When your belly feels bloated, uncomfortably tight and full, your doctor may refer to it as abdominal bloating.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine offers this list of common causes:
Swallowing air.
Being constipated.
Having too much gas in the bowels.
Having lactose intolerance or other food intolerance.
Eating too much.
Having irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Having a partial bowel obstruction.
Having too much bacteria in the bowels.
Having, in rare cases, a tumor.
Obesity causes more than 100,000 cases of cancer in the United States each year — and the number will likely rise as Americans get fatter, researchers said on Thursday.
Having too much body fat causes nearly half the cases of endometrial cancer — a type of cancer of the uterus — and a third of esophageal cancer cases, the American Institute for Cancer Research said.
Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease. The American Cancer Society projects that 1.47 million people will be diagnosed with cancer this year and 562,000 will die of it.
More than 26 percent of Americans are obese, defined as having a body mass index of 30 or higher. BMI is equal to weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A person 5 feet 5 inches tall becomes obese at 180 pounds (82 kg).
Additionally, nearly a third of Americans are overweight, defined as having a BMI of 25 to 30.
The study combined findings from AICR research linking diet, physical activity and fatness with cancer risk with national surveys on obesity and cancer incidence.
“We then worked out the percentage of those specific cancers that would be prevented if everyone in the United States maintained a healthy weight,” the group said in a statement.
Here are some of its estimates of cancer types that could be prevented annually if Americans stayed slender:
* Esophageal – 35 percent of cases or 5,800 people
* Pancreatic – 28 percent or 11,900
* Gallbladder – 21 percent or 2,000
* Colon – 9 percent or 13,200
* Breast – 17 percent or 33,000
* Endometrium – 49 percent or 20,700
* Kidney – 24 percent or 13,900
In July, federal and other researchers estimated that obesity-related diseases account for nearly 10 percent of all medical spending in the United States or an estimated $147 billion a year.
levated blood levels of phosphorus are associated with a higher risk of heart disease, U.S. researchers say.
They studied the link between phosphorus levels and coronary artery calcification (CAC) in nearly 900 healthy adults in the Spokane Heart Study, a long-term investigation of heart disease risk factors. CAC is an early sign of hardening of the arteries.
At the start of the study, 28 percent of participants had CAC. After six years of follow-up, another 33 percent had developed CAC, and the level of CAC increased among those who already had the condition.
The association between phosphorus levels and CAC was strong even after the researchers adjusted for other factors.
“Even small increases in the blood level of phosphorus predicted an increased risk of progressive CAC in these apparently healthy adults,” Dr. Katherine R. Tuttle, of the Providence Medical Research Center in Spokane, said in a news release.
The researchers also found that people with lower kidney function — even if not below the normal range — were more likely to have progressive CAC.
“Our results may help to explain why even early-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased cardiovascular risk that is not explained by traditional risk factors,” Tuttle said. “More research will be needed to see if treatments to lower phosphorus levels can reduce heart disease risk in people with early-stage CKD, or even those without CKD who have CAC.”
One percent of U.S. drivers — 1.9 million people — have had accidents or near-misses over the past year because they were driving while sleepy, a new survey finds.
Also, more than half of drivers surveyed admitted that they’ve driven over the last year while feeling drowsy, and 28 percent said they drive while sleepy at least once a month, according to the survey sponsored by the National Sleep Foundation.
“People underestimate how tired they are and think that they can stay awake by sheer force of will,” Thomas Balkin, chairman of the National Sleep Foundation, said in a news release about the 2009 Sleep in America poll. “This is a risky misconception. Would there be 1.9 million fatigue-related crashes or near misses if people were good at assessing their own ability to drive when fatigued?” he asked.
“The problem is that although we are pretty good at recognizing when we feel sleepy, we do not recognize the process of actually falling asleep as it is happening,” Balkin said. “The process robs us of both self-awareness and awareness of our environment. All it takes is a moment of reduced awareness to cause a crash.”
Research has suggested that not sleeping for more than 20 hours can make people as impaired as if they were drunk. Sleepiness slows reaction times, makes people less aware and impairs their judgment, researchers say.
What do the experts suggest? The National Sleep Foundation recommends that you watch out for these warning signs:
Difficulty focusing, heavy eyelids and difficulty avoiding daydreams
Nodding, forgetting the last few miles you’ve driven, and repeated yawning
Restlessness and irritability
If you do feel sleepy on the road, turn the wheel over to a buddy and take a nap.
Caffeinated beverages or caffeinated gum can keep you more alert for a few hours. You could even drink a caffeinated beverage and take a quick nap — 20 to 30 minutes — before it kicks in.
But remember, caffeine is no replacement for sleep. You’ll still need to get some shuteye.