US 'medical tourists' seek cheap health care abroad

When Veronica Merrill decided to undergo stomach surgery for weight loss, she found two options: pay $12,000 at home in the United States, or have it done in Mexico for $4,000. 

She packed her suitcase.

Her insurance would only cover the operation if she was morbidly obese and suffering from diabetes and hypertension.

This was not the case for the 50-year-old, who weighs 210 pounds (95 kilos) but aspires to slim down to 160 -- precisely because she wants to avoid ending up with those medical conditions.

"It's sad that I have to come to another country" for the procedure, said Merrill, who drives a school bus in rural Arizona and is highly critical of the US health system -- the most expensive in the world.

"We shouldn't have to do that. That's crazy. And we're the only ones (with this system), and that is depressing."

After researching medical tourism options, she saved up the money and contacted a specialist agency to organize her trip over the border to Tijuana, where weight-loss operations and dental treatments are popular.

Others travel to the Mexican city for treatment of cardiovascular conditions or cancer, orthopedic work and fertility care, as well as to buy medications.

"If I only could have done it in the US... (but) I can't pay that much money," she told AFP. "I just want to be healthy."

No price regulation

Each year, an estimated 20 million "medical tourists" seek treatment around the world, according to Patients Beyond Borders. 

About 1.9 million of those people are Americans.

Mexico and Colombia -- which many Americans associate more with drug trafficking than health care -- are among the most popular destinations, along with Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

They all offer lower costs and high-quality infrastructure.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, two prominent Democratic candidates for the 2020 presidential election, have proposed universal health coverage -- an idea that Merrill considers "logical."

For now, Merrill turned to a company called Medical Tourism Corporation to organize every detail of her trip -- including her flight from Phoenix to San Diego, the driver who took her across the border and a luxury hotel.

Altogether, the tickets, hotel and surgery -- at the Oasis of Hope hospital, right by the border -- cost her $3,880. She paid in cash.

"We do the coordination... (we) have a destination manager in those cities who would help a patient with the language, the local logistics and things like that," said Deepak Datta, who founded Medical Tourism Corporation 13 years ago.

The company sends 60-70 people abroad each month to countries around the world, mainly Mexico.

"I operate on two or more foreigners every day," said surgeon Luis Cazares, who removed 80 percent of Merrill's stomach.

He said his greatest flow of patients is during the tax refund season in the United States, after April.

According to Gerald Kominski, a professor of health policy at UCLA in Los Angeles, the US does "little to regulate prices, in contrast to all other high-income nations."

"Medical tourism from a high-income nation like the US is indicative of a problem with affordability, as opposed to quality," he added.

Universal coverage

But even if "Medicare for All" were introduced as Sanders and Warren have urged, Americans likely would not stop seeking cheaper care abroad, says Medical Tourism Association CEO Jonathan Edelheit. 

After President Barack Obama's health care reforms in 2010, which required all adults to have insurance plans whether through work or the government, medical tourism by Americans expanded, he said.

Some employers whose medical costs "almost doubled since Obamacare was in place" sent staff abroad, he said, citing a company that saved $20 million in five years by sending employees for orthopedic and weight-loss operations outside the US.

Under universal care proposals, the US would likely end up with a system where, like in Canada and Europe, non-urgent procedures such as stomach operations require years on a waiting list.

"Wait times... will push people to go for medical tourism" to get treatment earlier, he predicted.

Indeed, many of the foreign patients at Oasis of Hope hospital are Canadian.

Europe is a sought-after destination for US medical tourists, though it does little to attract them, unlike emerging economies such as Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

The United States itself receives health tourists -- its highly advanced health care system appeals to patients with massive purchasing power from Arab and Asian countries.

But that is a luxury Merrill cannot afford. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Blood sugar tied to fracture risk in type 1 diabetes

People with type 1 diabetes are more likely to break a bone when their average blood sugar levels are dangerously high, a large study suggests.

Researchers examined data on more than 47,000 people with diabetes, including 3,329 with type 1, the less common form, which typically develops in childhood or young adulthood when the pancreas can’t produce insulin. The rest had type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity and aging and happens when the body can’t properly use or make enough insulin to convert blood sugar into energy.

All of these patients were diagnosed with diabetes in the UK between 1995 and 2015. During the study period, 672 people with type 1 diabetes and 8,859 with type 2 diabetes experienced bone fractures.

For type 1 diabetics, the risk of fracture was 39 percent higher when their average blood sugar levels over time were dangerously high than it was with lower blood sugar levels, the study found. Moderately high average blood sugar didn’t appear to impact the risk of fracture for these patients, however.

“In patients with type 1 diabetes, it is important to have good glycemic control, for almost everything and also to prevent fractures,” said Dr. Francesc Formiga of Barcelona University.

Blood sugar levels didn’t appear to influence the risk of fractures for patients with type 2 diabetes.

Despite this, patients with both types of diabetes should make every effort to keep their blood sugar in a healthy range, Formiga, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.

“People with high levels of sugar should be aware that it is not good for their global health or for their bones and may increase the risk of fractures, therefore they should modify their treatment, according to the recommendations of their doctors,” Formiga said.

Diabetes has long been linked to an increased risk of fractures, but research to date has been mixed regarding exactly what role blood sugar levels play in this risk, Dr. Christian Meier of University Hospital Basel in Switzerland and colleagues write in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Several complications of diabetes may contribute to an increased risk of falls and fractures including cognitive impairment; nerve damage (neuropathy) that diminishes sensation in the feet and other extremities; and retinopathy, or eye damage that makes it harder to detect obstacles that might cause a fall.

