QUESTION: I have a daughter, 13, who is what I would call a "sugar junkie." In addition to her regular meals and desserts, she snacks on raw sugar. She drinks sugar drinks and eats lots of Jell-O. I find sugar cubes under her pillow after she gets up in the morning. Is this just a bad habit or an imbalance? She is on the skinny side and exerts a moderate amount of activity for her age. - F.H.
ANSWER: I know of no particular illness for which sugar craving is a specific sign. Diabetics, for example, don't crave sugar, if that is your concern. Nor will eating sugar cause that. Sometimes a craving for a specific food, like starch, and I guess, sugar too, can indicate an anemia - red blood cell deficiency.But to be honest, something doesn't add up here, F.H. It's strange that with all those calories she is staying so thin. That in itself may be a sign that all is not well with your daughter. I would certainly have her examined.
Sugar definitely sets the stage for tooth decay, and sugar has no vitamins, minerals, or other essential nutrients. So she's filling her food quota (and more) with empty calories. Her nutrition has to suffer. If her examination turns out OK, then I would still pressure her to control the sugar habit. Your concern about imbalance is not far off the mark. If she continues this way, she certainly will knock her nutritional balance out of whack.
QUESTION: I was found to have cancer of the prostate when the gland was removed. I was told that it was only necessary to follow my health with PSA tests. What's that? How specific is it? - F.A.E.
ANSWER: "Specific" is part of the name of the PSA test - the prostate specific antigen test. The antigen occurs only in cells of the prostate. It is not a test to detect cancer, because PSA blood levels rise even when there is non-cancerous prostate gland enlargement. It is helpful in following the progress of people like yourself. If PSA blood levels rise you check to see if the cancer is growing again.
QUESTION: Will scarlet fever or rheumatic fever stop a man from fathering children? What of other illnesses? - R.H.
ANSWER: Neither scarlet fever nor rheumatic fever leads to sterility. Many other illnesses might, and I'm thinking of things like testicular cancer. TB can cause testicle infection and lead to sterility. Testicle radiation exposure can also be a cause.
Certain viral infections might be a cause, but that is rare. Mumps springs immediately to many people's minds. However, even adult mumps seldom causes inability to father a child. Testicular infection may accompany one in five cases of adult mumps along with the usual salivary gland swelling. But in 80 percent of those cases, only one testicle is affected, and even with both affected, infertility from it is exceedingly rare. A sperm count usually settles the matter.
QUESTION: We hear so many different versions of the breast cancer-birth control story. Please tell us the truth. - M.I.
ANSWER: We can only go by what studies tell us. In 1976, more than 100,000 women between 30 and 50 with no history of breast cancer were selected to be part of a study. They were restudied 10 years later. Pill users were found to be at no greater statistical risk for getting breast cancer than women in general, pill users or not.
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