, climate change and health impact go hand-in-hand. So, let’s save the planet, save the world, and save lives!

Please share this post, “spread the words” is one of actions by raising the awareness.

 

Image credit: pixabay

 

2018 Noteworthy List of Top Health Concerns

By Hui Xie-Zukauskas

2018 Sum_LTime flew. With the coming holiday season, we’re approaching the end of 2018. I can’t believe it…

First and foremost, thank you, dear readers, for taking time to read and support my blog articles during the year!

There is a lot that has happened this year. Looking back, I’d like to highlight a list of noteworthy health issues that should continuously call for our attention. Here goes:

1.      Consider cancer deaths of nearly 10 million

Thanks to scientific breakthroughs and technological advances, notable progress has been made in cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Despite a steady decline in cancer mortality over the past two decades, cancer is still the second leading cause of death in the U.S., with 609,640 cancer deaths projected this year by American Cancer Society. However, cancer statistics from WHO indicate an estimated 18.1 million new cases and 9.6 million deaths worldwide in 2018 alone. Cancer is expected to be the No. 1 cause of global death by the end of the century. So, cancer remains a major public health problem.

2.      Act on climate change more and fast

Experts from 13 government agencies just underlined the science and urgency of climate change in a recent assessment. Briefly, climate change can impact human health in various ways, including apparently increasing extreme weather, polluted air and water quality, the spread of new diseases via insects and pets, and changes to the availability of food. Any climate denial or skepticism is dangerous. Because global warming is a man-made problem, it goes beyond just acceptance, it requires pressing actions to protect our environment and preserve a healthy planet for the next generations.

3.      Take flu seriously and get vaccinated

Flu is a very contagious disease caused by the influenza virus. It kills more people than you may think. Last flu season (2017-2018) claimed a record-breaking 900,000 hospitalizations and 80,000+ deaths in the U.S. Particularly vulnerable are children aged 6+ months and adults older than 65 as well as people with heart and lung diseases; thus, a routine annual influenza vaccination is vital for these folks. Meanwhile, everybody should keep their immune system strong.

In fact, the CDC recommends that almost all children and adults get a flu shot. Remember that flu deaths primarily result from complications from flu, including pneumonia, dehydration, and ear or sinus infections. Flu can worsen existing medical conditions such as heart failure, diabetes, or asthma. So, learn the potential dangers of flu.

4.      End the opioid epidemic – complexity of addiction and suicide
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In 2017, more than 72,000 Americans died from drug overdoses (including illicit drugs and prescription opioids), according to the CDC. Also, U.S. life expectancy has dropped in recent years as opioid deaths rise. Current strategies and efforts still fall short, and relatively unnoticed are the data suggesting that considerable opioid-overdose deaths are suicides, as Drs. Oquendo and Volkow commented in “Suicide: A Silent Contributor to Opioid-Overdose Deaths”.

That’s why interventions should cover all bases from treating overdoses to screening suicide risk. Moreover, we all can help end the opioid crisis through actions such as raising more awareness, reducing stigma on individuals, and reaching out to those in social isolation.

5.      Protect our kids from e-cigarettes

E-cigarettes contain nicotine, a highly addictive drug, although they don’t burn and release many carcinogens and chemicals as tobacco smoking does. They are increasingly popular among teenagers, especially with flavors appealing to kids. Important to remember is that e-cigarettes pose health risks for children, because nicotine can harm their brain development, and nicotine addiction can potentially lead them to traditional tobacco smoking. The FDA has taken steps to prevent the teen vaping “epidemic,” especially placing new restrictions on sales of flavored e-cigarettes and kid-friendly varieties. So, be aware of the dangers of this drug-delivery system called “e-cigarettes”.

6.      Recognize “The Year of Women” and beyond

Evidently, 2018 is the year of women in politics, as a record-breaking number of women candidates with a diversity of backgrounds were elected to our national leadership. I’d like to remind you of a less acknowledged concern for women—women’s health after experiencing sexual harassment or assault, because the problem can affect a woman’s long-term well-being significantly. Attack and trauma are associated with adverse effects on a victim’s mental and physical health, such as symptoms of gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, and neurological problems. More common are also sleep loss, depression, impaired functionality, and worsened quality of life.

…..

Certainly, health headlines are beyond the short list above. Here I have focused primarily on serious or overlooked life-saving matters, which can be easily digested (without covering everything from Alzheimer’s disease to mass shooting). However, any of these changes won’t happen overnight, and require our continued efforts.

I wish you a happy, healthy holiday season and the best in 2019!

 

Image credits: labroots; clipartpanda; clipground; ogahealth; and CPD

Our Well-being and Earth Health –– Environmental linking from cancer to lung and autoimmune diseases

By Hui Xie-Zukauskas

Green Earth_1144864_Ten_aEarth day (April 22) is celebrated once a year around the world for raising awareness to appreciate our planet and protect the natural environment.

Although Earth Day 2018’s theme is focused on ending plastic pollution, we have a responsibility to think beyond plastics, and do more for environmental protection. Here is one of the reasons:

Pollution from macro- and micro-environment is tightly and significantly connected to public health. Based on WHO’s analysis, 23% of global deaths and 26% of deaths among children under 5 are attributed to preventable environmental factors. 

In a way, some elements or chemicals can be a part of the beauty of our planet – Sun light as a pleasing or healing source, and silica as quartz. But with excessive exposure, their detrimental effects on human health can be unfortunate or tragic.

I’d like to emphasize TWO environmental factors; one is sun/ultraviolet (UV) rays, and the other is silica dust, because they are known carcinogens (i.e. cancer-causing agents), classified by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Also, they have broader and more harmful effects on your body.

Take UV Radiation as an example first.