Among type 1 diabetes patients in the study, people with vascular complications like retinopathy were 29 percent more likely to experience fractures than people who didn’t have these complications. Vascular complications didn’t appear to influence fracture risk for people with type 2 diabetes.

With type 1 diabetes, kidney failure was also associated with more than doubled odds of a fracture, the study found.

The study wasn’t designed to prove whether or how elevated blood sugar might impact the risk of falls or fractures in people with diabetes.

One limitation of the study is that researchers didn’t account for whether patients had diabetic neuropathy, said Dr. James Richardson, a professor in physical medicine in rehabilitation at Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor who wasn’t involved in the research.

That factor might explain a lot of the accidents leading to bone fractures, he said.

“Fall risk is markedly increased in people who cannot successfully respond to a postural perturbation (such as a trip or slip, ankle turn) in the roughly 400 milliseconds available to do so,” Richardson said by email.

“This requires rapid and precise information that ‘reports’ the perturbation,” Richardson said. “This comes, primarily, from precise sensation in the feet and ankles and excellent visual acuity.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/2te1Hiw Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, online January 16, 2019.

Villar: Keep calm, no 'unli-rice' ban

MANILA - Senator Cynthia Villar on Thursday clarified that she was not planning to file a bill to ban unlimited rice servings or "unli-rice" in restaurants.

"I am not planning to make a law banning 'unli rice', not at all. I just voiced out my concern that eating too much rice is one of the main causes of high blood sugar that leads to diabetes," Villar said in a statement Thursday.

"But, of course, I cannot prevent people from eating unlimited amount of rice. It is their choice. It was just a genuine expression of concern on my part."

The senator reiterated her explanation on social media, saying "Keep calm, there's no ban on unli rice."

Villar, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, on Wednesday called on food establishments to refrain from offering unli rice to encourage people to eat more vegetables instead.

"You know, the findings in other countries, mas better ang diet nila. Hindi masyadong maraming rice, may vegetable. If you really ask doctors, that’s a better diet," Villar said after a hearing on rice importation and related issues.

"So dapat i-train na rin nating mga Filipinos not to eat too much rice kasi nagiging diabetic. And you know, it’s expensive to cure diabetes. Parang sinasabi sa ibang bansa kaya hindi sila nagiging self-sufficient, because they have a better diet. So makakatulong iyon, iyong sinasabi nilang unlimited rice, hindi maganda iyon sa diet natin," she added.

In her statement, Villar noted that other countries promote a balanced diet consisting of a small rice portion and a generous amount of vegetables.

"In schools in Japan, the students even discuss the nutritional value of their meals for the day before they eat. They also harvest the vegetables they eat from the garden in their school. Of course, we want our children and children’s children to grow up healthy," said Villar.

Citing a study, she said eating a plate of white rice everyday increases the risk of developing diabetes by 11 percent.

"Rice cause an increase in the level of sugar in the blood, which makes pancreas produce more insulin and cause frequent spikes in blood sugar level leading to diabetes. When not managed, diabetes may cause organ malfunction leading to death," she said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

LOOK: Coke's newest sugar-free, low-sugar drinks

TOLUCA, Mexico - Softdrink lovers in North America now have more choices for their sweet fix, without sugar, one of the causes of diabetes.

Coca-Cola Sin Azucar, which literally translates to "no sugar" was launched in this North American country where Coca-Cola FEMSA runs one of its largest manufacturing plants.

The Sin Azucar can looks like a regular Coke can, except for the slim black band around the top lid and a similarly colored tab.

It replaced sugar-free Coke Zero here, and was formulated to taste very much like the regular variant, said Coca-Cola FEMSA corporate communications manager Juan Carlos Cortes.

"Every place is different. We improve the formula," Cortes said, adding the proportions of ingredients for Coke Sin Azucar were different from Coke Zero.

Coke variants are made from water, simple syrup made from water and sugar, sugar substitute or artificial sweeteners, and a secret blend from the company that gives the product its unique taste.

"If you make a switch in one of those products, you need to make sure the brand is going to get accepted," Cortes said.

"So you don't go through the new Coke kind of thing that we saw in the 80s," he said, referring to a reformulation that wasn't received well by some consumers.

In the neighboring US, Coke also launched the 90-calorie Coke Life, which is sweetened using a blend of Sugar and Stevia.


There was no immediate plan to bring Coke Sin Azucar or Coke Life to the Philippines, where sugar-free options include Coke Zero and Coke Light, Cortes said.

"It's a difficult decision to make because the bottlers and the Coca-Cola Company have to get together and determine what they're going to bring in," he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Apple hires secret team for treating diabetes- CNBC

Apple Inc has hired a team of biomedical engineers as part of a secret initiative, initially envisioned by late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, to develop sensors to treat diabetes, CNBC reported citing three people familiar with the matter.

The engineers are expected to work at a nondescript office in Palo Alto, miles (km) away from the corporate headquarters, CNBC said. (http://cnb.cx/2nGgn9P)

Apple was not immediately available for comment.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US television icon Mary Tyler Moore dead at 80

LOS ANGELES - Legendary actress Mary Tyler Moore, who delighted a generation of Americans with her energetic comic performances and broke barriers with her iconic portrayal of a single career woman, died Wednesday after years of ill health. She was 80.

Moore's eponymous sitcom ran for seven seasons in the 1970s and was named by Time Magazine as one of 17 shows that "changed television."

She died in hospital in Connecticut, according to media reports, after battling diabetes for years and undergoing brain surgery in 2011.

