Carethics

You must have heard from various sources, be it your doctor, relatives or the media, linking high cholesterol levels to heart diseases. It is definitely a topic of concern as you may have high cholesterol for years before you develop the symptoms to any of the following conditions: hardening of the arteries, heart disease, peripheral vascular disease and stroke.

There may be umpteen number of questions you have regarding cholesterol.

• How does BMI affect my risk for high cholesterol?

• What precautions can I take to avoid the dangers related to high cholesterol?

• What are the symptoms related to high cholesterol? …. and so on.

Get all your queries concerning cholesterol answered. Right Now!

• Out of 175 countries ranked by W.H.O, India ranks 5^th from the bottom, i.e. ranks 171, in terms of public health spending as a proportion of the GDP
• India spends only 0.9 % of the GDP on public health
• In contrast China spends 6% of its GDP on public health

‘Publicness’ Of Health – A very interesting article highlighting the prevailing health conditions and trends in India

So what if you have passed the 50th year of your life? ‘It doesn’t matter, I’m still as charming.’ So you may think. But are you really that young at heart?

Did you know that your heart goes through some natural changes as you age?

As you grow:

1.Your heart may become smaller

2.The number of heart muscles start decreasing, degenerating and your heart becomes weaker, pumping lesser blood

3.The heart valves may start thickening , restricting the blood flow, causing chest pain and shortness of breadth

4.Your arteries may start thickening, thus increasing your blood pressure

So before you think you are still ‘young at heart’, just give it a check.

However, regular physical activity and exercises, in consultation with your doctor and the power of positive thinking are sure to keep your heart healthy!

Some more Staying Young tips

Recently, I came across India being termed as the ‘World Diabetes Capital’. With India having the highest number of diabetic patients, it calls for a clear pro activeness on our part. It is also said that diabetes often goes undiagnosed as the symptoms are not always severe. Thus it would be only wise that one gets a regular check up for diabetes.

What more, you can take the preliminary diabetes risk test right now, provided by the American Diabetes Association. Just click on the link below.

Diabetes Risk Test

“Probiotics, organic foods, super foods” – a plethora of healthy eating options at your super market or just another marketing propaganda? The video below shows how Prof. Regan unfolds the truth behind these marketing claims. On your next trip, you can make more informed choices on the products you should add from the super market shelves into your shopping cart and which have a worthy place in your kitchen. A must watch.

Online video has been booming for a while, not just Youtube but also the entire ecosystem has benefited with companies both upstream and downstream getting funded (tools, video hosting platforms, video ad networks and so on). In the healthcare business too, video seems to be making a quiet entry. HealthiNation, hosts a whole bunch of TV style videos complete with anchors and doctors etc on a range of topics. Can this work out in India? Would it be a better idea to do a range of doctors and contributors (more UGC style) than a studio type shoot for something like this? Now, I’m thinking that as doctors and smaller clinics/hospitals begin to establish their web presence, would it make sense for them to take some of their experts and shoot FAQs and host them on their websites? Given the sporadic distribution of qualified doctors and medical institutions in large parts of the country this has a potential to be dubbed in regional languages, released on mainstream television and also made available on patients’ mobile phones. Video clearly has emerged as a BIG application on the internet. We think that it also has the ability to do what we think is MOST IMPORTANT in the Indian healthcare scenario – amplify the reach of quality medical opinion and demystify medicine along the way.

Saurabh Gupta

Check out : Video Site HealthiNation Raises $7.5 Million Second Round, Strikes Syndication Deals

Hello people, we’re back. This year our focus will be on covering the coming together of technology, internet and amplifying effect it can have on the healthcare scenario!

As the first article of the year, we’d like to point your attention to a different kind of social network Rareshare. India does not yet have enough forums and support groups for chronic diseases and things only get tougher if it’s a rare ailment. I think Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par was instrumental in drawing attention to autism but did it actually lead to parents and teachers connecting? In India, I imagine this to be an excellent feature for a full-service healthcare site or maybe a hospital’s website but perhaps not a stand alone service. What about privacy issues? Do you think people would submit experiences / private information in India? Nevertheless, this deserves to be the first service to be covered by us in 2009.

Rareshare: A Community For People With Rare Medical Problems

Rareshare, a community site for people with rare medical conditions, has shared some of it most recent growth data with us and the results are impressive. Since launching over the summer, the site has grown each month by between 35%-50%, and now has over 700 communities associated with different disorders. Given the nature of the site, the numbers are bittersweet, but it’s nice to know that so many people are finding others they can connect with. Visitors to the site are invited to contribute information and their personal experiences regarding each condition, and are also able to make contact with other users that are facing the same issues. Most communities offer a description of the condition, along with links to relevant websites that contain more specific information, and there’s a forum where the users can collectively give each other advice.

Rareshare says that it has been collaborating with the National Institutes of Health and the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders, which are helping it gain traction in an incredibly crowded space (most other medical sites are focused on more common afflictions). It’s usually good to see healthy competition, but this is one case where consolidation would benefit the users – hopefully Rareshare (or something like it) can establish itself as the de facto web portal for rare diseases. That said, we should also note that communities focused on some rare diseases have already formed either at standalone sites or on larger health networks, so any readers looking to find a community focused on a particular disease would do well to do some searching beyond Rareshare.

Are scan-makers scamsters?? We have been dealing with the question for ages now. Or at least we can say the time GE and other manufacturers made it necessary for all the healthcare providers to have the equipment. Here the whole deal is about doctors, labs and hospitals…..

Some facts first: CT came into being in 1970s when Beatle boys gave away the profit of their album, Fab Four, to fund the research for first CT scan machine. X rays were being used prior to that.

Now, Scan is the mantra…if you want to diagnose for a disease, CT scan is the first thing the doctors will ask you to do. But the question always remains, do we need so many of them? Especially when US is moving ahead of it and reporting that there are indications that radiations from CT scan could lead to cancer in later stages.

There is another counter point, 50% of the sudden deaths in the country are considered to be due to undiagnosed diseases. Doctors believe it could help patients with hypertension, diabetes, or any heart diseases. India is considered to be heart disease patients capital of the world with almost 2 million deaths per year and the numbers are only increasing.

Experts even say that patients also should not undergo more than one scan a year. What do you say?

2 days and 2 reports, questioning our most natural habit – regularly pop medicines or pills without doctor’s approval. Day before yesterday, it was a shocking case of medicine going haywire (IIT professor in coma since 1 ½ years after having a single tablet of known pain killer, brufen reports Mumbai Mirror) and now FDA has asked American people to stop giving cold and cough syrups (being sold OTC) to children younger than 2 years (Business Week). Well, the whole mechanism started last year when few pharma companies pulled its cough syrups out of the market, and now FDA has issued warnings to prevent parents giving cough medicines to adolescents under 2 years of age.

Pediatricians who criticize the use of cold and cough medicine say the ingredients in the medicine make children hyperactive, irritable and sometimes side-effects could be fatal. Doctors even say only medicines to be made available OTC should be vitamin capsules and rest should not be given without prescription.

Well, these incidence do put up a question….what all medicines should be available over the counter?

But what about our regular habit of popping pills for headache…for stomach ache….for cold….pain killers…sleeping pills…and likewise n number of other reasons.