Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : The Bathroom -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Vendit™ who wrote (291)	12/26/2000 3:52:14 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 430

That should keep your regular through the new year!

To: Vendit™ who wrote (291)	12/27/2000 2:42:31 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 430

Wednesday December 27 10:09 AM ET Constipation Is Not the Root of All Evil After All dailynews.yahoo.com NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who gauge their health by their bowel movements may be using a long-outdated yardstick. Over the last few centuries, reports of the ill-effects of constipation have been greatly exaggerated, according to a report in the December 23/30 issue of the British Medical Journal. Although today's medical experts do not consider constipation the root of all evil, as doctors once did, many people still cling to the idea that a daily bowel movement is vital to good health. According to Dr. James Wharton of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, constipation's bad reputation has been tough to eliminate from Western society. While some people suffer chronic constipation that requires diet and lifestyle changes, far more often the condition is occasional. And while it may be unpleasant, constipation does not trigger a build-up of toxins in the body, Wharton writes. But until about the middle of the 20th century, many doctors and the public believed that a daily bowel movement was vital to clearing the body of disease-causing ``foulness.'' Consumers were bombarded by claims of laxatives, enema equipment, rectal dilators and abdominal support belts that promised a good 'cleaning out.' By the 19th century, Wharton explains, there was even medical consensus that constipation was the ``foremost disease of civilisation, a universal affliction in industrialized societies that engendered the full range of more serious human ailments.'' It was known as ``autointoxication''--poisoning oneself by failing to relieve oneself. While modern science has certainly toned down this constipation hysteria, it has also put much faith in the idea that the high-fiber diets that battle constipation may prevent colon cancer as well. Recent studies, however, have suggested fiber may engender no such benefit, Wharton notes. Despite this history of overreaction to constipation, certain age-old recommendations for treating the condition are still good ideas: eating more fiber-rich fruits, vegetables and whole grains; regular exercise; and answering when nature calls for a bowel movement. However, according to Wharton, people have historically felt these measures ``require more self discipline and sacrifice than they cared to exercise.'' SOURCE: British Medical Journal 2000;321:1586-1589.