Should women have different medicines?

BELLA: health
When it comes to health, women are very different to men, from the way our immune system works to how diseases develop. ANASTASIA STEPHENS reports …click here to read

Just how safe is coffee?
BELLA: health
Coffee can double the risk of miscarriage. So is coffee safe to drink? ANASTASIA STEPHENS weighs up the evidence to help you decide .. click here to read

Should women have different medicines?

BELLA: health

When it comes to health, women are very different to men, from the way our immune system works to how diseases develop. ANASTASIA STEPHENS reports …

Researchers have just discovered that aspirin is better at protecting women from stroke, and men from heart attack. Our pain thresholds also change – as women who’ve been for a leg-wax before their period know all-too-well. ‘I tried once and it had me in tears; it was like torture – halfway through, I had to leave,’ says Nayelli Romo-Navarro, 32-year-old mum from Canterbury.

But a week later, when she went back to finish the treatment, she felt nothing near the previous levels of pain. ‘Now, I’ve learned my lesson,’ says Nayelli. ‘I’d never dream of going for anything painful like waxing, an injection or a dental appointment at that time of month!’

So just how does women’s health differ to men’s and what can be done about it?

IMMUNITY
Men come down with colds and flu 30pc more than women. We, on the other hand, are more likely to develop autoimmune diseases where immune cells begin to attack the body’s own tissues. Women are three-times as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis, nine-times as likely to have lupus, a disease that attacks connective tissue, and twice as likely to have multiple sclerosis.

ACTION PLAN: Autoimmune diseases tend to strike after long periods of stress. During chronic stress, take 3g vitamin C daily to keep immunity strong. Make sure you relax for an hour daily with reading, yoga or telly.

PAIN
Oestrogen dramatically increases pain sensitivity. Just before a period - when oestrogen levels peak - pain thresholds take a dive. Oestrogen may make women more susceptible to headaches. In some women, migraines are triggered by high oestrogen levels at ovulation.

ACTION PLAN: Work round your hormones – go to the dentist or for leg waxing just after your period, not before. If you do suffer pain, one US study found that opioid-based drugs such as morphine or codeine work better for women than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Neurofen.

DEPRESSION
Depression is more common in women – this may be because women produce 48pc less of the depression-preventing substance serotonin in their brains than men.

ACTION PLAN: Exercise increases your serotonin supply, so an hour of jogging, yoga or aerobics each day goes a long way to lift and stabilise mood.

LUNG CANCER
Women smokers are twice as likely to develop lung cancer, and when they do, its a more dispersed form of cancer than lung cancers in men. These tend to develop into centrally located tumours which tend to be more difficult to treat. Whether you’re a woman or a man the outlook for lung cancer is low, with only a 5pc long-term survival rate.

ACTION PLAN: If you can’t give up (the best way of preventing lung cancer), take daily supplements containing vitamin A, C and E. These combat the toxic effect of smoking in the body. Vitamin A helps protect the delicate mucus membranes of the lung from chemicals in cigarette smoke.

SURGERY
If you need an op, plan it according to your monthly cycle. According to recent research, high oestrogen levels slows the time it takes for blood to clot and may weaken immunity.

ACTION PLAN: Plan surgery for the week after your period, when oestrogen levels are low – pain sensitivity will be less, your blood may clot faster and your immunity is likely to be slightly stronger.

Just how safe is coffee?

BELLA: Health

New research conducted in Denmark, shows that coffee can double the risk of miscarriage. So is coffee safe to drink? ANASTASIA STEPHENS weighs up the evidence to help you decide ..

With people drinking an average of three cups a day, coffee is now the world's most popular drink, after water. And decaf coffee isn’t in the clear either – the US National Institutes of Health found it can increase the risk of heart disease, by raising levels of harmful cholesterol. So should we be drinking coffee or not?

THE PROS …

DIABETES: Coffee could protect you from diabetes, according to Dutch researchers. In a study of more than 17000 people, they found that drinking at least 5 filter coffees a day makes it 50pc less likely you’ll develop the condition.

HEADACHES: Surprisingly - given that it can be a migraine trigger - the caffeine in coffee can also help cure headaches. It is one of the ingredients in some headache pills because it increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers by as much as 40 per cent. However headaches can also be caused by drinking less coffee – this is due to withdrawal from caffeine, theobromine and theophylline, substances in coffee that are addictive.

