Of Red Wine, 'Halal Pork' and The Way of Muhammad.....

Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2015 09:07:38 +0800
Subject: Re: Study shows a glass of red wine at dinner good for diabetics
From: hamzah@cempaka
To: drnikisahak@hotmail.com

This is a scientific finding. A glass, just one glass, of red wine is good for diabetics anf heart patients. Reduces their blood sugar, and LDL levels, and raises their HDL levels.
As a cardiologist, how would you advise your patients?

AFP-Relaxnews  :.

""Between too much and not enough, the right amount for type 2 diabetics is one glass of red wine, just one. — Reuters picNEGEV, Oct 14 — One glass of red wine at dinner was found to help sufferers of type 2 diabetes sleep better, improve their metabolism and increase levels of “good cholesterol” to protect against cardiovascular disease, according to an international study.
Between too much and not enough, the right amount is one glass of red wine, just one, if possible taken at dinner. That is the conclusion of an international study published in the 13 October edition of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
The researchers, most of who were from the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, studied type 2 diabetes patients controlled by drugs. The researchers said that these patients were chosen because they are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, have a lower level of “good” cholesterol and are also less inclined to drink a lot because of their condition.
Their aim, via this study, was to examine the impact, in safety and efficacy terms, of moderate intake of wine on health on this group of patients.
The team chose 224 people with type 2 diabetes who drank moderate levels of alcohol. During their evening meal, the volunteers had to drink the equivalent of 5 ounces (142 ml) of one of the following drinks: mineral water, dry white wine or dry red wine.
With a dietician’s guidance, the participants also followed a Mediterranean diet without calorific restriction for a two-year period.
Each participant had to fill in a questionnaire and undertook blood tests to identify various biological markers including glucose, lipids and markers associated with various liver functions.
Their findings indicate that the group of participants who chose to drink red wine had a greater amount of “good” cholesterol (HDL cholesterol), as well as better cholesterol ratio compared to the participants who drank water.
The researchers also noted that with the volunteers who drank wine, there was a significant reduction in the number of components of the metabolic syndrome (the presence of a combination of signs which increase the risk of acquiring diabetes, cardiac conditions and strokes, editor’s note).
The researchers found that drinking red or white wine was also associated with improved sleep.The researchers concluded that this long term study suggests that combining a healthy diet with moderate wine intake, especially red wine, helps to lower cardio-metabolic risks. "" — AFP-Relaxnews 

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tq dato,

I know you are being 'naughty' here, but I will answer you.

As what all good muslim doctors  would do.......I will look at the red wine advisory from a  more global perspective. This red wine study is certainly very good for the world red wine industry. It is great for them but this is not new This news is already 40 years old!. It keep surfacing as if it is new information. That is the nature of industries. The benefit conferred to risk reduction and protection is very minimal compared to the classical advice of :

DONT SMOKE, 
Keep your weight to your precollege days weigh IDEAL 
EXERCISE EXERCISE AND EXERCISE AND exercise.
Look after your cholestrol etc etc .
Control of hypertension if you have one
And above all , avoid and prevent the onset of diabetes

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Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2015 17:30:16 +0800
Subject: RE: Study shows a glass of red wine at dinner good for diabetics
From: hamzah@cempaka
To: drnikisahak@hotmail.com

Cuit, cuit, sahaja Doc!

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On 16 Oct 2015 8:10 am, "Nik Isahak Wan Abdullah" <drnikisahak@hotmail.com> wrote:

            I know
            This red wine thing has been there over 40 years already dato.

I think it act via anti oxidant and another pathway, but the benefit is very minimal compared to dieting, low cholesterol. exercise , control of hypertension and diabetes, no smoking et c etcetc.

In fact if one were to make an objective study on the effect of life of piety [ ie; zikrullah, solat etc etc ], on the lifespan of people already proven to have heart problem, the prolongation to life would be more significant.

But piety is not an easily quantifiable 'variable' and there is no 'industry driven' motivation to spend millions on such study.

But having said that, I always advice my non muslim patients who take alcohol to change their beer drinking habit to just a touch of 'red wine'.

For  Muslims, my accent is on walking that extra kilometre to their nearest surau for their isha and subuh prayer and 'NO CORNER BARING'.

[  http://drnikisahak.blogspot.my/2011/02/unto-him-is-journeying.html ]

A footnote and disclaimer though need to be inserted here.

Despite what we cardiologists do, that sword of Damocle is always on the head for guys already proven to have coronary disease.

Some degree of uncertainty is always there, therefore when you ask me about the miniscule effect of red wine, I consider it quite peripheral...

