African women work for clean water
2010 West African Women & Water Training Program from Unseen Pictures on Vimeo.
Dealing with Endometriosis
Tom le Goff - Getty images
What is endometriosis?
Endometriosis is one of the most common gynecological diseases that affects millions of women across the world. Endometriosis is a condition in which the tissue that forms the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. Each month, simultaneous with the menstrual cycle, the endometrial tissue thickens and is shed during menstruation. If you have endometriosis, it means that the same kind of tissue that lines your uterus is also growing in other parts of your body, usually in the abdomen. This can cause scar tissue to build up around your organs.
What type of symptoms results from endometriosis? Endometriosis may cause severe pain and abnormal bleeding, usually around the time of your period. Pain during intercourse is another common symptom. However, it is possible to have endometriosis and not have any symptoms. Endometriosis is one of the leading causes of infertility (inability to get pregnant). Often it is not diagnosed until a woman has trouble getting pregnant. Endometriosis will lessen after menopause and during pregnancy, since the growth of endometrial tissue depends on estrogen. If you have endometriosis and take estrogen-replacement therapy after menopause, the tissue may grow back.
How will I be diagnosed with endometriosis? The only way to be sure that you have endometriosis is through a surgical procedure called laparoscopy. Endometriosis can be a chronic condition and may return even after treatment with medicine or surgery.
How can endometriosis be treated?
There are several options for treating endometriosis . The best treatment for you may depend on whether you want to relieve pain, increase your chances of getting pregnant , or both. It is important to work with your doctor to weigh the benefits and risks of each treatment.
Non-surgical treatments options of endometriosis include:
Hormones. There are two types of hormone therapy: those that will make your body think it is pregnant and those that will make your body think it is in menopause. Both are meant to stop the body from producing the messages that cause the endometrial tissue to grow.
a) Birth control pills may be used for a few months to try to shrink the adhesions in women who want to become pregnant.
b) Other hormones—GnRH and danazol—also may help relieve the pain of endometriosis.
Doctors sometimes prescribe pain relievers, such as ibuprofen (for example, Advil and Motrin) or codeine for severe pain.
Other non-surgical options include watchful waiting and changes in diet and exercise.
Surgical treatments options used to treat endometriosis include:
Laser laparoscopy, in which a cut is made in the abdomen and adhesions are removed, either by laser beams or electric cauterization.
Hysterectomy, which may not cure endometriosis. Unless the ovaries are removed also, they will continue to produce estrogen. This may encourage endometrial tissue to grow in other areas of the body.
Bowel resection, which means taking out a section of the bowel, if endometriosis is affecting the bowel.
Cutting certain nerves, called the sacral nerves , in the lower back to relieve pain.
A concerning question for most women is if endometriosis ever go away? In most cases, the symptoms of endometriosis lessen after menopause because the growths gradually get smaller. For some women, however, this is not the case. For more information and for medical care, please contact your physician.
By Osaze Scott, Pharm D.
Are instant noodles really good for you?
Are Instant Noodles good for you?
Nigeria is the 13th largest consumer of instant noodles in the world.
Indomie being the most popular brand and it is consumed in most households cutting across socioeconomic lines. In many ways it has changed the culinary model for many urban Nigerian families, replacing rice for many as a staple.
As a result, it is imperative to ask exactly how nutritive are instant noodles?
Studies have shown that instant noodles are not necessarily the best choice for a healthy diet. Typically they are high carbohydrate and high fat foods. In fact studies by the Australian Consumers’ Association showed that a single serving of instant noodles could contain the same amount of fat found in a cup of French-fries, or in two slices of a medium-sized pizza. And not only is it a question of how much fat but it is the kind of fat that one ingests with noodles that is also a point of concern.
We know that not all fat is bad for you. In fact fats are a necessary part of a healthy diet. They supply us with vital fatty acids, keep our skin elastic and supple, allow us to absorb fat-soluble vitamins and provide fuel for energy. So every diet should contain fat although it should absolutely be in moderation as fats are calorie dense foods so even though we want good fats in our bodies we should keep it to a minimum in order to maintain a healthy weight and reduce our risk of cardiovascular disease and cancers.
So what is good fat? Good fats are polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, these fats can actually raise good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol in the body reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Polyunsaturated fats are found mostly in vegetable oils, fatty fish and nuts. Omega-3 fatty acids are examples of polyunsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats are consumed greatly in the Mediterranean particularly in the form of olive oil and this is why the citizens of these countries exhibit low levels of heart disease.
What would be considered bad fats are saturated and trans fats. These fats raise cholesterol levels, clog arteries and increase the risk for heart disease and cancers. Meats, high fat dairy (like ice cream, butter and cream and oils like palm oils are all high in saturated and trans fat. It is recommended that we restrict these items in our diets, in fact the American Heart Association recommends keeping them to just 7% of total caloric intake. Natural trans fat though are not even as destructive as artificial trans fat which is what is used extensively in industrial frying, margarines for example. Any food product that reads partially hydrogenated on the label should be avoided as many experts think these fats are even more dangerous than saturated fats.
Research has shown that artificial trans fats can increase the risk for heart disease by increasing LDL “bad” cholesterol and decreasing HDL “good” cholesterol. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends limiting trans fat to less than 2 grams per day, including the naturally occurring trans fats.
The challenge with instant noodles is that being a packaged manufactured food, it is high in artificial trans fat while also containing chemical preservatives. Also of concern is the high amount of sodium contained. Studies show that the average package of instant noodles contain nearly 75% of the recommended limit of sodium for adults and 100% of that for young children. Which means that if one package of noodles is ingested by a child a day and other meals with sodium are ingested they are already well above their daily recommended sodium intake and exposed to the risks associated.
The flavor packets also tend to contain large amounts of MSG, which is a chemical flavor enhancer. That is used to enhance the taste of foods by potentiating the tastes. However MSG can triggers allergic reactions in some people, signs of which can be headaches and pain and burning sensations in chest and GI tract.
Now it is important to note that many noodle manufacturers are aware of the dangers of sodium and MSG and committed to reducing the sodium content of the noodles, however even they concede that it will be a very gradual process, so it is not likely to change immediately.
By all accounts, instant noodles are a high fat, high salt meal, with no protein and low in nutrients and as such it should not be an everyday part of a healthy diet. Certainly while restricting the amount of the flavor packet that is used will help with the sodium and many people add vegetables to it which raises the nutrition profile and all these make it a better choice, by and large it should still be added with caution to the family diet.