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MID-VALLEY HEALTH Albany Democrat-Herald ■ Corvallis Gazette-Times
Sunday, March 30, 2014
HEALTH STAT Quick reads about health topics in the news
Diabetes talk The Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center diabetes support group invites the public to hear speaker Julie Ahrendt, RN, certified wound ostomy continence nurse, discuss diabetes foot care – symptoms, complications and prevention. The diabetes support group is free to attend and will meet Tuesday, April 1, from 5 to 6 p.m. at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. For more information, contact the hospital’s Diabetes Education Department at 541-768-6973. — Mid-Valley Health
Extreme injuries The thrill of extreme sports comes at a price: a higher risk for severe neck and head injuries, according to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Extreme sports are gaining in popularity: skateboarding has surged 49 percent to 14 million U.S. participants, and snowboarding now claims 7.2 million enthusiasts, up 51 percent since 1999. Researchers reviewed data for seven popular sports: surfing, mountain biking, motocross, skateboarding, snowboarding, snowmobiling and snow skiing. Of the 4 million injuries reported for extreme sport participants, 11.3 percent were head and neck injuries. The sports with the highest incidence of head and neck injuries were skateboarding, snowboarding and skiing. The academy recommends helmet use for biking, skiing, snowboarding and other sports. — American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
New knees and hips More than 7 million Americans are living with an artificial (prosthetic) knee (4.7 million) or hip (2.5 million), which may have significant future implications in terms of the need for ongoing patient care. That’s according to new research presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Two related studies also found a growing incidence of adults younger than age 65 undergoing total knee replacement and total hip replacement surgeries. The study found that about 0.8 percent of Americans are living with a hip replacement, and 1.5 percent with a knee replacement. States with the highest number of total knee and hip replacements are California, Florida and Texas; the two states with the lowest numbers are Alaska and Hawaii. — American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Fried foods and obesity People with a genetic disposition to obesity are at a higher risk of obesity and related chronic diseases from eating fried foods than those with a lower genetic risk, according to a new study. The study, from the Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard Medical School, is the first study to show that the adverse effects of eating fried foods may depend on a person’s genetic makeup. The study appears in the March 18 edition of the British Medical Journal. In the study, participants filled out food frequency questionnaires. Genetic risk scores were calculated based on genetic variants associated with body mass index (BMI). The results showed that regular consumption of fried foods was associated with higher BMI. In addition, the study showed that the association between overconsumption of fried foods and obesity was particularly pronounced among people with a greater genetic predisposition to obesity. — Harvard School of Public Health
Stephanie S. Cordle/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/MCT
Local fashion designer Amy Johnson, of KayOss Designs, has a glass of juice at her home in the Central West End neighborhood in St. Louis, in February. Her dog Chihuly is in the foreground.
Designer fashions alternative therapy BY BLYTHE BERNHARD ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
T. LOUIS — As a vegetarian and daily yoga practitioner, Amy Johnson thought she was healthy before she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last August. Now she consumes 50 pounds of carrots, 25 pounds of Granny Smith apples and 14 heads of romaine lettuce each week in an effort to keep it from coming back.
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Because Johnson can’t find some of the organic vegetables she needs for her green juices, she's started to grow them.
family, and she and her mother traveled to Mexico in October to learn about the therapy that requires a drastic lifestyle change. “I know chemo works for The 43-year-old fashion many people. It didn’t make designer has embraced an unsense to me. I wanted to pump conventional and controvernutrients into my body, not sial cancer treatment called toxins,” Johnson said. Gerson therapy, named for the Doctors, friends, family doctor who developed the members and her design vegetarian diet to treat his miclients tried to talk Johnson graine headaches in the 1940s. into going the traditional Eventually, his practice grew route with chemotherapy. Her to include numerous other mother, a nurse, was initially maladies, including cancer. fearful of the decision. The therapy “I was just is not approved very leery by the Food and about it all, “Chemo didn’t Drug Adminisbut Amy make sense to me. tration or recseems to adI wanted to pump ommended by just to things national cancer nutrients into my body, so well,” said organizations. Carolyn not toxins.” Patients pay Johnson of $11,000 to Highland, AMY JOHNSON spend two Mo. “She’s weeks at a Gergained back son clinic in most of her Tijuana, Mexico, to learn the energy and emotionally, she’s diet of juicing, supplements so much better. Her father and and enemas that they stay on I are just amazed at how well for two years. she’s handling all this.” Gerson therapy teaches that After surgery to remove the the body needs to be cleansed right ovary, doctors discovof toxins to allow the immune ered Johnson’s cancer was a system to heal itself. Particirare and aggressive form of pants eat and drink 15 to 20 clear cell carcinoma that may pounds of organic fruits and not respond well to drugs. vegetables daily. They drink Johnson had more surgery, inone fresh-squeezed glass of cluding a hysterectomy, and juice every hour, up to 13 a then decided against chemotherapy. She has raised day. They also take up to 60 $24,000 from friends and vitamins and enzyme pills
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No proof it works The National Cancer Institute disavows any evidence of the effectiveness of Gerson therapy absent a peer-reviewed clinical trial. The idea of diet as cancer treatment is not widely accepted in the medical community. Fruits and vegetables are thought to play some role in preventing cancer, but not treating it, according to the American Cancer Society. Coffee enemas can lead to infections and dehydration. Critics take an even harsher stance, calling the Gerson method quackery that preys on the hopes of people with cancer. “I can’t figure out why anyone thinks it’s natural,” said Dr. David Gorski, a surgical oncologist in Detroit and editor of the blog Sci-
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each day. Five times a day, they complete a liquid coffee enema to help the liver “in eliminating toxic residues from the body for good,” according to Gerson’s website. Castor oil, a laxative, is also taken by mouth regularly. Johnson still sees a doctor at Barnes-Jewish Hospital for follow-up blood work and scans, but she doesn’t want to identify him out of concern for maintaining their relationship. Her last scan in December showed no signs of cancer, and her blood work is normal.
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ence-Based Medicine. “What’s natural about all these supplements? It’s not natural to put coffee up your behind. The surgery is what cures the cancer if the cancer’s going to be cured. The chemotherapy decreases the chances of its recurring.“ Gorski said Gerson patients probably would have the same results with a typical, healthy diet after cancer surgery. “The thing about cancer, its course can be really variable,” Gorski said. “Patients can live a lot longer than expected, they can live a lot shorter.” Gerson’s website says the program is “remarkably effective at treating a wide range of chronic degenerative diseases,” including melanoma, lymphoma, ovarian cancer and lupus. The clinic does not accept patients with acute leukemia, brain tumors, organ transplants or kidney failure and says the therapy doesn’t work for Parkinson’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Staff members from the Gerson Institute in San Diego did not respond to a request for comment. About seven years ago, Johnson left a career as an environmental engineer to pursue her dream in fashion, creating KayOss Designs with a studio in the Central West End. Her work has been featured in high-end boutiques, on runways and on national television. Because her new lifestyle keeps her essentially home-bound, she has temporarily given up social events, fashion shows and photo shoots. But she has started to take a few appointments in her studio again. And she recently walked to a nearby cafe to meet some friends, bringing her own tea. “That’s what cancer is telling you — something needs to change in your life,” Johnson said. “I’m not saying this is for everybody. You have to do what you feel is best for you.”
Controversial Gerson diet claims to treat cancer
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