Link Between Alcohol and Cancer

by | Oct 24, 2024 | Health, Life, Science

Link Between Alcohol and Cancer

New studies were recently published which revealed a very strong link between alcohol consumption and several types of cancers. However, before I discuss those medical studies, allow me to relay several personal experiences and observations from my earlier years.

I vividly remember a Sunday morning when I was 12 years old, in the schoolyard playing basketball with the guys.  There was a 19-year-old guy named Jimmy, who always played with us. However, on this Sunday morning, Jimmy was sitting on the bench looking like a very depressed, sick young man. By the way, when you’re 12 years old, a 19-year-old guy seems so old.

I asked the guys why Jimmy wasn’t playing basketball with us and what was wrong with him. They told me he went out drinking Saturday night and he has a hangover. I asked, what is a hangover? They said you’re looking at it.

I then asked, if drinking leaves you with a nasty hangover, why do people go out drinking? There was no answer, but that brings me to another experience when I was around 18 or 19 years of age. This was during the Disco era and I started going to parties on weekends, where we would dance to disco music, LOL, and have tons of fun.

At almost every dance party, I would often see 2 or 3 guys who were drunk and slobbering all over themselves. I noticed the girls were doing everything they could to avoid those drunks. Once again, if that’s what happens when you drink, I repeatedly asked myself why they were doing that to themselves. I also realized, I was having so much fun on the dance floor, without touching a single glass of alcohol, obviously, I didn’t need it. Why would I ever be dumb enough to start drinking?

In our culture, alcohol is closely related to an array of different celebrations. When you watch TV shows, when a guy meets a woman, he almost always asks her if she wants to go out for a drink? Really? I’ve never done that because I never once tried any form of alcohol, and never missed it.

As we already know, DWI is one of the leading causes of death in America. We also know that drunkenness is often related to various types of violent incidents and/or crimes, especially violence by men towards women.

When I was younger, I read many research articles on health and fitness and several of them had very strong warnings about the negative effects of alcohol on your body and your brain. I realize I’m probably only one in a million who followed that advice, but I wish more people would put their health before drinking.

I want to point out, there was a famous French study which came out in the seventies.  That study came to the conclusion that a glass of wine, once a day was actually good for the health of your heart. Unfortunately, that became a golden rule for many people who thought one or two drinks of wine was actually good for you.

Guess what? Several years ago, scientists decided to revisit that famous study where they learned the study had a serious flaw which was overlooked 50 years ago. They no longer claim that one or two glasses of wine every evening is good for you.  Drinking certain types of alcohol is beneficial for your heart? The new scientific rule, that is a myth.

OK, we can finally discuss the recent medical studies on the relationship between alcohol and cancer.

NIH tells us that alcohol increases the risk for cancers, includi8ng:

  • Oral Cancer
  • Pharynx and Larynx Cancers
  • Colorectal Cancer
  • Liver Cancer
  • Breast Cancer
  • Esophageal Cancer
  • Stomach Cancer

Why does drinking alcohol increase your cancer risk?

There are many reasons why alcohol can increase your cancer risk. These include:

Acetaldehyde: Alcoholic beverages contain ethanol. When the body breaks down ethanol, it becomes acetaldehyde, which is a dangerous carcinogen. “This compound damages DNA and stops our cells from repairing the damage. This matters, because this process allows cancerous cells to grow.

Hormonal effects: Alcohol can affect the levels of hormones like estrogen. The hormones act as messengers that tell our cells to grow and divide. “The more cells divide, the more chances there are for something to go wrong and for cancer to develop.

Reduced nutrient absorption: Alcohol makes it harder for the body to absorb and use nutrients that protect it from cancer. These include vitamins A, B1, B6, C, D, E, K, and folate, iron and selenium. “These are just a few vitamins and minerals that are responsible for immunity, protecting cells from oxidative damage, reducing inflammation and aiding in DNA synthesis and repair.

Why would anyone want to ingest something into their body which damages their immune system?

Weight gain: Consuming more calories than your body burns leads to weight gain. Alcohol can contribute to weight gain from excess calorie intake. Excess weight is linked to over 12 types of cancers.

It increases the risk of tobacco-related cancers: If you drink and smoke, you are probably at an even higher risk for certain cancers including oral and throat cancer. Alcohol may make cells more sensitive to other substances that cause cancer. “The combination of drinking and smoking increases the risk of developing mouth or throat cancer far more than drinking or smoking alone.

