The earliest editions of Dr. Vidaver's Medical News Notes were presented only in the office in notebooks available for all to read. Over time, mail, email, and leaflets have been used. Now, with this modernized web site, MNN will be updated fairly often, and will be available on the Internet. The mission here is for us to search through information sources that might be hard for most patients to find on their own. We want interesting articles to offer useful, current information that touches all of us.
March 27, 2023
Coffee is popular, and has health benefits
"Coffee has been associated with multiple health benefits and even a lower risk of dying, based on large studies that observed participants’ behavior. Despite research that has shown moderate coffee consumption doesn’t raise the risk of heart rhythm problems, some professional medical societies still caution against consuming caffeine.”
https://apnews.com/article/coffee-caffeine-heart-rhythm-health-0f598e3f4dbc4ba59701eeaddf171de0
March 2, 2023
Mediterranean Diet
According to the American Heart Association the Mediterranean Diet "can 'play a big role' in helping to prevent heart disease and stroke and reducing risk factors like diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.”
What to know about the Mediterranean diet, named best diet of 2023U.S. News and World report chose the Mediterranean diet as the top overall diet.
Read in ABC News: https://apple.news/AO-jFE01DTxyN57_ZZSix-g
February 28, 2023
Reminder: exams on request
Some patients have expressed they would like a more complete Physical Examination. Keep in mind, not all patients want such detail, but it is always available. Simply telephone the office and request that the next visit should include the more complete examination.
Be well,
Dr. V
November 6, 2022
Milk and Lactose and Casein-Protein
Lactose is the main natural sugar in milk, and people need to have the right enzymes to digest this. However, a few people do not have enough of the enzyme, and have a “gas” type reaction to milk. These people usually do well with the Lactaid®️ products because they have been treated with the enzyme already.
It is interesting to observe some of the patients with milk intolerance do not tolerate even the lactose treated products. That is because some of them are actually intolerant of the protein in milk products, specifically, the A1-beta-casein protein. Most of the milk in the United states has this protein and people can actually have a reaction to the protein, not the lactose.
Fortunately, there is an alternative milk source that is well tolerated by most people. About 5,000 years ago, in Europe, the cows had the A2-beta-casein protein, but there was a mutation of this protein, and that created the newer A1-beta-casein protein. It is the A1 protein that bothers so many people. The A2 milk comes from cows that have been carefully raised to produce only this type of milk.
There has been an increasing awareness of this protein change, and in the United States, there are now an increasing number of dairies devoted to producing the A2 milk products. This is still a specialty item in food stores, and it does cost a bit more. Part of the costs is that some of the dairies are far away in Pennsylvania, Colorado, or California. Read the lables carefully to select the type of milk you want.
Recently, I heard a woman from France taste a sample of the A2 milk and remark, “This tastes just like the milk in France!"
The farmers in nearby Lancaster, PA are quality produceers of A2 milk, and they published a recent news article that is very educational: What Is A2 Milk and What are its Potential Benefits?
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September 25, 2022
National health panel recommendation:
Adults should be screened for anxiety
The pandemic has isolated many people, and there is an ‘unrest’ in the country from changing political, economic, and social events.
This guidance comes as the first time recommendation that doctors screen all adult patients under 65 for anxiety. This highlights the extraordinary stress levels that have plagued the United States since the start of the pandemic.
The full New York Times article is available, click here
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September 18, 2022
The Covid Pandemic
It seems the higher levels of effectiveness for these vaccines last about 5 to 6 months, so to stay currentwe need to get new doses about twice a year. The mRNA technology vaccines are the best we have until additional technological advances become available for making the vaccines.
These vaccinations are the main method we have for preventing the Covid-19 infection, or at least preventing severe symptoms. Wearing masks and keeping some distance from other people are additional important measures. Combined, these are the best public health tools available for eventually bringing an end to the pandemic.
The Covid infections are caused by a virus, not bacteria, and there are some outpatient treatments. Most people are doing Covid tests at home. If you test positive, you may be a candidate for Paxlovid. This is a 5 day treatment with pills, and it greatly reduces the severity of the symptoms.
The illness is sometimes asymptomatic, and many have only a mild sickness, but require bed rest and supportive medications. However, some patients need hospitalization, and some of them die. Across the country, this summer, there have been tens of thousands of new cases every day, and there have been over 400 deaths every day.
Troubling, it seems between 10% and 20% of the patients develop “long Covid” with symptoms like headaches, fatigue, and “brain-fog” persisting for longer than the acute illness. The risk of one patient developing “long” symptoms is not related to the severity of the acute illness. Some have had symptoms for a year or two without improvement. Frankly, this “long” syndrome is one of the biggest reasons to avoid this infection.
Click here to read the news release from the CDC agency
The full name SARS-Cov-2 stands for Severe acute respiratory syndrome, CoronaVirus, and the 2 identifies this strain is similar to but still different from the first SARS strain of year 2003. The name Covid-19 was selected to have a common name and to identify the year 2019 when the pandemic began. And, that has evolved to the simple term Covid.
We know the Covid virus spreads through the air, and wearing masks reduces your risk of infection. Currently, the N-95, KN-95, and NK-94 masks are the most effective and are available. If you cannot find them, please contact our office and can direct you to suppliers.
The two most commonly used vaccines are the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Both of them have been updated to include protection from the original strain, BA.4 and BA.5 antibodies. Both are considered safe, and both give a measurable degree of immunity.
Right now, the new vaccines are available in many pharmacies; although, some want appointments.
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SARS-CoV-2 noun
\ ˈsärz-kō-ˈvē-ˈtü\
Medical Definition of SARS-CoV-2: the coronavirus (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 of the genus Betacoronavirus) that is the causative agent of COVID-19
Dictionary: www.Merriam-Webster.com
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February 9, 2014
“ Just one soda a day!”
Are you drinking "extra sugar”?
A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control showed that most American adults have more sugar in their diet than is healthy. This high consumption of sugar increases the risk for diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. There is a real risk of increased cardiac and stoke death as the sugar intake goes higher. Most people seem to get the added sugar in sweetened beverages. There are no formal federal guidelines yet, but patients would be safer to limit their calories consumed as added sugar.
Reference:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/820172
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