SLEEP: According to the Sleep Research Lab at Loughborough University, a good way to ease sleepiness while driving long distances is to pull over at a service station and have a cup of filter or instant coffee, followed by a 10 to 15 minute nap. By the time you wake up, refreshed, the caffeine will have reached your brain.

CANCER: Coffee contains antioxidants that protect your gut from cancer. A review in the American Journal of Epidemiology looked at 17 studies and found that four or more filter or cafetiere coffees a day cut the overall risk of colorectal cancer by 24pc.

THE CONS …

THE HEART: Drinking four cups of filter coffee every day could increase the risk of coronary heart disease by about 15%. The Norwegian study found that those who stopped drinking coffee for six weeks had lower levels of cholesterol than those who drank four or more cups.

THE ARTERIES: The first cup of coffee of the day may wake you up but it could also damage your arteries. Dr Charalambos Vlachopoulos, of Henry Dunant Hospital, Athens, found that just one cup of instant, filter of espresso coffee could stiffen arteries for two to three hours, driving up blood pressure. This backs up a study in Hawaii that found the risk of stroke was more than doubled in those who drank just three cups of filter coffee a day.

MENTAL PERFORMANCE: It’s an illusion that coffee makes you think better. A study in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that students who drank at least five fresh or instant coffees a day had the greatest rate of stress-related problems and lower academic performance.

FERTILITY: Caffeine has been associated with low fertility. One study maintained that three or more cups of fresh coffee a day was enough to reduce the chances of conceiving. But researchers at Sao Paulo University in Brazil discovered that men who regularly drank coffee (fresh or instant) had stronger sperm than men who did not. It is thought that caffeine has a stimulating effect on sperm, just as it does on the central nervous system.

MISCARRIAGE: Danish research shows that drinking eight or more cups of fresh or instant coffee a day while pregnant may double the risk of losing the baby. Another study found that just two or more cups of fresh coffee could lead to spontaneous abortion in one in every 23 pregnant women. For safety, pregnant women should probably avoid the drink altogether ..

BIRTH WEIGHT: For every 46 pregnant women who consume more than two cups of fresh coffee, one will have a baby weighing less than 2500 grams who would not have had they not consumed this much caffeine.

INSTANT VS FRESH COFFEE

Fresh forms of coffee contain the highest levels of caffeine – cafetiere coffee contains around 100mg per cup; filter coffee around 150mg and espresso around 80mg per cup. This compares to only 65mg caffeine for instant coffee. Bear in mind that caffeine raises adrenaline levels and blood pressure and blocks the absorption of nutrients such as iron and calcium.

All forms of coffee contain similar amounts of theobromine and theophylline, substances which like caffeine, are addictive. One benefit of instant coffee – aside from lower caffeine - is that it doesn’t contain fatty substances, cafestol and kahweol, which may increase the risk of stroke and heart disease. Cafetiere coffee contains the highest concentration of these molecules, followed by espresso. Only low levels of these compounds are found in filter coffee.

DECAF: ANY BETTER? Decaffeinated coffee contains just 1mg to 2mg of caffeine per cup. Drinking this means you’ll absorb more nutrients and blood pressure won’t be affected. But decaf still contains other substances associated with health risks such as cafestol and kahweol. This is why its no surprise that US researchers found that 6 cups of decaf coffee could raise levels of bad ‘LDL’ cholesterol – and the risk of heart disease.

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Nutritionist Patrick Holford, founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition advises keeping coffee to a minimum – even cutting it out completely. ‘Coffee gives you false energy – it causes an adrenaline surge, but you slump later on,’ he says. He advises cutting out coffee slowly, over about two weeks. If you do drink coffee, have just one cup a day.

Herbal coffee substitutes that contain no caffeine but have a similar taste, can help. These include: Bambu Organic Instant Coffee Substitute by Bioforce 200g £5.60, 0845 608 5858 contains chicory, figs, cereals and acorns.

Other options include Cotswold Dandelion Coffee, 100g £1.89 www.goodnessdirect.co.uk 01453 843 694 Teeccino, containing a blend of coffee-like herbal extracts, £6 for 250g from www.maureenschoice.co.uk, 01323 485 971






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