"Today, beloved icon Mary Tyler Moore passed away at the age of 80 in the company of friends and her loving husband of over 33 years, Dr. S. Robert Levine," her longtime representative Mara Buxbaum told AFP in a statement.

"A groundbreaking actress, producer, and passionate advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Mary will be remembered as a fearless visionary who turned the world on with her smile."

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was radical in its time -- featuring a single woman, living on her own, and chasing her dream as a television reporter.

It also spawned numerous spin-offs for its popular supporting cast of quirky, slightly neurotic characters, launching Moore's behind-the-scenes career.

As top executives of MTM Enterprises, Moore and then-husband Grant Tinker created and produced "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and its spinoffs, and were also responsible for hit shows including "Hill Street Blues," "St. Elsewhere" and "Remington Steele."

- 'Effortless piece of cake' -

"A minute's silence as we remembered one of the true greats of TV comedy," tweeted actor Stephen Fry, who was rehearsing on the Hollywood stage made famous by Moore's show.

Michael Keaton described her as "iconic, my boss, castmate and a friend" while filmmaker Kevin Smith said she was a "tireless defender of animals, and scourge of diabetes."

"Truly she turned the world on with her smile," he added, referring to the lyrics of her show's theme song.

US media mogul Oprah Winfrey has said Moore was one of her early inspirations.

Winfrey said she watched her show every week as a child, and wanted "to be Mary Tyler Moore. I wanted to be Mary, I wanted to live where Mary lived."

Moore's first big break came in 1961, when she played spunky stay-at-home wife Laura Petrie on "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

In the popular sitcom, the TV couple famously slept in separate twin-size beds, and Moore was limited to wearing capri pants in just one scene per episode.

Van Dyke said working with the "beautiful, bright and talented," Moore was "an effortless piece of cake."

Speaking at the 2012 Screen Actors Guild awards, where he presented Moore with a lifetime achievement award, Van Dyke said he initially had his doubts about the unknown 20-something, wondering, "Can she do comedy?"

- Emmy winner, Oscar nominee -

It turns out, he said, she could do "everything." She danced, sang, did slapstick, and was such a perfect onscreen match for him, Van Dyke said, that many viewers wondered whether the couple were also married in real life.

On the big screen, Moore starred opposite Elvis Presley in "Change of Habit," and with Julie Andrews in "Thoroughly Modern Millie."

She earned an Oscar nomination for her role in Robert Redford's searing family drama "Ordinary People."

She also took home numerous Emmy awards for her television work and a Tony Award for a Broadway performance in "Whose Life Is It Anyway."

Behind the scenes, Moore faced a number of personal difficulties, including an addiction to alcohol. Her only child, Richie, born during her first marriage to Richard Meeker, struggled with emotional issues and drug abuse.

He shot and killed himself in 1980, at age 24, in an incident that was officially deemed an accident.

Moore, who was born in Brooklyn and moved to California as a child, married her third husband, Robert Levine, in 1983. She was an active spokeswoman for animal rights and for diabetes, which she was diagnosed with in her 30s.

"[Diabetes] has taken a toll on her. She's not well at all," Van Dyke told the "Larry King Now" show in October 2015.

"What you see is what you get. That's Mary Tyler Moore. She didn't have a bad bone in her," King told CNN.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

How to prevent diabetes

Diabetes is one of the diseases that cause complications which may even lead to death. There are a lot of factors why people have diabetes so it is important to know how to prevent diabetes.

1. Check your risk of diabetes

Check your family history and have yourself checked for possible high blood sugar. If you know that you are at high risk for diabetes, you should work on trying to prevent it as soon as you can.

2. Weight management

Excess body fat can increase the body’s resistance to the hormone insulin which may lead to type 2 diabetes. If you are overweight or obese, start shedding those pounds in order to avoid type 2 diabetes.

3. Exercise regularly

Exercise and physical activity help manage weight and reduce blood glucose levels which in turn aid in the prevention of diabetes.

These are simple steps in order to prevent diabetes. It’s also important to have an aid which helps in controlling blood sugar. Good thing there’s BitterGo.

ATC BitterGo is an all-natural dietary food supplement that is made from ampalaya extract, banaba extract, luyang dilaw extract, and the only supplement with bawang extract. This extraordinary combination helps manage insulin levels, lowers blood sugar levels, aids in managing diabetes symptoms and stimulates the pancreas, spleen and liver to intensify absorption.

BitterGo is high content 100% pure extract of ampalaya, banaba, luyang dilaw and bawang that is made more effective than powdered ingredients. It is a product of extensive research and development that guarantees top quality and promises health results which make it absolutely different from other supplements.

Note that, BitterGo is not a medicinal drug and should not be used to treat the symptoms of any disease.

BitterGo has a suggested retail price of P7.50 per piece and is available at all Mercury Drug and other leading drugstores and supermarkets nationwide.

NOTE: BrandNews articles are promotional features from our sponsors and not news articles from our editorial staff.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Comedian Joy Viado passes away

MANILA - Joy Viado has passed away, a source close to the comedian confirmed to ABS-CBN News Saturday evening. She was 57.

After suffering a heart attack, Viado was taken at the Quezon City General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 8:55 p.m., according to her best friend, Annete Lucido, per ABS-CBN News' MJ Felipe.

In an interview with DZMM, Viado's son, Joseph Cristopher, said she had difficulty breathing after arriving home from a friend's place Saturday.

"Galing siya sa bahay ng kaibigan niya, at paguwi niya ay medyo nahihirapan na siyang huminga," Joseph shared. "Tapos nung tinakbo namin siya sa hospital, sa kotse pa lang eh talagang nahihirapan na siya. Sa hospital, sinubukan i-revive pero [dead on arrival]."