What is the best thing to drink if I’m going to have alcohol?

When it comes to managing your cancer risk, there is no alcoholic drink which is better than the others. All of them, including beer, wine and whiskey contain ethanol, which, as described above, is linked to increased cancer risk. Therefore, do not believe the myth that drinking beer or wine is somehow safer than drinking more powerful forms of liquor.

Will it Help if I Stop Drinking?

Research has shown that when you stop drinking, the risk for alcohol-related cancers declines over time,

BLOOD PRESSURE TESTING

by | Oct 21, 2024 | Health, Science

BLOOD PRESSURE TESTING and YOUR HEART

After my annual physical last week, I was stunned to learn, for the first time in my life, my blood pressure scores were in the very high range. My doctor tested the BP three times, and each test revealed a score much higher than I normally have. Wow! This rocked my world and I still don’t know why the scores were so high.

Since my physical, I’ve done research on blood pressure testing, and among other important lessons, I learned what we knew all along, BP testing is extremely important. High blood pressure can promote stress on your arteries and eventually lead to heart failure. High BP can reduce the elasticity of your arteries, which results in less blood flow going to your heart.

It can also make your heart pump harder, which isn’t exactly a positive. When the heart is forced to pump harder, you will probably develop a thickened and enlarged left ventricle, which significantly increases the risk of a heart attack

Knowing your blood pressure score can help you make adjustments, if necessary, in your lifestyle. Those lifestyle changes can help lower a dangerously high score without taking drugs, I’m talking about exercise, eliminating smoking, and/or reducing alcohol consumption, changing your diet, reducing salt intake, and getting adequate sleep.

Before I tell you what I’ve learned about the BP testing procedure, let me start by explaining what I do every time I check my BP.

  • I sit down, immediately put on the cuff, and start my first test.
  • Starting just last week, the first test score is usually very high and scary, such as 149/88. Thankfully, at least my pulse is usually in the normal range, because I work out every day.
  • My second test score is usually also in the high range, but not as high as the first one. Is this the start of a downward trend?
  • By the time I get to my third and fourth BP test, my BP score drops down into the normal range for my age group.
  • Note: That would not be normal for a 25-year-old, but is considered normal for seniors.

BLOOD PRESSURE TESTING RESEARCH

I went to several medical sites and tried to gather information which all, or at least most of them, agree on. Each site has slightly different recommendations, but here are several guidelines that are very consistent.

  • Buy a BP test kit which has a cuff which goes around your upper arm. They are more accurate than the ones which go around your wrist.
  • The medical sites recommend the best time to check your BP and the times of day you should avoid testing. For example, if you just exercised, wait at least 30-40 minutes. BP is usually higher in the morning, so they recommend waiting until later in the day. Don‘t check your BP immediately after consuming caffeinated beverages or after smoking.
  • Unlike me, don’t sit down and immediately take your blood pressure. They all agree it’s important to relax, make yourself comfortable, sit up straight, and wait 4-5 minutes before taking the test. I realize I should follow that recommendation, but I have no patience, so I never conduct the tests following the recommended protocol.
  • Never rely on just one BP test. All of the sites generally recommend checking your blood pressure at least 3, or possibly 4 times.
  • Never rely on the score from your first test. That’s why you should take multiple tests. In general, they tell you to take the average score of 3 or 4 BP tests.
  • Unfortunately, in the past couple of weeks, my initial test score was usually very high, such as 149/88 or 144/87. That scared me big time! However, on the second test, my score usually drops somewhat. By the time I get to the third test, my score usually drops back into the normal range for my age group. Is this the start of a pattern?
  • That is one reason why I should wait several minutes before taking my first test. But I’ve always suffered from a complete lack of patience. Unfortunately, even though I should, I almost always fail to follow  the proper protocol. As a result, that winds up causing unnecessary stress in my life when I see those incredibly  high BP scores on my initial one or two tests.
  • Here’s the big lesson I’ve learned from the above. What I suspected about my BP scoring pattern is true. If you do in fact have high blood pressure, it will remain consistent. In other words, even on the secondi, third, and fourth test, your BP score will remain high. Thankfully, that isn’t the case for me.
  • Therefore, if  your first test score is very high, but subsequent test scores drop down into the normal range, they said you can ignore the first test score in your average. Wheeeewww ………. Learning about this important aspect of BP testing made me feel much better.

I highly recommend you purchase a quality Blood Pressure test kit and regularly check/monitor your blood pressure.

