Odds and Ends

Morbidity In the USA and similar nations, the average life expectancy is greater than age 75, but the years of life spent with a chronic disease have also risen. Some people have heart disease for 30 years, being diagnosed when they are in their 40s.  The better goal would be to extend healthy life expectancy.  This is a concept called compressed morbidity.  It can be great to live till the age of 90 - especially if we could compress the disease or morbidity into the last ten years of that life.

Shiritaki Recalling 2 past posts or maybe 4 - calcium is a short fall mineral according to the DGA.  We need it.  Dairy products are not the only source of calcium and may not be the best source.  When using the DV or daily value numbers on a food label, we consider 5% to be a low amount and 20% to be high.  In this way, we know that the calcium number we are aiming for is 20%.  If a food has 20% of calcium it is considered a good source of it. WELL, my shiritaki noodles - made of tofu -  have only 20 calories per serving, compared to 100+ for a serving of pasta, and they contain 10% of my daily calcium needs!  More actually because I do not have a 2000 calorie diet.  That is very cool and unexpected. 

Cervical Cancer The men responsible for the vaginal smear - scraping cells from the cervix and viewing them under a microscope for abnormality- Dr George Papanicolaou and Dr Herbert Traut- are credited for reducing cervical cancer death by 80% in the USA.  The HPV vaccine may help us stop spreading the virus that causes cell abnormalities, but the Pap smear detects the cancer and saves lives.  It appears we need both.

CAGR  Ah those pharmaceutical companies and the financial analysts who track them - you can learn so much!  I read another recommendation regarding a diabetes drug recently and it was noted that because of the world wide rise in cases of this disease (thank you obesity epidemic) the CAGR is expected to be over 7%.  In other words, companies that have diabetes drugs are good stocks to hold.  The CAGR stands for compound annual growth rate.  Not sure what that means?  Click here.