ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2011) — Asthma is one of the world’s most common chronic diseases, affecting as many as 300 million people. it is estimated that by 2025 there could be an additional 100 million people with the disease. This rapid increase in asthma is most likely due to changing environmental or lifestyle factors, and over the last 15 years, changing diet has emerged as a promising contributor.

Two studies published in the in the February 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association explore the possible relationship between nutrition and asthma. Researchers review the rationale for investigating associations between diet and asthma, discuss the potential for dietary intervention to complement conventional asthma treatment, and summarize the recent data suggesting that diet may influence the development of asthma.

Investigators from the University of Aberdeen, UK, review three dietary factors that have been hypothesized to explain the increase in asthma — a changing antioxidant intake, an increasing ratio of n-6 to n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) consumption and changing vitamin D status. although there is insufficient clinical evidence for the use of nutritional supplements to complement conventional asthma treatments, the authors note that ongoing studies may change this picture. They also review a small number of studies of maternal diet during pregnancy that suggest that dietary modification during pregnancy might reduce the incidence of childhood asthma.

According to Graham Devereux, MD, PhD, "The generally weak observational and very limited intervention data suggest that whilst there are associations between diet and asthma, the nature of the associations (with PUFA, antioxidants, nutrients, food), the timing (antenatal, infancy, childhood, adulthood), and the therapeutic potential of the associations are far from clear." He continues, "Future studies should consider the use of dietary intervention to increase the intake of nutrients highlighted by birth cohorts (vitamin E, PUFA, vitamin D, zinc) in order to capture the complexity of dietary nutrient intake. if shown to be efficacious, such a dietary intervention could be the basis for a low cost, safe public health intervention to rapidly reduce the prevalence of asthma in children and ultimately adults, with obvious beneficial consequences for the wellbeing of individuals and society as a whole. until the results of ongoing and planned trials are available, the practical consequences of research linking diet with asthma are minimal, and based on the available evidence, people with asthma, pregnant women, parents, and children should not be advised to change or supplement their diet in order to treat or reduce the risk of developing asthma."

In a study published in the same issue a multi-institutional team of researchers in Greece examined associations between salty snack consumption and TV or video game viewing and asthma symptoms in young adolescents. while noting that although both factors have been implicated in asthma development, results have been conflicting. In their cross-sectional study of 700 children 10-12 years old, living in and around Athens, Greece, they found that there was a 4.8 times higher risk of having asthma symptoms when salty snacks were consumed more than 3 times per week. This association was even more prominent in children who watch TV or play video games more than 2 hours per day.

The authors also found that children who consumed a "Mediterranean diet" were less likely to have asthma symptoms, consistent with previous studies evaluating the association between the Mediterranean diet and asthma in children. The Mediterranean diet has a high content of vegetables, fresh fruits, cereals and olive oil, with a high intake of beta-carotene, vitamins C and E and various important protective substances like selenium, flavonoids and polyphenols with marked antioxidant activity.

Lead investigators Demosthenes Panagiotakos, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition — Dietetics, Harokopio University, and Kostas Priftis, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece, conclude, "since the prevalence of asthma is quite high in industrialized populations, and has continued to increase during the past years, future interventions and public health messages should be focused on changing these behaviors from the early stages of life, by informing parents, guardians, teachers and any other person that could teach children a healthier lifestyle."

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Elsevier Health Sciences, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Journal References:

1. Keith Allan, Graham Devereux. Diet and asthma: Nutritional implications from prevention to treatment. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2011; 111 (2)
2. Fotini Arvaniti, Kostas N. Priftis, Anastasios Papadimitriou, Panagiotis Yiallouros, Maria Kapsokefalou, Michael B. Anthracopoulos, Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos. Salty-snack eating, television or video-game viewing, and asthma symptoms among 10- to 12-year- old children: The PANACEA study. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2011; 111 (2)

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Difficulty in urination.

Symptoms: urinary frequency, hesitancy when urinating and lack of erection. Causes who really knows what starts any cancer off

The cause of prostate cancer is unknown, but hormonal, genetic, environmental, and dietary factors are thought to play roles. the following risk factors have been linked with development of this condition:

Age: there is a strong correlation between increasing age and developing prostate cancer. the incidence of prostate cancer increases steadily from fewer than 1 in 100,000 for men aged 40 years to 1146 per 100,000 in men aged 85 years. the median age at diagnosis of prostate cancer is 70.5 years. more than 80% of prostate cancers are diagnosed in men older than 65 years. Autopsy records indicate that 70% of men older than 90 years have at least one region of cancer in their prostate.

Race: African American men are 1.5-2 times more likely than white men to develop prostate cancer. African American men also appear to develop prostate cancer at an earlier age.

Genetic factors: Men who have a history of prostate cancer in their family, especially if it was a first-degree relative such as a father or brother, are at an increased risk. This risk may be 2-3 times greater than the risk for men without a family history of the disease.

Diet: A diet high in fat has been associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.

Chemical agents: Exposure to chemicals such as cadmium has been implicated in the development of prostate cancer.
There is no proven link between frequency of sexual activity and prostate cancer risk

Most men with prostate cancer have no symptoms. This is particularly true of early prostate cancer.

Most prostate cancers are discovered incidentally when a digital rectal exam is performed.

A digital rectal exam is part of a thorough regular health examination. Digital refers to finger.

During the digital rectal exam, the examiner inserts a gloved and lubricated finger in the rectum to feel the prostate for abnormalities.
Symptoms usually appear when the tumor causes some degree of urinary blockage at the bladder neck or the urethra.

The usual symptoms include difficulty in starting and stopping the urinary stream, increase in frequency of urination, and pain while urinating.

The urinary stream may be diminished (urinary retention), or it may simply dribble out.

Even after urination, there is a sense of bladder fullness because the bladder has not been fully emptied.
Less common symptoms are blood in the urine (hematuria), painful ejaculation, or impotence (inability to have an erection).

These 3 symptoms are uncommon in early stages of the disease. they usually occur when the cancer is advanced.

As the cancer advances to cause a greater blockage, bladder function may deteriorate further.

Men with such advanced cancers sometimes experience recurring urinary tract infections.
Despite these symptoms, many men do not seek medical care until the cancer has spread. Symptoms of metastatic disease include fatigue, malaise, and weight loss. Spread to the bones causes deep bone pain, especially in the hips and back, and bone fractures from weakening of the bone.

my uncle was diagnosis at 28 with p cancer he was extermely overweight

my father in law had prostate cancer 6 years ago, he had difficulty passing water, and alot of griping pains around his bladder region, he had radiotherapy and is still okay today, it is one of the most treatable cancers, sometimes if left too long it can go into your bones the cancer but i have to STIPULATE, this is not common and it never happened to my father in law, he was just told this at christies.

The cause is old age, the symptom is you fail a PSA blood test.

some times its only found through a blood test called Psa and you can have symtoms like not passing water properly or bladder pain my brother found out about his while seeing his uroligist over a bladder pain after him having kidney stones .hope this helps you.