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Diana Swift

The Case of the... Feminized Farmer

In the late 1950s, a burly U.K. poultry farmer developed breasts, lost hair on his face and body, and experienced impaired sexual function. His five-year-old granddaughter also developed breasts. Everyone was puzzled. What’s the diagnosis?

“If you suspect that exposure to female hormones played a role, you are right,” says gastroenterologist Dr. Khursheed Jeejeebhoy, a professor emeritus of medicine at the University of Toronto. The girl was sent to see an endocrinologist because her doctor suspected that a glandular tumour might be causing breast development. When the child proved to have high levels of a synthetic estrogen in her blood, her grandfather was also tested and showed similar elevated levels. “The farmer and his granddaughter shared something in common,” says Jeejeebhoy. “They both liked to chew on cooked chicken necks.” But the necks were the very sites where the farmer injected hormones to promote growth and plumpness in his birds, and after processing the chickens for market, the thrifty poultry grower kept the necks for home consumption. (In Canada, administering hormones to poultry has been illegal since the 1960s, according to the Chicken Farmers of Canada.)

Photo: Hugo Chang/iStockphoto

Did You Know?

Photo: Jason Lugo/iStockphoto

Canadians of South Asian descent (from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Guyana) are more prone to coronary artery heart disease (CAD) than those of other ethnicities. They develop CAD at four times the rate of the general North American population and suffer heart attacks at earlier ages. They are also up to five times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than Caucasians — even if they are non-smoking vegetarians at healthy weights. Enter SAPNA (South Asian Professional Network for Awareness, mysapna.org), a wellness mission designed to promote prevention of heart disease in South Asian Canadians. “Applying western standards of diagnosis to South Asians underestimates the risk in this population,” says Dr. Colin Saldanha, a family doctor in Mississauga, Ont. Risk factors in the South Asian community include high-fat diets, higher rates of diabetes, lack of exercise and language barriers. If your heritage is South Asian, have your CAD risk factors assessed and keep track of your blood sugar levels.

Of Might and Men

Strength training done simultaneously with aerobic training appears to be the best way for men to cut calories, according to a South African paper published last year in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. In a 16-week study of 50 young men, those who lifted weights along with their cardio reported consuming 500 fewer calories per day than those who did one or the other activity or remained sedentary. The researchers speculate that the resistance/cardio combo may curb snacking by breaking down and releasing more fats into the bloodstream. It may also improve blood sugar levels and alter levels of amino acids and hormones, all of which could boost feelings of satiety and keep hunger in control.

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Depression-Era Deterrence

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Nothing spoils an outdoor party like the arrival of yellow-jacket wasps. Try this cheap reverse decoy. Though some argue it’s an urban myth, others say it really can discourage these uninvited guests. Blow air into a lunch-size brown paper bag, tying the opening tight with string to resemble a wasps’ nest. Hang the bag outside near the site of your party. Wasps are territorial, and if they perceive that another colony has already established itself in your domain, they may go elsewhere to avoid competition. You can also buy plastic nest mimics in hardware stores, but the bag method is greener, cheaper and more fun.

Swimmer’s calculus

No, it’s not an underwater math class for nerdy kids who spend the summer boning up for back to school. It’s a discoloration of the teeth caused by long hours in swimming pools. “Swimmer’s calculus is similar to the regular calculus, or tartar, that forms on teeth when dental plaque, or biofilm, is allowed to accumulate and then calcifies,” says Duncan, B.C., dentist Dr. Ronald G. Smith, vice-president of the Canadian Dental Association. “But it tends to be darker in colour and also softer, since it contains more organic components than common calculus.”

Pool water contains chemical additives such as antimicrobials, which give the water a higher pH than saliva. This causes salivary proteins to break down quickly and, combining with various minerals, to form organic deposits on a swimmer’s teeth. Calculus can make some competitive swimmers look as if they smoke two packs a day.

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Good daily oral hygiene reduces the buildup, but if the deposits accumulate, a professional cleaning is required. “Accumulation can lead to inflammation of the gums,” says Smith.

http://www.cda-adc.ca/en/oral_health/index.asp

Wine, beer and bones

Moderate alcohol consumption may have some health benefits, especially cardiac. Some studies have reported that moderate consumption can also increase bone mineral density (BMD) in older women.

Recently, U.K. and U.S. researchers examined data on alcohol intake and bone density in the hip and lumbar spine in a large population study of women and men, ages 26 to 86. The men drank beer predominantly, the women wine. Compared with non-drinkers, hip BMD was as much as 4.5% greater in men consuming one or two drinks per day. Hip and spine BMDs were up to 8% greater in postmenopausal women consuming two drinks per day. No positive impact was observed in premenopausal women or with the consumption of distilled liquor.

