[lit-ideas] Re: Life or Death
- From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 15:12:10 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
Judy: according to doctors, 50 per cent of Type 2 diabetes ("late
onset") is
hereditary.
A.A. But hereditary predisposition often needs environmental triggers. Also,
proper nutrition is more than just low calorie. There are thousands of
phytonutrients present in plant products that may be protective. A diet devoid
of plants will be devoid of protective factors. It's another strike against
fast food, since it's all refined in addition to being fatty.
> Possibly. High quality studies show that they don't make any
>difference at all in ultimate mortality rates.
Judy: There's a difference between targeted tests (e.g. my having
reasonably regular blood
tests) and mass population.
A.A. The "it can't happen to me" syndrome.
Judy: That aside, the leading opponent of
regular screening here does not deny that breast cancer screening
saves lives, indeed he says it does;
A.A. The better studies say it has minimal effect.
Judy: but he says that also,
cancers that would not grow (or, would grow slowly) are detected,
and women are subjected to unnecessary treatment and
psychological distress.
A.A. Exactly. Plus the rate of false positives is high, as is false negatives.
Much more
> effective is prevention. My neighbor who was diagnosed last
>summer with breast cancer is overweight and sedentary.
"The greatest risk factor for breast cancer is heredity"
http://www.cchs.net/health/health-info/docs/0000/0056.asp?index=3987
A.A. Environmental causes of breast cancer are unclear. If heredity were the
only factor, it would be pretty hopeless. In addiiton, people also inherit
environments and eating patterns. Overweight is a risk factor, and it's well
known now that breast cancer survivors who exercise about 3 or 4 hours a week
have a 50% lower recurrence rate than those who don't. I don't have time to
read your link right now. I've read a lot just in the course of reading and
then again when my neighbor got sick.
"I read a while back that anthropologists have done studies of
Paleolithic humans through fossils. They found that Paleolithic
people into their 60's had no disease of any kind. No
osteoporosis, no heart disease, no cancer, not even cavities.
"They basically did not get old. But, they also of necessity had
to exercise like athletes every day, had no refined anything, no
agriculturally raised anything, sunlight all day long, no dairy,
and on and on."
Judy: let's say this is so -- and it may be -- as you say, we cannot
live that way.
A.A. No, but we can close the gap somewhat. We live as if we evolved on a
distant planet. We give the body nothing that it needs. Until we do that,
medical care is little more than of the Terry Schiavo variety.
> Osteoarthritis is possibly genetic. It's also affected by
> (I sound like a broken record) Vitamin D. Vitamin D not only
>builds bone, it builds cartilage.
(cut)
>I've never heard that osteoarthritis is caused by falls.
>Arthritis, not osteoarthritis, is caused by injury to joints
"Arthritis"? I know about osteoarthritis and rheumatoid
arthritis
A.A. Yes, you're correct. "Arthritis" is a collection of about 100 illnesses
they say. Inflammation of the joints is basically what I meant. Certainly not
rheumatoid arthritis, which is autoimmune.
>. Also, falls have a reason.
I thought you might say that.
A.A. Presumably therefore you are investigating the reasons behind falling and
getting injured? Doctors can hand out pills to supposedly reduce inflammation,
which ultimately backfires and makes the situaion worse, or they can do
surgery. Ultimately unless the underlying factors are dealt with, which can
only be done by the individual, medical care doesn't do a whole lot for a
condition except monitor it, and if one has a nice doctor, get some sympathy.
The sympathy probably does as much good as anything else a doctor offers. I
suppose Tony Snow is one of the statistics regarding the futility of testing.
He bought a few years I suppose, fraught with anguish even if he'd rather be
anguished and alive than not anguished and dead. He's only 51 years old I
believe.
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