Looking for a partner?

Get your blood tested to see whether you have small red cells

by Dr. Rasnayaka M. Mudiyanse, Consultant paediatrician, Base Hospital Mawanella, [email protected]

Size of red blood cells in our blood can be measured by a special equipment call haematological analyzer. Volume of normal red cell (Mean Corpuscular Volume = MCV) vary from 80 - 110 flampto litres. When this value is less than 80 fl, we call it macrocytosis (small red cells).

Testing blood to see whether you have small red sells is more important than matching horoscope or reading palms. If you have normal size red cells go ahead and find a partner. It is ok even if she/he may not have tested blood.

If you have small red cells you may be having iron deficiency. Nearly 20% of us have Iron deficiency which can cause lethargy and lack of energy leading to poor efficiency. In females when marry, they will have low birth weight babies.

Therefore they need treatment with iron. Go to the doctor he will prescribe iron in correct dose. This treatment should be taken for 3 months to correct it. Recheck your blood once again after three months of treatment.

If your red cells have come back to normal, go ahead and find your partner and marry any body even who has not tested his or her blood.

If your red cells are still small a second possibility should be considered. That is whether you are a thalassaemia trait. Don't get alarm, you don't have thalassaemia. Even your children will not have thalassaemia if you marry somebody with normal size red cells.

Therefore go ahead with the marriage if your proposed partner is having normal size red cells. At the same time consult a hospital doctor. He will recommend another blood test which is done in Teaching Hospital, Ragama to confirm whether you are a thalassaemia trait. However this is not essential as long as your partner is having normal size red cells.

If the special test done in Ragama confirm that you have thalassaemia trait and if you marry somebody similar to you having thalassaemia trait there is a high (25%) chance of your children getting thalassaemia.

What is thalassaemia?

Thalassaemia is an inherited disease leading to breakdown of red cells prematurely causing anaemia. If not treated they will die prematurely.

Regular monthly blood transfusion along with a daily injection that is given to remove excess iron that accumulates in the body can prolong their lives. This is a life long illness. Therefore prevention is the best answer for this problem. Understanding of the cause of the disease is important to prevent thalassaemia.

Babies inherit genes that will cause thalassaemia from their parents. They get thalassaemia only if both parents give them thalassaemia genes.

If they inherit thalassaemia genes only from one parent they will not have thalassaemia. Those inherit one thalassaemia gene from one of the parent is call a thalassaemia trait.

They have no problem with their life. But they will have to marry somebody who does not carry thalassaemia genes.

This can be checked by testing blood before selecting a partner. If you are a thalassaemia trait you should understand that marrying another person with thalassaemia trait will leave you with a high risk of having a baby with thalassaemia. You can avoid this by making a wise decision; marry somebody with normal size red cells.

Those with normal size red cells are extremely unlikely to have thalassaemia genes in them.

In conclusion to avoid having a baby with thalassaemia with almost 100% assurance only one of the partners should have normal size red cells.

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Grilled chicken consumption a cause of cancer

by D. P. Atukorale

Many of us Sri Lankans don't realize that grilled foods, especially, chicken, beef, pork and hamburger, contain very high concentrations of carcinogens (cancer causing compounds) called heterocyclic amines or HCAS.

Which foods contain the highest concentrations of these carcinogens? According to nutritionists working for cancer project in USA, the level of H.C.A.S. found in commonly grilled foods is quite high.

According to a report titled 'The five worst foods to grill', grilled chicken wrongly considered by some Sri Lankans, actually contains the highest concentrations of carcinogen H.C.A.S. Other meat products including grilled beef, pork, salmon and hamburger also contain alarmingly high HCA levels.

Health authorities in USA are increasingly concerned about the role of HCAS in America's high cancer rates. In January 2005, the Federal Government added HCAS to its official list of carcinogens.

Researchers have known for decades that meat consumption increases cancer risk; In 2003, the journal of the National Cancer Institute reported that the rate of breast cancer among premenopausal women who ate the least animal fat.

Carcinogens form as meat is grilled

While animal fat itself increases the cancer risk, it is also clear that the HCAS found in grilled meats are a critical factor. As known mutagen H.C.A.S. can bind directly to D.N.A., cause mutations and promote cancer initiation.

H.C.A.S. are formed during cooking from creatine, amino-acids and sugars found in chicken and other muscle tissues. Grilling is particularly dangerous because the high heat and long cooking times promote the formation of carcinogens.

The longer and hotter the meat is cooked, the more these carcinogenic compounds such as H.C.A.S. form.

Grilled meat especially chicken also produces other mutagens including polycyclic hydrocarbons which are widely believed to play a significant role in human cancers.

Grilled vegetables and fruits have no HCAS or negligible amounts even when cooked over the hottest flames. These plant based foods are also low in fat and full of fibre when plant foods are packed with subtle and delicious flavours especially when they are hot off the grill.

Reference: Jenifer Reilly R. D., Good Medicine, 2005, volume XIV, No. 4, Page 9.

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Sugar-cane extract may favourably alter lipid level

NEW YORK (Reuters) The results of a new study provide more evidence that rice policosanol - a mixture of alcohols extracted from sugar-cane wax - has favourable effects on serum lipids.

In an 8-week study of 70 patients with very high cholesterol levels, 10 milligrams of rice policosanol daily significantly reduced total cholesterol concentrations in plasma and increased apolipoprotein A1 - a protein portion of `good' HDL cholesterol that carries cholesterol in the blood. Dr. Zeljko Reiner from University Hospital Center Zagreb in Croatia and two associates describe their study in the journal Clinical Drug Investigation.

The combination of high total cholesterol and `bad' LDL cholesterol and low `good' HDL cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease, they note in the paper. Large studies have clearly shown that lowering elevated total and LDL cholesterol through diet, exercise, and cholesterol-lowering drug therapy is beneficial.

However, concerns regarding side effects of chemically derived cholesterol-lowering drugs have fueled interest in naturally derived agents, such as rice policosanol. This compound has been shown to lower total and LDL cholesterol in animal models, healthy volunteers, and in those with very high cholesterol levels.

The current findings from Reiner and colleagues support rice policosanol's favourable effects on serum lipids.

Compared with placebo, policosanol for 8 weeks significantly lowered plasma total cholesterol from 7.37 to 6.99 mmol/L and increased Apo A1 from 1.49 to 1.58 mmol/L, Reiner and colleagues report.

In this brief study, however, the researchers could not prove a significant reduction in triglycerides or LDL cholesterol or increase in HDL cholesterol with policosanol, as has been shown in other studies.

It may be that the dose of policosanol used (10 milligrams daily) was too low and the duration of the study was too short, the authors offer.

There were no side effects from policosanol therapy.

Reiner and colleagues conclude that further study of rice policosanol as a potentially natural cholesterol-lowering aid is warranted.

Source: Clinical Drug Investigation, November 2005.