According to the investigators, silicon in beer and resveratrol in wine could explain the benefit. While this may be good news to those already fond of the hop or grape, it is not to say that you should start drinking alcohol to strengthen your bones: there are plenty of safer — and cheaper — ways to do that, including a calcium- and vitamin-D-rich diet, supplements and weight-bearing exercise. And excess alcohol consumption can interfere with calcium absorption and weaken bone.

Your Medical IQ

The Whipple procedure is...

A ‑The chiropractic manipulation of the lower vertebrae

B ‑The surgical repair of soft tissue in the neck after whiplash
 
C ‑A streamlined form of triple coronary artery bypass surgery

D ‑A reconstructive operation to remove cancerous tumours of the pancreas and organs and vessels near the pancreas

Answer: D

Arthritis Awareness

September means more than back-to-school preparations and a nip in the air heralding the change of season. It’s also Arthritis Awareness Month.

Nearly 4.5 million Canadians have some type of arthritis. Arthritic disease takes more than 100 different forms — from bursitis and tendinitis to ankylosing spondylitis and gout.

The most common form is osteoarthritis, a painful deterioration of the cartilage — the elastic tissue between the joints that protects the bones. It affects about three million Canadians. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system attacks healthy joints and other body sites such as the eyes, lungs and heart. It affects about 300,000 of us. Some 60% of those with arthritis are under age 65, and arthritis costs the Canadian economy about $4.4 billion a year. Arthritic disease can have a severe impact on a person’s quality of life and especially on physical activity. So this fall, The Arthritis Society of Canada is offering a new publication, Physical Activity and Arthritis, to help people with arthritis become physically active or maintain existing activity levels. For more information, go to www.arthritis.ca or call the Arthritis Information Line at 1 800 321 1433.

To learn about arthritis research currently being funded in Canada, visit the Canadian Arthritis Network at www.arthritisnetwork.ca.

Move of the Month

Tricep Dips

Michelle Obama has made toned upper arms a must, and they do make wearing summer tank tops much easier. So try this exercise and say goodbye to drooping flesh on your upper arms that wobbles when you wave hello or goodbye,” says Kelly Kirkpatrick, group exercise director at the Toronto Athletic Club.

1. Sit on the edge of a pool or dock with your legs dangling in the water, your arms at the sides of your thighs and your fingers curled over the edge.

With your back straight and your hands grasping the edge firmly, slide your body down into the water until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle. Slowly raise your body up until your elbows straighten out, then bring your body back down into the water. “Be sure to dip up and down slowly in a controlled way using muscle — not momentum,” says Kirkpatrick. “The advantage of doing tricep dips in water instead of on land is that your body weight is reduced by the water, and there will be less risk of injury. Plus you can cool off at the same time.”

3. Repeat this exercise eight to 12 times.

Lower blood pressure starts at your table

Rack of lamb with just 124 calories and eight grams of fat per serving?

A plate of chicken curry with four grams of fat and a scant 53 milligrams of sodium?

You can find recipes like these in Delicious DASH Flavours, a cookbook by Sandra Nowlan. Based on the U.S. National Institutes of Health DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet, the collection offers more than 100 recipes and a weekly menu as well. It shows you how to cut blood-pressure-raising sodium and incorporate more antihypertensive potassium into your daily fare — without losing a jot of flavour or style. The book is also a motherlode of nutritional information about common foods and reveals the sobering truth about the content of many of our fast-food favourites. Formac Publishing, 2008, $29.95

ORANGE WHOLE-WHEAT PANCAKES WITH BERRIES

These high-fibre whole-wheat pancakes, rich in potassium, make any breakfast a special occasion. Serve with maple syrup and use any fresh fruit such as peaches or a combination of berries — whatever is in season! 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) whole-wheat flour 2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder

• 1 1/4 cups (310 mL) orange juice

• 1 egg

• 2 cups (500 mL) fresh strawberries, halved or sliced

• 1 tbsp (15 mL) honey

• 1 cup (250 mL) 1% fat small-curd cottage cheese (lasagna-style)

• Icing sugar, as garnish

• Berries to garnish

Sift together flour and baking powder. Beat together orange juice and egg. Add liquid to dry ingredients, only until combined. Combine strawberries and honey and set aside.

Heat a griddle to 375ºF (190ºC) and grease lightly. Use about 1/4 cup (60 mL) batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes until surface is covered with bubbles, turn and cook other side until golden. Yields 12 pancakes.

Place 1 pancake on each of 6 serving plates and divide cottage cheese among them, spreading evenly. Scatter most of the berries over the cheese and cover with a second pancake, pressing down slightly. Sift icing sugar over the top and add remaining berries.

Serves 6.