THE UNIVERSE: MIND BOGGLING NUMBERS

by | Jun 6, 2024 | Science

THE UNIVERSE: MIND BOGGLING NUMBERS

Thanks to the amazing James Webb Space Telescope, we continue to learn new and majestic lessons about the Universe. Believe me, it never ends.

My son sent me an online article yesterday about the latest discovery by the James Webb Telescope and the dedicated team of scientists who use it to study the universe. It was an article about one of the earliest galaxies formed after the big bang. That new discovery ignited this article.

When I was ten years old, our 5TH grade teacher, Mrs. Seligson, took us on a trip to the incredible Hayden Planetarium. That school trip changed my life.

I always loved to read and learn, but after that trip, I was almost in a state of shock. At the age of 10, I thought the planet earth and the stars I saw in the sky were it. But thanks to Mrs. Seligson, and the fabulous Hayden Planetarium, for the rest of my life, I would never cease to be amazed by the staggering numbers our brilliant scientists have computed over the years.

On that trip to the Hayden Planetarium, I learned the earth is just a small part of something called the Solar System. We have a star called the Sun, and 9 planets. Then I learned, our solar system is located in a much larger environment called the UNIVERSE.  Wow! What is the Universe?

I’m a long way from being a ten-year-old elementary school student, but I’ll never forget the impact of seeing a model of the solar system and the universe at the Hayden Planetarium. What I’ve learned about the Universe since that elementary school trip has never ceased to amaze me. Thanks to the James Webb Telescope, we’ve learned some incredible lessons, which go way beyond what I learned during that school trip.

We can talk about the size of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Universe, but humans cannot possibly grasp the enormity of the dimensions we now have reference where we live, and how our tiny planet fits into the entire scheme of reality.

The planet Earth, and our solar system, are part of the Milky Way Galaxy. I am going to present a series of numbers that are fascinating. Humans can comprehend the first few sets of numbers, while the big ones, which I’ll present later, are literally impossible to grasp.

  • NASA rocket ships travel close to 25,000 mph.
  • It takes between 7-8 months, traveling in a rocket ship @ 25,000 mph, to travel from earth to the planet Mars. The time frame depends on where we are in our respective orbits around the sun.
  • It took the Voyager II Rocketship about 12 years to arrive at the planet Neptune. That’s right, the solar system is so big, it took a rocket ship, traveling almost 25,000 mph, about 12 years to reach the planet Neptune.

Now we’re going to move onto a series of numbers that are incomprehensible to humans. They continue to amaze and stun me each time I examine them or learn about new ones.

  • Just in our Milky Way galaxy alone, it is estimated there are approximately 100 thousand million stars [suns].
  • There are between 100 and 200 BILLION PLANETS in the Milky Way. That is billion, not millions. We know for sure, there must be plenty of human life somewhere else in our galaxy.
  • How big is the Milky Way? It is approximately 100,000 Light Years across.
  • What is a light year? Light travels at the speed of 186,000 miles per second. A light year is the distance light travels in one earth calendar year. Remember, that is 186,000 miles per second, not per hour.
  • How long would it take to travel in a rocket ship from one end of the Milky Way to the opposite end? It would take about 1.9 Billion Years.

Hopefully, that will give you some understanding of how incredibly large our Milky Way Galaxy is. With at least some understanding of how gigantic our galaxy is, the following numbers go beyond mind boggling. Human beings cannot possibly put them in any frame of reference, which they can understand.

  • As mentioned above several times, the size of the Milky Way galaxy alone, is mind boggling, A big as that number is, we know there are probably between 200 and one trillion other galaxies in the Universe.

Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, we now know the Milky Way, despite its enormous size, makes up just tiny portion of the Universe. As I’ve repeatedly stated, there is no way we can comprehend the size of a universe which contains between 200 and One Trillion massive galaxies.

People Refuse to Think

by | Jul 26, 2021 | Life, Religion and God, Science

I spend a fair amount of time wondering how people could possibly be so dumb, that they often act counter to their own best interests or believe things which are totally absurd and defy logic. In addition, huge numbers of people believe anything which jives with their view of the world, even if there’s no foundation for that belief. Facts, documentation, evidence, and/or the truth will not change their opinions.

Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, mastered the technique of weaving lies around a small element of truth. Goebbels understood that if you repeat a lie enough times, instead of doing independent research, many people will believe it. That is so true in America today, especially on FOX.
Here are some absurd conspiracy theories and/or anti-science statements which are believed by millions who live in our country.