A wake for Viado will be held at the Arlington Memorial Chapels Sunday afternoon, added Joseph.

A veteran comedienne who has featured in numerous television series and films, Viado last made headlines in 2015 when she broke down as she appealed for help to save her foot from amputation due to diabetes complications.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

5 ways to promote wellness in your franchise

The working population in the Philippines is facing a huge problem: there is now a segment of the working population called "Generation O" (overweight, overworked and overstressed).

This is partly due to employees becoming more and more sedentary, chained to their desks for most of their waking hours.

As Coach Chappy of 360 Fitness Club said in The Wellness Report 2013, "With the automation of almost everything, we simply don't move as much as we used to."

 Thus, health risks such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other chronic illnesses are now affecting even younger employees. With the rise in these common workplace issues comes higher healthcare costs. All employers understand that prevention is always better than cure. This is why a plan of action needs to take place.

Investing in wellness programs have proven to lower healthcare costs and more importantly, boost overall productivity. Franchise owners know that wellness programs can help increase employee and franchisee engagement, energy and morale in the workplace.

These intangibles greatly affect employee's buy-in to the company, buy-in to his or her role, and boosts overall productivity, in the end contributing improvements in bottom line.

But the question is where to start? Coach Chappy from 360 Fitness Club gives five steps that can help you in promoting wellness for your franchise business:

1. Create a survey

Find out what your employees want to experience or learn about. It may be group exercise classes, gym membership discounts, outdoor team building fitness activities or education on nutrition. It is important that before you implement a program, you know what your employees’ interests and needs are.

2. Invest in talks or workshops

Focus on education first before implementing activities. By investing in talks and workshops, you can give your employees a platform to understand the benefits of exercise, nutrition and healthy living, creating awareness and their buy in to programs which will be implemented.

3. Have regular activities

Help your employees build the fitness habit by holding regular activities that are suitable for everyone. By giving them options and different activities, you can target a larger group of people for your wellness program. whether it be a mind-body workout like yoga or a more intense circuit training, make sure options are available for them which they can join consistently.

4. Come up with a theme

You might need to have a theme or a goal-oriented program in order to retain employee engagement. If you offer monotonous programs or the same thing every month, you might lose the interest of your employees. Keep them interested in the wellness activities by offering inter-department fitness Olympics, fitness relays and biggest loser programs, for example.

5. Monitor progress

Let your employees know that you care about their health and well-being by monitoring their progress and improvement. By tracking their results, they will also be more motivated to get involved in fitness activities and it will also encourage accountability. It is important that you always encourage wellness throughout the workplace so that employees will stay motivated.

When you look after your employees’ health and well-being, you are also taking care of your bottom line. Healthy and happy employees create a more fun, energetic and productive workplace.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Coffee-drinkers less likely to die from certain diseases

People who report drinking three to five cups of coffee per day are less likely to die prematurely from heart disease, suicide, diabetes or Parkinson's disease, US researchers said.

Both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee were shown to have benefits, said the study by researchers at the Harvard University Chan School of Public Health published in the November 16 edition of the journal Circulation.

The study compared people who don't drink coffee, or drank less than two cups daily, to those who reported drinking "moderate" amounts of coffee, or up to five cups daily.

The study did not prove a cause-and-effect for coffee and the reduced likelihood of certain diseases, but uncovered an apparent link that aligns with previous research, and that scientists would like to probe further.

"Bioactive compounds in coffee reduce insulin resistance and systematic inflammation," said first author Ming Ding, a doctoral student in the Department of Nutrition.

"That could explain some of our findings. However, more studies are needed to investigate the biological mechanisms producing these effects."

No protective effect was found against cancer in this study. Some previous research has pointed to a link between coffee consumption and a lower risk of certain cancers.

The study was based on data gathered from three large, ongoing surveys including some 300,000 nurses and other health professionals who agree to answer questionnaires about their own medical conditions and habits at regular intervals over the course of 30 years.

"In the whole study population, moderate coffee consumption was associated with reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease, and suicide," said the findings.

Researchers also accounted for potential confounding factors such as smoking, body mass index, exercise, alcohol consumption, and diet. But the fact that the research relied on surveys, which use self-reported behavior, could raise questions about its reliability.

And experts warned that coffee -- a substance adored by many devotees -- may not be right for everyone.

"Regular consumption of coffee can be included as part of a healthy, balanced diet," said senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard.

"However, certain populations such as pregnant women and children should be cautious about high caffeine intake from coffee or other beverages."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Smoking worsens diabetes complications

People with type 2 diabetes who smoke have significantly higher risks of heart disease, stroke, and death than diabetic non-smokers, a new study shows.

They also had higher risks of clogged arteries, heart failure, and reduced blood flow to the limbs.

The risks were lower for diabetics who quit smoking, but still moderately higher than risks among never smokers, the researchers write in the journal Circulation.

Lead author An Pan told Reuters Health by email that smoking is still common among people with diabetes, despite efforts to discourage it.

“We wanted to know whether smoking was related to total mortality and cardiovascular events among diabetic patients, and whether smoking cessation would reduce the risks,” said Pan, who is a professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking can worsen the health risks that go along with diabetes, such as heart and kidney disease, nerve damage, and blindness.

Pan’s team pooled the data from 89 earlier studies of smoking among adults with type 2 diabetes and found that diabetic smokers were around 1.5 times more likely to experience clogged arteries, stroke, overall heart disease, and heart failure.

