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Fish Oil May Treat Lung Disease
Diet Rich in Omega-3 Fats May Help Treat Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
Dec. 12, 2005 -- New research from Japan shows that eating foods like salmon, herring, walnuts, and flaxseed oil could help treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Those foods contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are scarce in the typical American diet. Omega-3 fatty acids have also been studied for conditions including heart diseaseheart disease, Alzheimer's disease, and depression.
Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are examples of COPD. Smoking is a significant cause of the disease.
Japanese doctors put omega-3 fatty acids to the test. They led a two-year study of COPD patients.
They found diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids helped curb COPD. The study appears in Chest.
No. 5 Cause of Death
COPD is the world's No. 5 cause of death, and cases are predicted to rise in coming years, write the researchers.
They included Wataru Matsuyama, MD, PhD. Matsuyama works in the respiratory medicine division of Japan's Kagoshima University Hospital.
Matsuyama's study included 64 COPD patients who hadn't smoked for at least six months.
They also hadn't had a bad flare-up of COPD in at least a month. None was taking antibiotics or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Dishing Up Omega-3s
The patients were split into two groups. One group was assigned to eat a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids. The other group got fewer omega-3 fatty acids.
Patients promised not to take omega-3 supplements (such as fish oil or flaxseed oil capsules) on their own. They also wrote down everything they ate for four days per month during the study.
The patients' progress was tracked in two different ways. Their levels of inflammatory chemicals were tracked. They also took six-minute walking tests.
The farther COPD patients can walk in that test, the better their chances of survival tend to be, the researchers note.
Less Inflammation With Omega-3s
People in the omega-3 group had two advantages. They had a significant drop in lung inflammation. They also walked farthest in the six-minute walking test.
Side effects seen with two or three patients on each diet included diarrhea and nausea. Those problems were mild and controllable, write Matsuyama and colleagues.
The researchers suggest that diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids may be a "safe and practical method for treating COPD."
Since their study was small, they call for bigger, longer studies to check their results.
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SOURCES: Matsuyama, W. Chest, December 2005; vol 128: pp 3817-3827. News release, American College of Chest Physicians.
Long working hours taking toll on Delhiites’ health, says MAMC study
Teena Thacker
New Delhi, June 23: Long working hours and appalling working conditions are taking a toll on Delhiites’ health, says a study by the Maulana Azad Medical College’s (MAMC) occupational health centre.
According to the study, while 30 per cent of the working population have back pain, 15-20 per cent suffer from skin diseases and 40-50 per cent have silicosis (lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust) and Tuberculosis.
Citing the year-long study, Dr TK Joshi, director, occupation and environment programme, said, “The overall health of the workers in Delhi is poorer than the general public.”
“This is opposite to what happens in other countries, where working people are always found to be healthier than the general population.”
The study,which was conducted across 60 industries, says that Delhi’s Lal Kuan has more number of people with silicosis and Tuberculosis.
The study further says that 30 per cent of the working population, including manual labourers and nursing staff, have back aches.
Women working in fabricating industries in Vishwas Nagar have abdominal problems, adds the study.
MAMC is now planning to set up a laboratory which would help assess the occupational effect on the health of people and aid in research work.
The institute has also roped in professor Arthur L Frank from the Philadelphia School of Public Health to deliver lectures.
“The laboratory will help experts identify the exact diagnosis. It would help understand the relationship between illness and the environment. The laboratory will give this medical college a place to see people with certain tools and equipments to analyse their problems,” said Prof Arthur.
Senators decry delays on atomic claims
Workers at Ohio's Cold War nuclear plants have trouble receiving benefits for occupational illnesses.
By Jessica Wehrman and Tom Beyerlein
Staff Writers
June 02, 2007 - WASHINGTON — Sen. George Voinovich and at least two other U.S. senators plan to send a letter Monday to the secretaries of Labor and Health and Human Services expressing concern about budget shortfalls in a compensation program for atomic workers who got cancer from on-the-job exposures to radiation. "This news is extremely troubling to us," the letter reads.
Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said they are worried that the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program for workers with radiation-related cancer, beryllium disease or silicosis has been underfunded for fiscal 2007. The shortfalls have resulted in fewer claims processed, the letter says.
Workers who qualify for the program may receive a lump-sum payment of $150,000 and medical benefits for the covered illness. Many first must undergo a "dose reconstruction" to determine if the illness is work related, but the senators said the funding shortfall is already slowing that process.
According to the Labor Department, the federal government has given out more than $2.6 billion in compensation to atomic workers since 2001. Of more than 104,000 cases filed nationwide by 62,093 individuals, about 21 percent have received money or medical benefits. About $250 million has been paid to workers in Ohio, home of the Mound Plant, the Feed Materials Production Center at Fernald and the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon.
"In establishing the ... program, Congress intended our Cold War heroes and their families to be compensated as quickly as possible," the letter says. "Delays resulting from insufficient programmatic funding are unacceptable."
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