PREVENTIVE MEASURES TO AVOID HYPERTENSION.

Hypertension is defined as the increase of blood pressure within the arteries; it is a silent disease that affects a billion people around the world, most of them being unaware that they suffer from it all according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is considered to one of the triggering risk factors for heart attacks and cerebrovascular accidents.

What makes it such a deadly disease is the lack of symptoms that it exhibits or the fact that symptoms are only exhibited in severe cases or in those with complications. The normal levels are 140/90 even though it would be ideal if they were 120/80.

PREVENTION MEASURES

These prevention measures are directed to modify risk factors that we have control over such as:

WEIGHT

According to the Waist/Height ratio, which consists in dividing the perimeter of the waist by height in centimetres, it is recommended to lose weight if the result is higher than 0.50.

DIET

A healthy diet should be rich in fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fish (rich in Omega 3), olive oil, etc.

Industrial goods containing high levels of sodium, sugars and trans fats should be avoided as much as possible. The intake of trans fats such as lard, cold meats, etc. should also be reduced.

EXERCISE

It is recommended that we should walk for a minimum of half an hour to an hour, five days a week in order to maintain normal blood pressure levels.

REDUCTION OF SALT INTAKE

The recommended salt intake is between 4 to 5 grams of salt per day.

Let us keep in mind that ready meals, cold meats, snacks, a number of drinks, etc. are saturated in salt, therefore we should keep an eye on the nutritional information that can be found in certain products.

TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL

Tobacco and alcohol are two important risk factors in order to monitor blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases.

HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA AND DIABETES

Both of these two risk factors are usually linked with hypertension so elevated levels of LDL Cholesterol or Bad Cholesterol and hyperglycaemia or Diabetes should always be monitored.

Lastly, it is important to state that we should monitor blood pressure from infancy onwards to ensure that we have a future without hypertension.

Dr J. Hurtado Martínez
Medical Director of HealthSalus

Cancer blood test / Análisis de sangre para detectar el cáncer.

Una sola gota de sangre ya puede detectar la mayoría de tipos de cáncer.
Este nuevo análisis puede detectar los primeros indicios de cáncer con una precisión del 71 al 96%.
Consiste en extraer las plaquetas de la sangre y examinarlas.
Las plaquetas son componentes de la sangre en forma de discos que ayudan a la coagulación de la sangre. Estas también juegan un papel en el crecimiento y evolución de los tumores. 
Las plaquetas de los pacientes que tienen cáncer contienen marcajes únicos de RNA. 
Los marcajes de RNA contienen las instrucciones del ADN de diferentes tumores. 
Pueden ser utilizados para detectar la presencia de cáncer y hasta pueden identificar el tipo de cáncer del que sufre el paciente.                                                                                   
Los científicos están perfeccionando el análisis para mejorar su precisión.

PREDIABETES. ONE STEP CLOSER TO DIABETES.

Prediabetes is the stage prior to diabetes. 
The advantage we have is that an early diagnosis and a number of simple preventive measures will stop it from ever reaching that stage.

• DIAGNOSIS.

Normal blood sugar levels are between 70 and 100 mg.
Prediabetes is diagnosed when blood sugar levels are in between 110 and 126 mg. 
Diabetes: Higher than 126 mg.

Another indicator of prediabetes is glycosylated haemoglobin, which is an indicator that measures our blood sugar levels from the last three months.                
Normal levels: Lower than 5.7.                     
Prediabetes: In between 5.7 and 6.5.                           
Diabetes: Higher than 6.5.

When one of these values is altered a test known as the ‘glycated haemoglobin test’ has to be conducted. This test consists in taking a blood sugar test after fasting, and then repeating it two hours later after ingesting 75 grms of glucose.                               

If the results are in between 140 and 200 mg, then we are suffering from Prediabetes.   

If the results are higher than 200 mg then we are suffering from diabetes.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES:

• KEEPING OUR WEIGHT MONITORED.                                                       

Mainly monitoring the fat that is located around the waist.

• BALANCED DIET.

Rich in vegetables and legumes such as beans, chickpeas, lentils, quinoa, etc. Its composition of complex carbohydrates allows the pancreas to function less.

• Wholemeal cereals.

• Fish.                                                                                                                   

Ingest it two to three times a week.

• Meat.

Ingest meat that is low in fat such as chicken, turkey, etc. twice a week.

• Fruit (three pieces daily, one after each meal).

• Eggs (three to four per week).

• Low-fat dairy products (daily).

ELIMINATE OR DECREASE THE INGESTION OF:

• Foods that are high in fat such as bacon, cold meats, sausages, lard, etc.
• Ready meal foods and baked goods as they use high amounts of refined sugars and saturated and trans fats.
• Alcoholic drinks that are high in sugar such as sweet wines, liqueurs, etc.

• PHYSICAL EXERCISE.                                                                             

Doing aerobic exercises that are age appropriate.                                                     
For example: half an hour to an hour of walking per day.

• PERIODIC BLOOD SUGAR TESTS.

These simple measures can prevent diabetes.

It is worth it!.

