Slides: Cancer

Sharing with you all a slide presentation of mine. It was meant to be used in educational talks to those with high risk for cancer and/or colorectal cancer. This is just a part of a lecture series. You may be seeing the rest of the slides as time goes by.

Malaysian Dietary Guidelines

Yes, there is such thing after all and according to the guidelines:

* you should enjoy a variety of foods.
Different foods provide different combinations of energy (calories) and nutrients (like carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and fibre). Eating a variety of foods is the best way to meet your energy and nutrient requirements in order to grow, develop, move, work, play, think and learn.


* you have to maintain a healthy body weight by balancing food intake with regular physical activity.
Maintaining healthy body weight helps you prevent health problems and gives you a better body image. On the other hand, being too thin or too fat increases the risk of health problems


* you are advised to eat more rice and other cereal products, legumes, fruit and vegetables.
These foods are emphasised because they provide complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, fibre and other components that are important for good health.


* you should minimise fat in food preparation and choose foods that are low in fat and cholesterol.
Dietary fat is important to your health because it supplies energy, a variety of fatty acids (particularly those known as essential fatty acids or EFA), as well as fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Dietary fat also makes food more palatable.


* you can only use a small amount of salt and choose foods low in salt.
Sodium is vital for your body to function properly. However, only a very small amount of sodium is needed. Excessive sodium intake is associated with the incidence of high blood pressure.


* you have to reduce sugar intake and choose foods low in sugar.
Sugar is a useful and popular food item. However, other than simple carbohydrate (which provides energy), sugar is devoid of other nutrients. The World Health Organisation recommends that not more than 10% of energy should come from sugar.


* you have to drink plenty of water daily.
Water is essential for your body’s functions including digestion, nutrient absorption and transportation, excretion of waste products, regulation of body temperature and lubrication of
moving parts.


* you (read women) are advised to practise and promote breast-feeding.
Breastmilk provides all the nutrients that your baby needs for growth and development, including brain development. It also protects your baby from infection. Breastfed babies have less diarrhoea and infections, compared with bottle-fed babies. Breastfeeding is also beneficial to mother and promotes bonding with baby.



You may download the English version HERE.

Do you need multivit?

No, you don't.

Unless you belong to the 'high-risk' group as listed below:

• elderly people
• vegans/vegetarians
• alcohol-dependent individuals
• patients with malabsorption of certain micronutrients.

If you do not belong to any of the group above, I would say you are wasting your money on the over advertised multivitamins. Consumption of individual micronutrients also should be treated with caution as you may find mega doses of a specific micronutrients which is not only unnecessary for your body, but may also cause other health problems. For example,excessive doses of vitamin A during early pregnancy and fat-soluble vitamins taken anytime may result in adverse outcomes.

It is proven that certain inadequacy of certain micronutrients may increase the risk for some medical conditions - suboptimal folic acid levels, along with suboptimal levels of vitamins B6 and B12, are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, neural tube defects, and colon and breast cancer; low levels of vitamin D contribute to osteopenia and fractures; and low levels of the antioxidant vitamins (vitamins A, E, and C) may increase risk for several chronic diseases. However this should not be an excuse for us to indulge in one particular micronutrient unless advised by a nutritionist/dietician.

Food remains the best source of micronutrients. Remember, they are called MICRONUTRIENTS for a reason!

The Recommended Nutrient Intake for Malaysians gives you an idea on the limitation of intakes of various macro and micronutrients.


Further read:
Vitamins for Chronic Disease Prevention in Adults

Star fruit and kidney

I had tough time explaining to others how a man could slip into coma after consuming ordinary star fruit.

Tang Gon Seang, who has been suffering a kidney ailment was in Shenzhen visiting his son when he passed out on March 29 after eating star fruits and was rushed to the Shenzhen General Hospital where he fell into a coma.

While star fruit sellers will never going to agree with the nephrologist who advised against consumption of star fruit (only if you are a patient with kidney failure), it is a proven fact that star fruit contains neurotoxin that could harm your central nervous system. In normal people, the neurotoxin will be 'processed' by the kidneys and passed into the urine but in those kidney patients will not be able to do this.

Published in 2003, Neto et al. demonstrated the intoxification caused by star fruit in uraemic patients (patients with a toxic condition resulting from kidney disease in which there is retention in the bloodstream of waste products normally excreted in the urine).

The most common symptoms were persistent and intractable hiccups in 30 patients (93.75%), vomiting in 22 (68.7%), variable degrees of disturbed consciousness (mental confusion, psychomotor agitation) in 21 (65.6%), decreased muscle power, limb numbness, paresis, insomnia and paresthesias in 13 (40.6%) and seizures in seven (21.8%). Patients who were promptly treated with haemodialysis, including those with severe intoxication, recovered without sequelae. Patients with severe intoxication who were not treated or treated with peritoneal dialysis did not survive.

You may read the full research paper HERE.

Biological clock

Was surfing for something when I landed on a page on Chronobiology. Interesting stuff.

(Please click on it for larger view)

Biological clock affects the daily rhythm of many physiological processes. This diagram depicts the circadian patterns typical of someone who rises early in morning, eats lunch around noon, and sleeps at night (10 p.m.). Although circadian rhythms tend to be synchronized with cycles of light and dark, other factors - such as ambient temperature, meal times, stress and exercise - can influence the timing as well.