Health_Notes

From the scenario my identification of facts and inferences are Practice nurse has asked Samuel to increase his intake of dietary fibre, fruit and vegetable to the recommended daily minimum intake and to reduce his red meat intake to two portions a week. = This would suggest that Samuel has a crap/ erratic eating regime, which could be from workload as a headmaster, which has now doubled due the deputy head being sick . We don’t know if he has a prepared sandwich to take to school, even so does he have enough time to eat it. He may eat with fellow teachers in the canteen What seems evident is that however he is eating; he is not doing it well enough. By reducing his red meat consumption studies have suggested:- Red meat consumption the facts >Those who consumed the largest amount of meat over ten years had a 30 percent higher risk of colon cancer compared to subjects who reported eating the least amount of meat >Those who consumed the largest amount of PROCESSED meat had a 50 percent higher risk of colon cancer >Colorectal cancer risk from eating red or processed meat on a regular basis (three ounces per day) is lower than the risk associated with obesity and physical activity >Long-term consumption of poultry and fish was associated with a slightly lower risk of colorectal cancer . Literature and studies suggest that why red meat causes this is because:- * Recent studies show that red meat could pose an increase in cancer risk. Some studies have linked consumption of large amounts of red meat with colorectal cancer, Furthermore, there is evidence that consumption of beef, pork, lamb, and goat from domesticated animals is a cause of colorectal cancer. This attributes to the haemoglobin and myoglobin molecules which are found in red meat. these molecules, when ingested trigger a process called nitrosation in the gut which leads to the formation of carcinogen * Eating cooked red meat may increase the likelihood of cancer because carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines are created during the cooking process. Heterocyclic amines may not explain why red meat is more harmful than other meat, however, as these compounds are also found in poultry and fish, which have not been linked to an increased cancer risk.[ BBC NEWS, Red Meat Cancer Risk found, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4662934.stm Bowel cancer screening The bowel cancer screening program is the newest national screening program in the UK. It is in the process of being rolled out at the moment. Bowel cancer screening is used to spot bowel cancer earlier.  Bowel cancer screening uses a test called the faecal occult blood test (FOBT) to check for early signs of bowel cancer. The FOBT looks for hidden (or ‘occult’) traces of blood in your stools. The test can be done in the privacy of your own home and samples are sent to a lab for testing. Pilot studies and scientific research have told us that screening with the FOBT can reduce deaths from bowel cancer by about 15-20%. It’s estimated that by 2025, bowel screening could save more than 2,000 lives every year. If diagnosed at the earliest stage, over 9 out of 10 bowel cancer patients will survive their disease for more than 5 years. But if the tumour is very advanced when it’s diagnosed, fewer than one in twenty people survive this long. Who can be screened' The bowel screening program is being offered to both men and women. England:  * people aged 60-69 are invited for screening every 2 years. Wales  * people aged 60-69 are invited for screening every 2 years what I would like to suggest is that if Samuel is that it was six months ago when he visited his practice nurse , he may have had a change of bowel habits at that time but may have been embarrassed to talk to the nurse