  • Almost 20% of Americans believe the sun rotates around the earth
  • The moon landing never happened, it was filmed in a Hollywood studio.
  • 911 was a plot constructed by the U.S. government for whatever reason.
  • The 20 children and 6 teachers murdered at Sandy Hook never happened. It is a story made up by liberals who want to take away your guns.
  • The 17 students and staff members killed @ Parkland High School never happened. It was made up by liberals who want to take away your guns.
  • The planet earth was repeatedly visited by aliens, but our government is keeping it a secret.
  • Over 2 million Americans believe the earth is flat.
  • Over 51% of Americans believe there is something up in the sky which they call god.
  • Over 40% of Americans believe god created the planet earth.
  • Millions of Americans believe in an afterlife located in heaven or hell. Of course they cannot tell us where to find either one.

I could probably write a lengthy book on ignorance, but here are what I believe is an array of stunning examples, illustrating sheer stupidity.

Crime Related:

  • Divorce: A man and woman were in the process of getting divorced, so they were negotiating a buyout settlement on the part of the husband, who was allegedly worth around $500 million. He eventually made a final offer to his soon to be ex-wife, whereby he agreed to give her $25 MILLION. You guessed it. Instead of suffering while trying to live on a meager budget of only $25 million, she hired a friend to murder her husband. Both the wife and her friend are in prison for the remainder of their lives. They no longer have to worry about trying to somehow make it in life on a tiny, $25 million budget.
  • A woman who married a fireman in Ohio, hired someone to kill her husband because she wanted his pension all to herself. She didn’t know the husband never updated the pension benefits documents, so upon his death, 100% of his death benefits would go to his first wife. It really doesn’t matter because the woman who hired the hitman, is in prison for the rest of her life.
  • Divorce: In rural Georgia, in the heart of the Bible Belt, a couple was on the verge of getting a divorce. However, the church, which dominated life in their small town, frowned upon divorce. Therefore, the wife, who didn’t want to be humiliated in their local church, elected to murder her husband. You know where she is now.
  • Life Insurance Policies: Very often, when someone murders their spouse, they purchased a significant life insurance policy before the murder. It’s hard to believe, but those morons think the homicide detectives will never notice the purchase of a million dollar life insurance policy just prior to the crime.
  • In Michigan, three family members were arrested and charged with murder after they killed a security guard who told them they must wear a face mask in the store.
  • In Georgia, a man killed a cashier who told him he had to wear a face mask in the store.
  • In both examples above, the killers face the possibility of spending the rest of their lives in prison because of how they reacted to nothing more than a store health & safety rule. You are going to spend the remainder of your life in prison just because an employee asked you to wear a mask. You could have easily walked out of the store.
  • Fired: How many times have you seen a tragic case on the news where somebody was fired and returned to the job site where he killed many, or all his co-workers? Getting fired is clearly a traumatic experience, but I don’t believe murdering your co-workers will help improve the situation.

GOD:

  • In the 21st Century, almost 8 billion people live on our planet. Millions of Americans believe in a Supreme Being they call god. Incredibly, they believe there’s a god who somehow simultaneously monitors every human being on the planet. Really? There’s a god monitoring almost 8 billion people simultaneously? Yes, people actually believe that supreme being is listening to them while they’re praying.
  • How are you communicating with this so called god? How can this so called god monitor 8 billion people at the same time? Why can’t people realize this totally defies logic?
  • As for praying to their god, people also incredibly believe you have to participate in a bizarre ritual in order to communicate with god. That includes bowing your head, getting on your knees, and/or putting your hands together. Why can’t people realize how absurd that is?
  • Athletes thank god after they score a touchdown or hit a home run. With all the things going on in the world, they believe something called god is watching their game, rooting for them, and controlling the game in their favor? I would be LOL if this wasn’t such a serious issue.
  • Of course, believers cannot tell you where god lives or anything else about their supreme being. We do know that after 60 years of astronauts and satellites circulating the earth non-stop, nobody ever came across god. Maybe he’s hiding in the home of the devil?
  • In America, every day of the week, someone’s daughter or sister is kidnapped by a psychopath. After that happens, what do most of them do? That’s right, they have a prayer vigil where they pray to God for her safe return. Where was their God when she was kidnapped and subsequently assaulted and mutilated by the psychopath?
  • Jews: During the holocaust, over 6 million Jews were slaughtered by Hitler and the Nazis. Jewish people still believe in their god, who did absolutely nothing to stop the despicable killing of millions.
  • Catholics: After thousands of children were sexually assaulted by priests, their followers still refuse to walk away from the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church. Where was their god when thousands of children were and still are sexually assaulted by people who are allegedly representing the God they worship?
  • Mormons: One of their prophets lives in prison because he was convicted of sexual assault on children. Warren Jeffs is the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous denomination. In 2011, he was convicted of two felony counts of sexual assault on children, for which he is currently serving a life sentence, plus twenty years. In 2006, Jeffs was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List for his flight from the charges that he had arranged illegal marriages between his adult male followers and underage girls in Utah. Incredibly, Jeffs is a man of god, who still controls large numbers of believers. What are they thinking?
  • Americans who believe in a god, give him (notice the word him) credit for everything good which happens on the planet, but never hold god accountable for anything negative. They always have a convenient scapegoat ready, such as the devil or man. I thought god had more power than the devil and/or men.

