Denton Cooley, the Fastest Heart Surgeon
Heart surgeon Denton Cooley, who just died on November 18, 2017, was better than his peers in just about everything he did. He founded the Texas Heart Institute in 1972, where he and his team performed almost 120,000 open heart operations, 258,000 cardiac catheterizations and 270 heart transplants.
Meat and Colon Cancer: New Studies
This week, a study from Spain adds to the evidence that eating any type of meat (red, white processed, cured or organ meat) is associated with increased risk of colon cancer, and that cooking and processing meat increases risk.
Julius Wagner-Jauregg’s Nobel Prize for Syphilis Treatment
In 1927, Austrian psychiatrist Julius Wagner-Jauregg received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for curing some patients with brain damage from syphilis by infecting them with malaria.
Vitamin D Research
A review of studies written since January 2015 shows that you do not benefit from taking high doses of vitamin D or having very high blood levels of that vitamin. The Institute of Medicine recommends that adults need only 600–800 IU of vitamin D per day and that blood levels of hydroxy vitamin D do not need to be higher than 20 ng per milliliter
Genes and Belly Fat
If you store the extra fat in your buttocks and thighs, you are at low risk for being harmed by that extra fat. However, if you store the extra fat primarily in your belly, you are at high risk for becoming diabetic.
Leon Russell, A Song For You
Famous pianist, singer and songwriter Leon Russell died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Nashville, Tennessee on November 13, 2016. While I consider that dying at age 74 is way too young, the real tragedy is not how long he lived but how much he suffered during the last 10 years of his life.
Even Small Amounts of Alcohol Can Increase Risks for Cancer and Heart Attacks
The United States Public Health Service says that alcohol kills more than 88,000 people in the United States each year, and has shortened the lives of those who died by an average of 30 years. Alcohol also causes one in 10 deaths among working-age adults aged 20-64 years and the health damage it causes costs $223.5 billion, or $1.90 per drink.
How Soluble Fiber Helps to Prevent Heart Attacks
Forty percent of deaths in the United States are from heart disease, which kills more than 400,000 people each year. Soluble fiber (from beans, oats, peas, barley, nuts, fruits and vegetables) reduces high blood levels of Low-Density Cholesterol (LDL), one of the strongest predictors of heart attack risk
Gwen Ifill and Uterine Cancer
On November 14, 2016, Gwen Ifill, a noted American journalist, television newscaster and author, died at age 61 of uterine cancer. She was a political analyst who was featured on Public Television’s Washington Week and PBS NewsHour, and moderated the 2004 and 2008 American vice-presidential debates.
Lack of Fitness, Not Too Much Sitting, Shortens Lives
A new study suggests that it is the level of fitness, not time spent sitting, that predicts susceptibility to disease and longevity.