In addition, smokers were more than twice as likely to suffer from peripheral artery disease, or reduced blood flow to the limbs, than patents who did not smoke.

Former smokers had 1.2 times the risk of clogged arteries and 1.1 times the risk of overall heart disease, compared to never-smokers.

Using the risk estimates from their review and global rates of deaths from diabetes, the researchers estimated that smoking accounted for 14.6 percent of deaths in diabetic men and 3.3 percent of deaths in diabetic women worldwide.

Dr. Wael Al-Delaimy, division chief of global health at the University of California, San Diego, said part of the problem may be the care diabetes patients receive.

“The physician caring for the diabetes patient might be focusing on cardiovascular risk factors or diabetes complications and diet and weight control while neglecting smoking as another important risk factor,” Al-Delaimy told Reuters by email.

Pan said some smokers may be reluctant to quit due to concerns about gaining weight in the short term. However, he noted, “The long-term benefits clearly overweigh the short-term side effects.”

Pan advises diabetic patients who are smokers “to seek professional help to quit smoking.”

Al-Delaimy agreed, saying, “If you are a patient suffering from diabetes and smoking cigarettes, or if you know a family member, friend or anyone else who is diabetic and smoking, there is still opportunity to substantially decrease further complications and suffering or even early death by quitting smoking.”

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

B.B. King death probed after poison claim

WASHINGTON -- Las Vegas police have launched a homicide investigation into the death of B.B. King, a coroner's office said Monday, after the daughters of the blues guitar legend reportedly accused his aides of poisoning him.

King died aged 89 on May 14 in Las Vegas, where he lived while he kept up a grueling schedule of tours that ended only last year. King suffered from Type II diabetes for the last two decades of his life.

Two of his daughters -- Karen Williams and Patty King -- have alleged he was poisoned by his business manager Laverne Toney and his personal assistant, E Online reported.

"I believe my father was poisoned and that he was administrated foreign substances to induce his premature death," the daughters wrote in separate but identical affidavits, the entertainment site said.

"(I) request a formal investigation into this matter," the court documents reportedly said.

Despite his legendary musical status, King's final days were clouded by an apparent dispute between his family and manager over his care.

Toney, who is the executor of King's estate, shrugged off the daughters' charge.

"They've been making allegations all along. What's new?" Toney said, according to E Online.

An attorney for King's estate also dismissed the daughters' accusations as "ridiculous."

"I hope they have a factual basis that they can demonstrate for their defamatory and libelous allegations," Brent Bryson said in a statement, according to the entertainment site.

Earlier the local coroner confirmed the homicide investigation and said that King's remains would undergo an autopsy.

"Our coroner takes jurisdctn over #BBKing body, performs autopsy. Results:6-8wks min. Homicide investgtn w/ @LVMPD," the Clark County, Nevada coroner's office announced on Twitter, referring to the Las Vegas police department.

Given the timeframe for the autopsy, local media reported King's burial in his home state of Mississippi will likely be postponed.

Riley B. King was born in poverty and grew up working in cotton fields, but went on to master the guitar and entered the music business after travelling to Memphis and working for radio stations.

He became known as the Beale Street Blues Boy, which eventually earned him the moniker B.B. King.

For decades, King played shows almost every night, becoming the premier ambassador for the blues -- the music genre that emerged from African American spirituals in the Deep South.

King won 15 Grammy awards over his career and is considered a master of the guitar who influenced a generation of musicians.

In Memphis, his longtime place of residence, the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center opened in 2008 to showcase artifacts from the legendary guitarist, as well as the cultural heritage of the Mississippi Delta.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Obesity, heart disease linked to childhood bullying

Victims of childhood bullying are more likely to be overweight or obese as adults and have a higher risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses, according to a study by British psychiatrists.

Researchers found that just over a quarter of women who were occasionally or frequently bullied as children were obese at age 45, compared to 19 percent of those who had never been bullied.

And both men and women who were bullied as children had higher levels of fat around their middle -- a known risk factor for heart disease.

"Bullying is bad for your physical health, whether you're a man or a woman," said Andrea Danese, who worked on the study at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London.

Louise Arseneault, who led the research, said its findings should remind teachers, parents and carers to think about the victims, not just worry about how to stop the bullies.

Bullying is characterized by repeated hurtful actions by other children, against which the victims find it difficult to defend themselves, she told reporters. Unfortunately, bullying was "part of growing up for many children", she said.

"We tend to neglect the victims and their suffering," she added. "(Yet) for some children, they will be marked for the rest of their lives."

Arseneault's findings, published on Wednesday in the journal Psychological Medicine, come from the British National Child Development Study which has data on all children born in England, Scotland and Wales during one week in 1958.

It included 7,102 children whose parents gave information on their child's exposure to bullying at age 7 and 11. Some 28 percent had been bullied occasionally and 15 percent were bullied frequently. The children were then followed up at age 45, when measures of blood inflammation and obesity were recorded.

Besides obesity, the results showed that being bullied also led to higher levels of blood inflammation by the age 45.

Some 20 percent of those who were frequently bullied had high levels of a substance called C-reactive protein (CRP). High CRP raises heart disease risk by increasing atherosclerosis, where arteries get clogged up with fatty deposits.

Danese said the effects of childhood bullying on the risk of poor health in adulthood are relatively small compared to factors such as smoking, diet and exercise, but stressed that because obesity and bullying are both common, tackling them could have a significant health impact.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Blues legend B.B. King dies at 89

Guitarist B.B. King, who took the blues from rural juke joints to the mainstream and influenced a generation of rock guitarists from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan, has died, the Los Angeles Times reported late on Thursday. He was 89.

