A round-up of other health news in brief
Washing hands key to fighting infection
IF PEOPLE were able to see what bowel bugs looked like on their hands, nobody would ever neglect to wash their hands after using the toilet, consultant microbiologist at Beaumont Hospital, Dr Fidelma Fitzpatrick, has said. “Hand hygiene is one of the most basic, simple ways in which we can all protect ourselves and our families against infection” she said. Next Saturday, May 5th, is WHO’s global hand hygiene day.
Plan to build database of inherited eye conditions
AN INITIATIVE is seeking to build a national register of about 3,000 people in Ireland who have inherited eye conditions. Target 3000: An Eye on the Future is being launched today by the charity Fighting Blindness and will involve genetic analysis to pinpoint genes causing the conditions.
“The ultimate aim is to identify the disease-causing genes in patients with an inherited retinal degeneration,” said Dr Paul Kenna, senior clinical research fellow at the Ocular Genetics Unit at Trinity College Dublin and director of the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital Research Foundation. “Most people who are affected by an inherited retinal degeneration will almost certainly have been to a consultant ophthalmologist and will probably have a fairly good idea of the diagnosis . . . but most of them wouldn’t know what gene is causing their condition.” People who participate will be asked to give a blood sample for genetic analysis, which can give a more complete diagnosis, explained Dr Kenna.
Knowing the genetic basis of a person’s inherited retinal degeneration could also help to identify whether they might benefit from treatments that may be available in the future.
“The treatments are probably going to be largely gene based, so having a knowledge of what gene is causing an individual’s retinal degeneration will be basic from that point of view – and they will be in a position to say yes or no, whether they want to get involved in any possible treatment that might become available.” For further information, email research@fightingblindness.ie or call 01 7093050.
Beetroot has potential to break down bad fats
COULD BURGERS be made healthier with the addition of beetroot? That’s the question being asked by scientists in Aberdeen who are investigating if adding a vegetable extract to processed food could protect the body from absorbing the “bad” fats in the processed product.
Prof Garry Duthie from the University of Aberdeen said eating fatty foods caused oxidation in the stomach, whereby fats were transformed into potentially toxic compounds and absorbed into the body.
“These compounds are linked to cancer and heart disease,” he said. “ We are looking to identify if adding a vegetable extract to processed food can actually protect the body from absorbing the bad fats which exist in these types of products.”
Prof Duthie said beetroot contained antioxidant compounds, which should stop this oxidation of fat in the gut.
Nutritional experts at the university trialled a number of different vegetable extracts in burgers and have now devised their own turkey and beetroot burger. They are asking healthy men to take part in burger-eating trials to test their findings. Volunteers will be asked to eat turkey burgers with and without beetroot, and will be monitored to see which compounds their bodies absorb when they eat the different burgers.
“Beetroot may also have the added health benefit of lowering blood pressure,” Prof Duthie added.
Burger enthusiasts in Australia and New Zealand may be ahead of the scientists on this one. As many Irish emigrants will testify, serving beetroot on burgers is commonplace Down Under.