              Consider this hypothetical scenario :

One fine morning , when you go to your school for an important board meeting,  your chairman of the board fired you summarily for no apparent reason. That same  morning CIMB Damansara phoned in to say they are foreclosing your bungalows in TTDI, Damansara Height and your London  and San marino apartments, because your massive business loan has been withdrawned , due to your apparently lack of show of public support to 'Ringgit Malaysia' in her time of need. Coming home your dear wife of 50 over years asked for an instant divorce. My God ! ..and she has always been very loving.She wants to go on in life and lives on with your business partner! Your must have not been performing, one can presume!

Your BP suddenly shot up to 240/140 . That paper-thin vessel , the circle of Willis, that all important roundabout up in the center of your brain remained intact and does not burst. Lucky you!  But this sudden burst of high pressure was too much for your coronary tree. The undiagnosed , subclinical, unimportant, 20 % narrowing  plaque in your Left Main Stem coronary artery ruptured and become suddenly 100 % block. You had it even before you can say,'abradacabra...' Not even enough time to say the shahadah.

              The news in NST the next day emblazoned on page 2:
          'Former DG Tourism, vibrant entreprenuer, educator par    excellence of Cempaka, found dead on kitchen table at his palatial Damansara Height home...foul play excluded'

          A life of piety, a zikr  and solat laden life.
          This is not easily quantifiable by any study.
          But I put it to you that it is far better than your  glass
          of red wine daily! It can help 'modulate' and 'cushion out'
          all the rough edges and uncertainties related to living this 
          transient and superficial life of ours on this earth.
       
          It is better a 1000 times than your RED WINE!

Life from my perspective is pretty fragile.

It is human to plan, but GOD directs!

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Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2015 10:44:28 +0800
Subject: RE: Study shows a glass of red wine at dinner good for diabetics
From: hamzah@cempaka.edu.my
To: drnikisahak@hotmail.com

I agree with what you say doc, to which l add the benefits of clean, unpolluted air. A study was done on a small, remote village on the Tibetan side of the Himalayan range. A statistically significant percentage of the Buddhist village elders there live actively to well over 100 years, many over 110!

They were lean and wiry, and lived on a simple diet of yogourt, unleavened bread, tofu, vegetables, nuts, tea, and occasional meat. No sugar. Basic in calories quantum. But they a do a lot of walking and climbing in the open CLEAN AIR. The air quality was very good.

The researchers monitored their bloods and found the LDL and triglycerides low, HDL high, liver and kidney functions good.

The scientists attribibuted the longivity mainly to the walks in the great open spaces, very clean air, and a simple, low calorie diet, and absence of sugar.

I am sure you would have come across this study.

H.

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To: Nik Isahak Wan Abdullah, hamzah@cempaka.edu.my

yes i do dato.

i wrote a  3-article series on ' longevity 101 ' in  my 'mutiara dan zamrud' blog [ pearls & gem ] some 7 years back.

[      https://bay182.mail.live.com/?tid=cmnR5Oc1l05RG6dgAiZMFUZg2&fid=flinbox  ]

you are welcomed to read it.

we have to be, lean, hungry and moving, and lead spiritually simple life.

easier said than done now of course in our highly geared , high level-consumerist, the more the better, economy, that is expounded everywhere today.

in the 3rd article, 'longevity and the way of rasullallah', i posed the view that at 1450 years ago rasullallah's 6 decades and three was probably equivalent to a hundred now.

he had nine wives and never failed to visit all of them in the course of a day's work; ran the affairs of  the  state and fight many  wars in the name of defence of a fledgling nation state, surrounded in the north by a belligerent super-power, the roman empire, to the west,  the  indomitable persians, in the south,  the musrikuns of mekkah and worse off, peripherally on the edge of madinah by the jews of najran and internally within madinah, the al munafikuns.; sell things in the market place for his own and family sustanence right after subuh prayer up to zohor; eat little and stopped before reaching satiety; slept immediately after isha and and do qiam around 2 or 3 in the wee hours of the morning and had a light nap after zohor, etc and etc  and etc.

and no red wine of course!

red wine is a peripheral issue.

the porcine protein [ pork ] has the lowest antigenicity to human protein and in medicine, can be beneficial.

but halal is halal. haram is haram.

in 10 years if they come up with pork that live in lab and feed on corn, and rid of dangerous parasite, and some studies show it is excellent for universal consumption, you may pose to me another questionaire.....

haram is still haramdato, i would write.
halal is halal.
God in HIS infinite wisdom,KNOWS all and HE is just testing our faith.

HE throw in 'some spanners in the engine' and see whether we 'blink or not'

same with Riba , futures trading, etc, etc etc and etc.