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Show Clean bill for peanut butter Copley News Service Q. I am 68 and in excellent excel-lent health. I eat well, exercise ex-ercise regularly and try to avoid harmful food. However, I just read that peanut butter has been linked with cancer. Although Al-though I eat a lot of peanut butter, I have lost several family members to cancer and would be willing to give up peanut butter if necessary. Have you ever heard of this connection? H.R., Edmonds, W'ash. A. There is no evidence whatsoever that peanut butter is "linked" to cancer, can-cer, in man or in animals. You have probably heard of the contamination of peanuts and other protein pro-tein foods kept under humid conditions by a mold, Aspergillus flavus, that elaborates an active cancer-producing chemical, chemi-cal, Aflatoxin. Peanut products are rigorously checked for such contamination. contami-nation. Don't give up peanut butter, but-ter, if you can afford it! Dr. Michael Shimkin, professor pro-fessor of community medicine, medi-cine, at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Q. I have been diagnosed as having hypoglycemia and my doctor has me on a diet of six small meals a day. After each meal, I find I get very cold, especially my hands and feet. I also occasionally have dizzy spells which end if I drink a glass of orange juice. I feel weak after each spell. Can you explain these symptoms? DA., Col-linsville, Col-linsville, 111. ., . . A. The symptoms you describe de-scribe could represent hypoglycemia hy-poglycemia occurring after meals. This is called reactive or alimentary hypoglycemia. hy-poglycemia. It is due to a sudd' decrease in the blood sugar level after you . eat. This decrease is set off by a sudden surge of sugar into the blood from the digestive di-gestive tract just after eating, eat-ing, which stimulates excessive ex-cessive insulin secretion by the pancreas. The insulin causes blood sugar to fall rapidly. If it falls fast enough and low enough, you may have symptoms of hypoglycemia. Symptoms of hypogly-'Ti.'a hypogly-'Ti.'a include weakness, si.akiness, sweating, and rapid heart beat. One may feel cold and clammy. The symptoms are relieved re-lieved in a few minutes by orange juice, candy or other foods containing sugar. There are usually no after-effects once the sugar level is restored to normal. Your doctor was correct in advising six small meals a day. This helps to avoid the wide swings in blood sugar that may be causing your symptoms. In addition to the size and frequency of meals, the kinds of food eaten are important in preventing reactive hypoglycemia. You should avoid foods contaning refined or simple sim-ple sugars and emphasize foods rich in protein and fiber or "roughage." These include cheese, nuts, meat, vegetables (raw and cooked) and whole-grain foods. Eating foods like these helps to smooth out the "peaks and valleys" in your blood sugar level. It must be remembered that your symptoms may be due to causes other than hypoglycemia. If they continue con-tinue to occur, you should see your physician again. Dr, Richard Gross, assistant as-sistant clinical professor at the University of California, Califor-nia, San Diego School of Medicine. |