King, who will forever be linked with the Gibson guitars he named Lucille, died in Las Vegas, the newspaper quoted his attorney as saying.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

King was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in the 1980s. He was hospitalized in April for a few days after suffering from dehydration related to the disease. In May he said in a Facebook post that he was in hospice care at his home.

King had a deep, resonant singing voice and, despite having what he called "stupid fingers," an immediately recognizable guitar sound.

His unique style of trilling the strings with a fluttering left-hand vibrato, which he called it "the butterfly," helped shape early rock. He delivered stinging single-note licks that brimmed with emotion and were copied by white rock guitarists including Jeff Beck and Bonnie Raitt.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

B.B. King in hospice care at his Las Vegas home

LOS ANGELES - Veteran blues guitarist B.B. King said Friday he was in hospice care at his home, less than a month after he was hospitalized for diabetes-related issues.

In a message posted on his official Facebook page, the 89-year-old singer said he was receiving care at his Las Vegas residence.

"Thanks to all for your well wishes and prayers," he said in the post.

King was taken to a hospital in April after suffering from dehydration as a complication of diabetes. He left shortly after and said he was "feeling much better" at the time.

Born in Mississippi, the singer is known as the "King of the Blues" and is considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time, with artists such as Eric Clapton citing him as an influence.

Last October, King was forced to cancel eight live performances after falling ill on stage in Chicago. He was diagnosed with dehydration and suffering from exhaustion.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

PH, India lead nations with highest obesity levels

MANILA, Philippines - While the world is focusing on global hunger and malnutrition, another ugly “monster” has emerged.

Obesity, a new form of malnutrition, has surfaced as an urgent challenge affecting several countries.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Philippines and India are among the developing countries with high levels of obesity and under-nutrition.

Obesity as a form of malnutrition often coexists with under-nutrition and results from shifts from local and traditional diets to foods that are increasingly heavy in salt, sugar and fat or processed foods.

The shift to a steady diet of processed food is due to the increasing cost of nutritious and natural food, the FAO said.

The global prevalence of combined overweight and obesity has risen in all regions, increasing among adults from 24 percent to 34 percent between 1980 and 2008.

The FAO said the prevalence of obesity among children has increased even faster, doubling from six percent to 12 percent over the same period.

“Overweight can co-occur with underweight within the same household, and is on the rise in countries with a high level of under-nutrition,” the FAO added in the report.

A 2011 survey by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) showed that 22.3 percent of Filipino adults are overweight and 6.1 percent are obese.

The prevalence of overweight Filipinos is expected to increase significantly by 2015.

“If this trend continues, it is highly likely that more will suffer from high-risk diseases that could lead to death,” the FNRI report said.

The factors leading to obesity in developing countries like the Philippines are numerous.

One leading factor is increasing world and domestic food prices, forcing increased purchase of unhealthy processed food over healthy and staple but expensive food.

Price increases threaten food security for poor households. For example, the 2011 increase in the price of basic grains meant that, in many developing countries, the cost of a kilogram of wheat doubled from about $.15 to $.30, a critical difference for people who live on little more than a dollar a day.

Food represents a substantial portion of the expenditure of poor households in poor countries.

For countries in Asia and Africa, expenditure on food was generally over 50 percent in the early 2000s, prior to the 2007-2008 crisis. In the Philippines, expenditures on food amount to 63 percent of a person’s income.

Biggest risk

Obesity is the biggest risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus. It likewise aggravates hypertension and raises blood cholesterol levels, which are major predisposing factors to the development of heart attacks and strokes.

In overweight men, the occurrence of impotence and sterility is higher than average while in obese women, there is a higher than average incidence of menstrual disorders, infertility and complicated pregnancies.

In both sexes, obesity increases the risk for gallbladder stones.

Obesity is likewise associated with cancers of the breast, uterus, cervix, ovary and gallbladder among women, and colon, rectum, prostate, pancreas and stomach among men.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

No profits for companies chasing obesity business

KALUNDBORG, Denmark - Steam rises from pipes at a giant industrial complex on the edge of the Baltic Sea whose success is a testament to the world's diabetes and obesity epidemic.

Novo Nordisk's Kalundborg factory, 100 km west of Copenhagen, makes half the planet's insulin for diabetics, putting it on a list of global sites the United States sees as vital to its interests, according to a WikiLeaks cable in 2010.

Soaring diabetes rates, driven by increasing obesity, have fuelled profits at the Danish company for two decades.

But now the company wants to tackle obesity head on by launching a treatment specifically to help patients lose weight.

It would seem to be a no-brainer. Obesity rates suggest a booming market. Yet it is proving surprisingly difficult for both drugmakers and food companies to develop businesses directly addressing the problem.

In a global economic downturn, modestly effective weight-loss drugs and special diet foods are turning out to be a tough sell when a cheaper alternative is to eat less - or do nothing.

The first new prescription diet drugs to hit the U.S. market in more than a decade, from Vivus and Arena Pharmaceuticals, have registered disappointing sales and food companies' diet lines are struggling.

Switzerland's Nestle has all but given up on the diet business, agreeing to sell the bulk of its Jenny Craig weight-loss unit last week to U.S. private equity firm North Castle Partners.

And as Unilever reviews its portfolio of underperforming food assets, analysts say its Slim-Fast brand is one that could come up for sale. Bernstein Research estimates Slim-Fast had 2012 sales of 300 million euros ($402 million), 34 percent lower than when Unilever agreed to buy it in 2000 for $2.3 billion.

