Medical Journal Labels Alcohol a ‘Desexing Drink’
These excerpts from various medical journals may be of interest to senior citizens:
Sex and Alcohol
According to a report in Lancet, a British medical publication, alcohol is a “desexing drink.” It causes such things as loss of libido, reduced potency, menstrual problems, breast shrinkage, sexual difficulties, infertility and shrinkage of testes and penis. Besides alcohol’s impact on sex, the article points out than an intake equivalent to four pints of beer a day is related to illnesses associated with high blood pressure, strokes, liver disease and nervous system disorders. It recommends that only small amounts of alcohol be consumed over a period of several days. This should be interspersed with a day of not drinking anything containing alcohol.
Marathon Runners and Heart Attacks
From Running and Fit News, a publication of the American Running and Fitness Assn:
Do athletes who run marathons have more heart problems than non-marathoners? Today, there are an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 marathon runners.
Dr. Timothy Noakes of the University of Cape Town Medical School in South Africa studied 36 heart attack cases with sudden death among marathon runners. His findings: Death often was caused by factors other than running--71% of marathoners had previous warning signs of heart problems such as angina, nausea and discomfort; 64% had a history of heart disease in their immediate families; 33% had high blood pressure; and the most common health problem among the runners was a high blood cholesterol level.
Smoking and Nutrition
From UC Berkeley, Wellness Letter:
There are about as many former smokers in the United States today as current smokers.
Frozen tofu products contain calories but little or no cholesterol, milk, sugar or calcium, and the fat is mostly unsaturated.
Fig bars are high in sugar and calories but contain more fiber and fewer fat calories than most cookies.
Table salt and sodium are not the same. Table salt is 40% sodium by weight--the rest is chloride.
Weekend Athletes
From “American Fitness”:
There are 20 million Americans who exercise only on holidays, Saturdays and Sundays. As a result, doctors see three times as many sports injuries that occur among weekend athletes as among participants in organized sports. According to UC San Diego, injuries occur to those sports-minded persons because they do not take necessary precautions. He advised progressing slowly the first time out and doing warm-up exercises before and cool-down exercises after completing each workout.