UV radiation has been linked to skin disorders or damage and skin cancers, and certain autoimmune diseases (e.g. systemic lupus erythematosus, myositis). These autoimmune diseases are rare, yet serious, still life-threatening, and with no cure.

Let me make it very clear here. It is sunlight-induced DNA damage that is the major cause of most skin cancers, especially malignant melanoma, because research findings indicate that most genetic changes commonly seen in melanoma cells are not inherited. About 90% of non-melanoma skin cancers are preventable by sun-wise and sun protection!

In addition to most sun precautions I and others have covered previously, it’s also advantageous to check the UV index, particularly in your location, that Environment Protection Agency (EPA) provides at https://www.epa.gov/sunsafety/uv-index-1 for your sun safety.

Then let’s look at Silica / Silica Dust. (Only a brief outline, as it’s not the focus of this post)

Silica is naturally distributed in almost all rocks, sand, soil, and bricks or concrete products. Exposure to inhalable silica dust can occur from both occupational (e.g. construction, drilling, grinding, etc.) and non-occupational sources, i.e., workplace, communities, and your home.

Diseases from this outdoor and indoor air pollutant (or contaminant) include:

  • Silicosis, asthma, and Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  • Cancers of lung and esophagus
  • Autoimmune diseases (such as rheumatoid arthritis, myositis, vasculitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis)
  • Kidney diseases

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Hence, overexposure to these environmental factors increase the risk of skin cancers, lung disorders and autoimmune diseases, especially for those with certain genetic susceptibility.

Finally, the key take-home message:

Remember – Photoprotection and Pollution-protection

Furthermore, I’m encouraging you to explore the ways we can protect people and the environment around us in day-to-day life. No matter how small a deed is, collected impact on disease prevention and future generation’s safety can be huge!

Should we live everyday as Earth Day throughout the year? Yes! Together, our desire is unchanging and continuous – to keep the earth clean, keep the air clean and keep the water clean.

 

Image credit: by Ten_a

Precision Medicine: From Buzzword to Promise or Reality (Part II)

By Hui Xie-Zukauskas

Target_Precision Prevention_CPDHappy New Year to All! This article is the continuation (Part Two) of Precision Medicine mini-series, with a focus on Precision Prevention intended to help foster and improve your health in the new year.

So, let’s dive right in.

From Precision Medicine to Precision Prevention

Prevention and medicine work side-by-side, as ancient wisdom signifies “Prevention is better than cure.”

Similarly, precision medicine and precision prevention play a joint role in cancer outcome. While precision medicine is targeting the genetic characteristics and genetic changes of each patient’s cancer, precision prevention is aimed at changing an individual’s behavior.

Precision prevention requires a better understanding of the molecular pathways of a particular disease at a level of each individual, which involves mapping out genomic profile, identifying individual’s risk, behavioral, social and environmental interactions. Then tailored interventions can be strategized to modify individual’s physical and biological characteristics.

Impact on Cancer Prevention

Precision medicine, together with precision prevention, has certainly facilitated/improved cancer prevention whether you realize it or not, particularly in early detection.

Colonoscopy screening is a good example. Let me highlight the steps:

First, there is a guideline to identify people at a risk for colon cancer and/or who need to be screened – e.g. starting 40 years old if having a family history, or 50 years old without a family history.

Second, this test can detect a growth in the entire colon through imaging.

Finally, doctors can implement treatments immediately to prevent or slow down cancer progression, e.g. to surgically remove a benign growth (polyp) or premalignant lesion during the screening, or to start an aggressive therapy for a cancerous tumor.

As a result of such a cancer prevention strategy, colon cancer is highly preventable if caught in a precancerous stage.

Meanwhile, additional findings should be taken into consideration. Recent clinical studies found that 80% of people with colorectal cancer have no known family history of this disease, which suggests that other risk factors (environmental, diet or lifestyle) play a role in colon cancer development, and that current colon cancer screening recommendation (mainly based on age and family history) could miss many individuals at risk.
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Immunoprevention presents other successful examples. It can be demonstrated by hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination and human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination in preventing related cancers. Immunoprevention can also draw in patients carrying cancer predisposition genes.

In addition, precision prevention may imply identifying novel genomic biomarkers for cancer detection and prevention, applying predictive biomarkers, and analyzing gene-environmental interactions especially associated with modifiable risk factors to develop target preventive strategies.

Precision Prevention beyond Cancer 

Undoubtedly, precision medicine, along with precision prevention, is transforming cancer diagnostics and treatment to reduce cancer incidence, morbidity and mortality in the near future. And one day, the promise of precision prevention for Alzheimer’s disease, metabolic syndromes, or other chronic illnesses can lead us to a remarkable horizon.

Imagine – the beauty alongside benefit of precision nutrition blossoms in your plate of food. As the prevalence of obesity, prediabetes and diabetes increases, tailored nutritional approaches are needed to manage and prevent these conditions. Precision nutritional interventions can be achieved via analyzing and monitoring your dietary habits, food eating behaviors, physical activity, microbiota profile, along with deep phenotyping (i.e. precise and comprehensive analysis of abnormalities in physical and biochemical characteristics).

End Note with Key Numbers

Lifestyle factors (smoking, diet, sedentary, etc.) contribute to over 40% of cancers, and infections, to about 18% of cancers. Thus, many cancers are preventable by lifestyle modification, preventing infections, having balanced diet and regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight.

Remember: Prevention is not a sprint, nor a marathon; is a sustained life-long journey. Prevention is not done through virtual world, but achieved in a real world and requires actions. If precision prevention is aimed at changing individual behaviors, the power of control is within each of us.

Going into 2018, imagine a year with your best well-being!

 

Image credit: CanStockPhoto & CPD