"The need for the services is increasing, unfortunately, but there are a lot of companies that have not done well," said Jon Canarick of North Castle, which also bought the firm behind the Atkins diet from its post-bankruptcy lenders in 2007. "I credit most of that to a combination of the economy and the influx of competition."

Weak economies have curbed demand for pricey, specialist dieting schemes just as competition has exploded from a host of electronic apps that count calories for free - and securing insurance reimbursement has been an uphill fight for new drugs that cost around $160-$200 a month in the United States.

BURDEN OF DISEASE

Obesity prevalence has increased by more than 40 percent across the OECD industrialised countries and half of U.S. adults are now forecast to be obese by 2030 unless Americans change their ways.

The condition is a major risk factor for heart disease, certain cancers and diabetes, with the latter alone expected to kill more than 5 million people this year.

Lars Sorensen, Novo Nordisk's veteran chief executive, hopes the clear medical need will help his firm's move into obesity, although he acknowledges it will not be easy.

"It is going to be challenging. We need to convince employers and insurers in the United States, which is the biggest market, that this is a problem that can be addressed," he said in an interview.

"It's been very disappointing in terms of pharmaceutical interventions up to now, but I see that changing."

Certainly, the medical community is taking more notice.

The American Medical Association classified obesity as a disease for the first time this year, while new guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association back more aggressive therapy.

Binge eating disorder, a related problem, has also entered the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the reference book for psychiatry, opening a new opportunity for a drug from Shire.

Europe, however, is lagging behind in recognising obesity and approving new drugs, according to Euan Woodward, executive director of the European Association for the Study of Obesity.

"The U.S. is way ahead. We haven't had the same discussion in Europe yet," he said.

Yet U.S.-approved diet drugs like Vivus' Qsymia and Arena's Belviq are being held back by cost and the modest weight loss they can offer, with safety problems linked to earlier products also making doctors cautious.

The popular fen-phen drug combination was taken off the market in 1997 for causing heart damage, while Sanofi's Acomplia was withdrawn in Europe in 2008 after being linked to suicidal thoughts - it never won U.S. approval - and Abbott's Meridia was pulled in 2010 on heart worries.

As a result, global sales of obesity drugs have halved in the last five years, and even though they are expected to climb again they will remain dwarfed by therapies to treat diabetes, as rates of type 2 disease - the kind linked to obesity - soar.

Consensus analysts forecasts suggest obesity drug sales may grow from $300 million to $3.8 billion by 2018, while the diabetes market, worth some $37 billion at present, will reach more than $57 billion, according to Thomson Reuters Pharma.

Novo Nordisk hopes a high dose of its injectable medicine liraglutide - the active ingredient in its diabetes treatment Victoza - will take pharmacological interventions to a new level, by mimicking the action of a natural hormone.

So far, though, clinical trials have underwhelmed analysts and Matthias Tschoep, head of the Institute for Diabetes and Obesity at the Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich, believes a truly effective medicine will need to combine the effects of multiple hormones to achieve reductions in body weight beyond the 5-10 percent seen with current drugs. That could be a long haul.

"We need to close the gap between existing drug treatments and a gastric bypass surgery, which makes you lose 35 percent of body weight," he said. "I firmly believe that within the next 10 to 20 years, we will have very efficient drugs."

The big problem for dieters and drug designers alike is the fact that human evolution makes it very hard for people to curb their appetite and cut calorie consumption.

A predisposition to gain weight is hard-wired, with animal experiments showing that consumption of sugary food triggers the brain to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter also linked to drug addiction.

THREATENED BY BROCCOLI, MOBILE APPS

Weight Watchers, the leading weight loss company in the United States, is finding the going increasingly tough. Revenue has been roughly flat or down during six of the last seven quarters and the outlook for the next four is even worse.

Last month, the company said that despite progress on cost-cutting, it expected full-year revenue to fall at a low double-digit percentage rate if recruitment trends failed to improve.

Weight Watchers is battling a declining membership base, growing membership at rivals, and the rise of cheap or free smartphone applications and activity monitors such as MyFitnessPal and the Jawbone UP wristband.

There are nearly 2,000 weight-loss apps now available on the iPhone, and Berlin-based market research firm research2guidance estimates that by 2015, 500 million people will be using mobile health applications which cost much less than the packaged meal plans sold by Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem and Medifast that usually cost hundreds of dollars a month in up-front purchases.

Analysts say the lion's share of the world's dieters use a "do-it-yourself" approach.

"Broccoli and lettuce are good competition for weight-loss shakes," said Imperial Capital analyst Mitchell Pinheiro. "Dieting is fickle to begin with and trends are fleeting. While the addressable market is enormous and continues to grow, how dieters choose to diet is not consistent and it's not sustainable."

Meanwhile, the retail market for meal replacement products such as Slim-Fast bars and Herbalife shakes, is estimated at $7.76 billion worldwide, according to data tracker Euromonitor, up from $5.51 billion in 2008.

In a very competitive market, Euromonitor analyst Ildiko Szalai sees the key to success as transcending the natural stigma and impermanence of dieting. She cited Kellogg's Special K cereal bars, protein shakes and diet plan, which has briskly moved in as Slim-Fast has retreated.

"They made it very successful, positioning the product as a lifestyle and not just something for six weeks so you lose weight," Szalai said. "You eat it forever."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

'Lifestyle diseases' are new threat to Asia

MANILA - Asia-Pacific countries face serious challenges from "lifestyle" diseases and ageing populations even as they overcome more traditional illnesses, the World Health Organisation's regional director said Monday.

