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Health Newsletter - Summer '11

Prepared By Burdi Chiropractic & Massage; Dr. G. Burdi, D.C.
Celebrating 30+ Years Of "Light-Force" Adjusting, Physiotherapies & Wellness Care To Support YOUR Life-Style

Welcome to our health newsletter. It is meant to entertain, inform, and even inspire you to better health. Help others by sharing your thoughts and experience. They will thank you profusely.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Disabled man rocking

Disability, Cost, & Acuteness Lowered With Chiropractic Care - A study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine / American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2011 Apr;53(4):396-404 by Dr Cifuentes MD and Ms Willetts at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute and Dr Wasiak at the United BioSource Corp, compared occurrence of repeated disability episodes across types of health care providers who treat claimants with new episodes of work-related low back pain (LBP). Conclusions were that in work-related nonspecific LBP, the use of health maintenance care provided by physical therapist or physician services was associated with a higher disability recurrence than with chiropractic services. Plus acute and notably maintenance care cost was lower with chiropractic care.

The Cifuentes, et al., findings come on the heels of the Senna, et al., study in Spine that found chronic LBP patients who received nine months of maintenance spinal manipulative therapy following one month of acute treatment reported significant improvement in pain and disability. Patients who received only the initial month of acute treatment reported diminishing improvement over time, with pain and disability scores returning essentially to pre-treatment levels after 10 months. (Yes, maintenance care is very helpful and necessary for many conditions, just like our teeth! DrB)

Now for acute pain comes the Chiropractic Hospital-based Interventions Research Outcomes (CHIRO) Study published in the December 2010 edition of The Spine Journal. Two groups were compared. CPG [clinical practice guidelines]-based treatment, including spinal manipulative therapy administered by chiropractors, was given to the "study care" (SC) group, while the second group got family physician-directed "usual care" (UC group) consisting of care under physician's own decretion. After 24 weeks of care the SC group showed signigicantly greater improvement in condition-specific functioning over the UC group.

Fruit basket

Glucose -> Fructose -> HFCS - Be Informed - Which is better, glucose, fructose, or HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup)? This is an interesting question because for years I always thought that fructose was best. However the way the body reacts to each, the answer is glucose, fructose and by far the least is HFCS. Unfortunately the number one source of calories in America is SODA, with processed and pre-packaged meals next. All are sweetened with HFCS which is responsible for the meteoric rise of obesity and its related health problems. One reason for this is the way the brain reacts to them. Glucose raises the neural activity around the hypothalamus, which effects appetite control and production of metabolic hormones, while fructose lowers it. Thus we continue to consume fructose containing foods/drinks without hunger satisfaction. HFCS is even worse since in liquids it is in "free form" while fructose in fruits and cane sugar is bonded which results in a decreased metobolic toxicity. Plus HFCS is most often made from genetically modified (GM) corn, increasing the risk to food allergies and infertility in future generations. If you mix consumption of fructose with glucose, the latter acclerates fructose absorption.

From Mercola.com comes this summary of health points that are really worth knowing:



Dr Mercola also suggested limiting total fructose consumption below 25 grams/day (a 12-ounce soda contains 40 grams of sugar with half from fructose!) and fruit to 15 grams. The following fruit table will help keep below this limit:
Fruit  Serving Size Grams of Fructose Fruit  Serving Size Grams of Fructose
Apple (composite) 1 medium 9.5 Kiwifruit 1 medium 3.4
Apricot 1 medium 1.3 Lemons 1 medium 0.6
Apricots, dried 1 cup 16.4 Limes 1 medium 0
Banana 1 medium 7.1 Mango 1/2 medium 16.2
Blackberries 1 cup 3.5 Nectarine 1 medium 5.4
Blueberries 1 cup 7.4 Orange (navel) 1 medium 6.1
Boysenberries 1 cup 4.6 Papaya 1/2 medium 6.3
Cantaloupe 1/8 medium 2.8 Passion fruit 1 medium 0.9
Cherries, sour 1 cup 4 Peach 1 medium 5.9
Cherries, sweet 10 3.8 Pear 1 medium 11.8
Clementine 1 medium 3.4 Persimmon 1 medium 10.6
Cranberries 1 cup 0.7 Pineapple 1 slice (3.5x.75") 4
Date (Deglet Noor)  1 medium 2.6 Prune 1 medium 1.2
Date (Medjool) 1 medium 7.7 Raisins 1/4 cup 12.3
Figs, dried 1 cup 23 Raspberries 1 cup 3
Grapefruit, pink or red 1/2 medium 4.3 Star fruit 1 medium 3.6
Grapes, seedless (gn/red) 1 cup 12.4 Strawberries 1 cup 3.8
Guava 2 medium 2.2 Tangerine/mandarin orange 1 medium 4.8
Honeydew 1/8 medium 6.7 Watermelon 1/16 med. melon 11.3

If you must use an occasional sweetener, use a natural herb, Stevia, (not commercially produced or artifically made) or Dextrose (pure glucose). Please stay away from Agave Nectar/Syrup. It is a highly processed sap that is almost all fructose and is far worse than HFCS. Obviously we need to watch our diet due to the many things added to modern foods. Let's make wise choices and have a healthier life.

Balls lined up

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