Dr J. Hurtado Martínez
Medical Director of HealthSalus

HEALTH NEWS

Doing Exercise Helps To Prevent Breast Cancer.

The prestigious journal ‘Gynaecologic Oncology’ has recently published a study conducted by a group of Spanish researchers.

This study showed that 13.8% of all breast cancers could have been prevented if people followed the recommendations made by international health organisations in regards to exercise; these recommendations being, to complete a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate physical exercise per week.

The study also determined that sedentary women had a 71% increased risk of suffering breast cancer than those that completed physical exercise, as well as finding that those who benefited more were premenopausal women and women that did not have children; however postmenopausal women would have to do more exercise to obtain the same health benefits.

Hormone-dependent subtypes of breast cancer were the ones found to have benefited most as well as those corresponding to the HER2 subtype, where is the subtype that the majority of breast cancers belong to.

The researchers also highlighted that physical exercise is not only beneficial to prevent breast cancer but it is also beneficial to those that are suffering from it; however, the latter of these two should always do so under controlled medical supervision.

Preventative Measures against Diabetes.

Diabetes is a condition that is suffered by millions of people worldwide.

It takes place when the pancreas is damaged, which in results in a decrease in insulin production.

Diabetes harms a number of organs such as the heart, kidney, eyes, etc.

There are a number of simple guidelines that, if followed, can help us to reduce the risk of suffering from diabetes such as:

1. Decrease the intake of sugary drinks, white flour, confectionary, sweet pastries, etc. These foods force the pancreas to produce large quantities of insulin, which can lead it to wear down.

2. Ingesting foods that need less insulin due to how slow their digestion is.

These foods are:

Bread, pasta, rice, oats, quinoa, etc. that are either wholemeal or wholegrain.

3. Foods that are cooked al dente, meaning very firm to the bite, causes them to be digested much slower allowing the levels of glucose in the blood to increase periodically.

These foods are mainly pasta, rice and vegetables.

4. Eating whole fruit as opposed to drinking it in juice.

Whole fruit takes longer to digest due to the high amount of fibre that it possesses which is not present when it is ingest in the form of juice, however that does not mean that juice cannot be drank once in a while.

5. The same thing happens with vegetables or legumes in cream soups, as the glucose level is higher than if it was cooked, baked, grilled or in a salad.

6. Following a type of diet that resembles the Mediterranean diet as much as it is possible to (which is rich in vegetables, fruits, cereals, legumes, fish, etc.) as it has been shown that the Mediterranean diet decreases the emergence of diabetes by 50%.

7. Do exercise.

Research has shown that doing exercise such as simply walking half an hour to an hour a day at a rapid pace, would have the same effect as insulin thereby, decreasing blood sugar levels with the effect lasting up to 12 hours after completing the exercise.

8. Losing weight, in the case of being overweight.

Just decreasing 5 to 10% of bodyweight can achieve a significantly reduce the risk of suffering from diabetes. The measurement obtained from the waist would give us more information about the probability of suffering from this condition, as the dangerous fats that can infiltrate the organs and lead to diabetes are gathered there.

9. Distributing food.

By distributing food throughout the day and eating five times per day as opposed to two or three, we make the pancreas work less.

And lastly I just want to say that people that have close family members that suffer diabetes have to adhere strictly to these guidelines as their risk of suffering this disease is higher than most.

Dr J. Hurtado Martínez

Medical Director of HealthSalus

Faecal occult blood test. The test that saves lives.

Considered to be one of the best tests used in the early diagnosis of bowel cancer, it is estimated that 90% of these cancers would be cured if they were detected earlier.

This test is completed through taking a stool sample, making it the most commonly used test in the majority of countries due to its precision and affordable price. It is recommended for men and women between the ages of 50 and 74 and would detect bowel cancer in its early stages as well as pre malignant lesions such as rectal adenomas, most of which would treated during the colonoscopy if needed.

The test can either have a positive or a negative result.

If it is a positive result, a colonoscopy or an endoscopic study of the colon would determine whether the lesion is benign or malignant. If it is a negative result, then a colonoscopy would be repeated two years later, depending on the country where the screening takes place.

Eventhough the test is normally advised for people over the age of 50 there are exceptions where it is advised to be conducted in earlier ages, such as in patients that have family members suffering from bowel cancer or those with adenomatosis in their families.

Guaiac has been frequently used when detecting hidden blood in faecal occult blood tests however immunology has recently taken its place. Whilst three stool sample and patients where advised in the types of food that they were allowed to eat prior to the test, there is no need with an immune test as only one sample is taken without a needed for special measures.

It worth highlighting that certain medications such as aspirin, can give false negatives just like menstruation in women and the presence of haemorrhoids or fistulas.

Lastly, it is worth saying that the test is offered from the ages of 50 to 74 in Europe, Scotland and Wales however this test is offered for patients over the age of 60 in England and Northern Ireland, a fact that has triggered controversy, as people aged 50 are not scrutinised.

The cost should never be an excuse in early prevention especially when it is cheap and saves thousands of lives in the countries where the test can be provided.

Dr J. Hurtado Martínez

Medical Director of HealthSalus