COVID-19: Until recently, whenever we had a national crisis, Americans always united to fight as one. That changed with Trump and his cult members. Although there are pockets of vaccine resistance in all groups, it is a dominating issue in Trump World. A large number of his cult members turned the battle against the pandemic into a political fight.  Many of Trump’s cult members:

  • Refused to participate in the basic safety protocol of wearing masks. This is an effective protocol where there is almost universal agreement among scientists.
  • A large percentage of Trump supporters are anti-science and refuse to get the vaccine. They are so dumb they believe vaccine conspiracy theories such as
  • the federal government is using the vaccine to plant a microchip
  • then the federal government will take away your bible and guns
  • the vaccine will make you magnetic
  • the vaccine will turn you into a homosexual
  • they don’t believe Trump’s endorsement of the vaccine was real

For most of the pandemic, 2 of the 3 leading states with Covid-19 [per one hundred thousand residents] were North and South Dakota. There have been numerous reports from those states, plus states like Alabama and Arkansas, where covid-19 victims claimed their doctor was lying when he/she gave them the diagnosis. They called it FAKE NEWS or said their problem was caused by something else, but the doctors want to blame Covid-19. When people refuse to believe the diagnosis of their doctors, we are in big trouble.

Trump’s Republican Party: Please note, I’m distinguishing between real Republicans versus those who are cult members, totally dedicated to Comrade Trump, Vladimir’s number one flunky.

  • As of July 2021, the majority of Republicans believe Trump won the election. They believe this despite the fact that zero evidence has been produced.
  • In addition, Trump’s attorney, Sydney Powell, said in a court of law, that election fraud allegations are a big LIE.
  • Even though Trump supporters believe Democrats are fumbling, bumbling, incompetent buffoons, they still believe the Dems somehow became strikingly efficient on election day, and managed to steal and change millions of ballots from Trump to Biden in Republican controlled states and kept it a national secret.
  • Maybe the Dems accomplished that nifty trick using a special blue laser beam, emanating from an alien spaceship who prefer Democrats?
  • By the way, on those very same ballots, using the same election system, many Republicans running for office did extremely well.
  • If the Democrats were controlling the ballots, how did that happen?
  • I’m sure every Trump supporter, who assaulted the U.S. Capitol, believed he won the election.
  • Millions of Republicans are convinced the FBI orchestrated the attack on the Capitol and they used BLM and Antifa members, posing as Trump supporters. Can anyone really be this dumb?
  • Countless millions of Trump supporters believe he was exonerated by the Mueller Report. They completely ignore Robert Mueller’s own words when he said that never happened. Remember what Joseph Goebbels said about repeating a LIE enough times?
  • In December of 2016, a man from North Carolina, got into his pickup truck and drove approximately 4 hours to a DC pizza parlor. The guy believed Hillary was running a child pornography ring the in the basement of that pizza parlor. He brought an AR-15 and planned on rescuing the sexually abused children from the basement. He became irate when the employees told him there was no basement, and then fired an unknown number of shots. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and he went to prison for several years.
  • Believe me when I say there are millions of Americans who believe this kind of garbage. Another insane example is Democrats are pedophiles who eat their young.
  • A large number of Republicans believe the Democrats have a plan to take away their guns, when in fact, they can’t even pass a law requiring universal background checks.
  • Doing away with the second amendment would require an amendment passed by both the House and Senate with a two thirds majority vote. After that, it would have to be ratified by three fourths of the states. The odds of that happening are virtually zero!
  • But that doesn’t stop morons from believing the Democrats will implement a plan to take away their guns