Food allergies are the best-known negative reaction to food proteins. In classic food allergies, a protein in certain foods (eg. peanuts, shellfish or egg whites) interacts with an antibody, IgE. Once that reaction occurs, our immune system goes into high gear releasing histamine. Histamine causes an immediate response, and can trigger everything from a scratchy […]
Prostate Cancer Screening
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a protein that is produced by the prostate of adult men. A simple blood test is able to measure the small amounts of PSA that circulates through a man’s body. The level of PSA measure in the blood, loosely correlates with the size of the prostate. Bigger prostates produce more PSA, […]
HPV: Genital Warts and Cancer Risk
HPV, the Human Papilloma Virus, was first identified in the late 70s. Over the last 40 years, HPV has been identified as the cause of the most common sexually transmitted disease, genital warts. Current estimates suggest that 1 in 5 people carry an active HPV infection, and that every person is exposed to HPV at […]
Estrogen and Breast Cancer Risk
The American Cancer Society has a detailed description of factors that are known to increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer. Many of them relate to estrogen: Being a woman Beginning menses before age 12 Going through menopause after age 55 Using oral contraceptives Using hormone replacement therapy Being overweight There are additional factors that […]
The Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen
Every year the Environmental Working Group releases their list of the 12 fruits and vegetables that contain the highest level of pesticides. Even though it isn’t awesome to eat pesticides, the benefit from eating fresh fruits or vegetables definitely outweighs the risk associated with pesticide exposure. That being said, it isn’t awesome to eat pesticides. […]
Why Radiation is an Issue and How You can Protect Yourself.
So What exactly is Radiation? First of all, we need to understand that there are many forms of radiation, the term is meant to be an all-encompassing word and what is exactly meant by it can differ. In the case of Nuclear Reactors, such as what is occurring in Japan, the radiation that we are […]
How Western Diets Are Making The World Sick
In an article in the Masionneuve Journal, Physician Kevin Patterson describes his experiences working as an internist at the Canadian Combat Surgical Hospital in Afghanistan. It is fascinating to hear him discuss the significant differences that he noted on medical imaging and in treating the Afghan soldiers in comparison to what he was used to […]