Western Pacific WHO director Shin Young-soo said such ailments, often arising from a change in diets and less exercise, were sharply rising in Asian nations.

He said recent studies showed that as many as 12 percent of Chinese adults had diabetes, while as many as 50 percent had a "pre-diabetes" condition, meaning they were on the borderline of developing the illness.

This was a huge jump from the estimated 3-4 percent diabetics in China's adult population in the 1990s.

About 10 percent of adults in countries like South Korea, Japan and even Vietnam also had diabetes, Shin told reporters at a WHO regional meeting in the Philippine capital.

"It is because of the big change in our diets in the last 30-40 years' time. There is also a very interesting observation that Asian people... tend to have more diabetes than Western people," he said.

"We must have behaviour change. The whole society must tackle the issue," Shin said.

Other non-communicable ailments like hypertension and high cholesterol were also on the increase despite the fact that they could all be prevented, he said.

Shin said countries such as some Pacific island nations were experiencing diabetes among 40 percent of adults while 75 to 80 percent were suffering from obesity.

"Over many years, this will lead to huge health care costs. Societies will lose this productive labour power," he warned.

Shin also said ageing populations in some Asia-Pacific countries like Australia, Japan and China would force these nation to spend more on caring for the elderly.

Other problems facing the region like relatively high rates of blindness and the spread of drug-resistant diseases will also be discussed at the WHO meeting being held in Manila this week.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

More fresh fruit deters diabetes; juice boosts risk

PARIS - Eating more whole fresh fruit, especially blueberries, grapes, apples and pears, is linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, but drinking more fruit juice has the opposite effect, says a study.

British, US and Singaporean researchers pored over data from three big health investigations that took place in the United States, spanning a quarter of a century in all.

More than 187,000 nurses and other professional caregivers were enrolled.

Their health was monitored over the following years, and they regularly answered questionnaires on their eating habits, weight, smoking, physical activity and other pointers to lifestyle.

Around 6.5% of the volunteers developed diabetes during the studies.

People who ate at least two servings each week of certain whole fruits, especially blueberries, grapes and apples, reduced their risk of Type 2 diabetes by as much as 23% compared to those who ate less than one serving per month.

"Our findings provide novel evidence suggesting certain fruits may be especially beneficial for lower diabetes risk," said Qi Sun, an assistant professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

On the other hand, those who consumed one or more servings of fruit juice each day saw their risk of the disease increase by as much as 21%.

Swapping three servings of juice per week for whole fruits resulted in a 7% reduction in risk, although there was no such difference with strawberries and cantaloupe melon.

The paper, published on Friday by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), says further work is needed to to explore this "significant" difference.

It speculates that, even if the nutritional values of whole fruit and fruit juice are similar, the difference lies with the fact that one food is a semi-solid and the other a liquid.

"Fluids pass through the stomach to the intestine more rapidly than solids even if nutritional content is similar," says the paper.

"For example, fruit juices lead to more rapid and larger changes in serum [blood] levels of glucose and insulin than whole fruits."

The study also points to evidence that some kinds of fruit have a beneficial effect for health.

Berries and grapes, for instance, have compounds called anthocyanins which have been found to lower the risk of heart attacks.

But, say the authors, how or even whether this also applies to diabetes risks is for now unclear.

The investigation looked at data from the Nurses' Health Study, which ran from 1984-2008; the Nurses' Health Study II (1991-2009); and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2008).

Ten kinds of fruit were used in the questionnaire: grapes or raisins; peach, plums or apricots; prunes; bananas; cantaloupe melon; apples or pears; oranges; grapefruit; strawberries; and blueberries.

The fruit juices identified in the questionnaire were apple, orange, grapefruit and "other."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

4 easy tips to prevent diabetes

MANILA – In celebration of Diabetes Awareness Week, an expert offered 4 simple tips to prevent the disease.

According to Dr. Nemecio Nicodemus Jr., the key to preventing diabetes, which is characterized by high blood sugar, is a healthy lifestyle.

1. Exercise, exercise, exercise

Nicodemus said a healthy lifestyle involves at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity --even if it's just walking.

“Kung makakapagbawas ka ng timbang mo ng at least 5%, pwede mo mapigilan ang diabetes at kung ikaw ay mayroong moderate physical activity ng at least 30 minutes a day,” he said in an interview on dzMM’s “Magandang Gabi, Dok" on Tuesday.

2. Eat fiber-rich food
Aside from exercise, a fiber-rich diet will also help prevent diabetes, said Nicodemus who noted that the only difference between white rice and brown rice is that the latter has more fiber.

3. Cut down on fatty food

He also stressed the importance of cutting down on fatty food.

“Dapat magbawas ng taba sa kinakain, less than 10% lang ang daily intake…Sa plato mo tuwing kakain ka, ang taba ay dapat less than one-fourth ng plato mo,” he said.

4. Eat less sweets

Lastly, Nicodemus said the intake of desserts with simple sugar -- such as cake, ice cream, and chocolates --should be monitored.

Not too late

Nicodemus said risk factors for diabetes include age (35 years old and above), having a first-degree relative who has the disease, polycystic ovaries (for females) and a sedentary lifestyle.

He said those who have elevated blood sugar levels do not necessarily have the disease, but may only be in a "pre-diabetic stage."

People who are in this stage, he said, can still be cured.

“Ang diabetes ay sakit na maaaring mapigilan lalo na kung kayo ay kamag-anak ng isang diabetic at kayo ay wala pang diabetes ngayon, kayo ang pinakamagandang kandidato na pigilan ang diabetes,” he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com