Health CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, Ed.D.
36 MD musculardevelopment.com July 2019Skin is skin, so why do men get 100 percent more skin cancers than women? Dr. Darrell Rigel, a New
York University dermatologist, said men don’t protect themselves from the sun the way women do. While
women wear broad-brimmed hats and long sleeves, men go around shirtless and wear baseball caps or
no hat at all. Men also spend more time outside for work or recreation and are less likely to check their skin
for suspicious skin lesions than women. Balding men have the highest risk of skin cancer. They seldom
protect their heads from the sun, so they oft en develop cancers and pre-cancers on their scalps. Chronic
sun exposure increases the risk of the less dangerous basal cell carcinomas, while sunburns are linked to
melanoma, the deadliest form of cancer. Not all dermatologists agree. Dr. Bernard Ackerman, a renowned
expert in dermatology who has published more than 600 research papers, says there’s no convincing
evidence linking melanoma to sun exposure. The incidence of melanoma increases the farther people live from the equator, even though
equatorial people get more sun. Also, black and Asian people get melanoma almost exclusively on parts of their bodies rarely exposed
to the sun. White women tend to get the disease on their legs, while white men get it on the torso, areas less exposed to the sun than the
neck or arms. Dr. Ackerman said people should avoid excessive sunning to prevent skin aging and basal cell skin cancer (a mild and easily
treatable form of the disease), but there is no convincing evidence that sunning causes melanoma. (The New York Ti mes)E A R LY S U R G E R Y
BEST FOR
TORN PECS
Many aging bodybuilders and
weightlift ers have trench-like
depressions in what used to be round,
cut chest muscles. A heavy lift or
accumulated years of doing intense
bench presses and inclines can push
pec muscles beyond their capacities
and make them rupture. What do
you do— treat them conservatively
with months of rehab or have
them surgically repaired? Finnish
researchers analyzed 33 cases of
pectoralis major rupture or near
rupture and found that early surgical
repair resulted in the fastest and most
complete recovery. Most pec ruptures
occur high in the muscle near the
shoulder. You have a good chance for
full recovery if you have the surgery
soon aft er the injury, and rehab the
muscle thoroughly. The worst results
occurred when there was a long delay
between injury and surgical repair.
Even with surgery, almost 50 percent
of people with torn pecs have less
than full recovery. (Am J Sports Med
32: 1256-1262)AVOID HEAT
ILLNESSES
Seventy to 75 percent of food energy
used during metabolism ends up as heat.
During exercise, metabolism increases
eight to 20 times above rest, which
means the body has a major problem
dealing with the heat load. Normal
resting body temperature is 98.6 degrees
Fahrenheit. Inability to control body
temperature can quickly lead to disability
and death. Heat illness progresses
from dehydration to heat exhaustion
to heat stroke. Dehydration— loss of
body water— leads to cramping and
faintness. Heat exhaustion— caused by
competition for blood between the skin,
muscles and heart— leads to fatigue,
confusion and inability to exercise. Heat
stroke is a medical emergency in which
the body loses its ability to regulate
body temperature. Exercising in high
temperatures and humidity , particularly
when exposed directly to the sun, greatly
increases the risk of heat injury. Avoid
heat injury by staying in good shape
and staying hydrated during exercise.
Commercial fl uid replacement beverages
are excellent because they contain water,
electrolytes and carbohydrate to cool the
body and provide energy for exercise.
(Sports Med34: 9-16)HIGH-VOLUME EXERCISE
Prevents Insulin Resistance
Insulin resistance is linked to heart disease risk
factors such as excessive insulin and cholesterol levels,
high blood pressure and abdominal obesity. Insulin is
a hormone released by the pancreas that helps control
carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism. It works
by binding with cell receptors, which then trigger the
biological action of the hormone, such as moving sugar
from the blood to the cells. Insulin receptors can become
less sensitive to insulin, so the pancreas secretes more
of the hormone to get the required eff ect. High-sugar
diets, lack of exercise and a family history of diabetes
increase the risk of insulin resistance. Scientists from
East Carolina University found that endurance training
made insulin receptors work bett er (become more
sensitive). People who exercised 170 minutes per week
showed bett er results than those who exercised 115
minutes per week. Exercise intensity did not aff ect
insulin sensitivity. Prevent insulin resistance by choosing
diets lower in saturated fat and simple sugars and try
to exercise 30-90 minutes every day. (J Appl Physiol
96:101-106)
Sun
Exposure
and Skin
Cancer