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How much is the benefit of using jaggery instead of sugar for diabetic patients?

Many people patients believe that jaggery is a better sweetener than refined sugar. Their reasons for such belief vary. While jaggery does contain traces of proteins, minerals like sodium, calcium, magnesium, jaggery is still 98% sugar. This '98% sugar' is the same which lands on your table as table sugar after chemical treatment for removal of unwanted colors and other elements in it. From the sugar control point of view - using jaggery instead of white sugar has no benefits. The 2% extra things like protein, sodium, calcium, magnesium, etc. do not give any benefit in sugar control. The spike in blood glucose level will be the same whether jaggery or refined sugar is used. If one wants to use jaggery instead of sugar for the reason of taste, avoiding chemically treated sugar, then its fine. But if one has expectations of better sugar control by using jaggery instead of refined sugar - then person will be disappointed. Jaggery may have numerous benefits, but better sugar contro
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Suggested manner of tapering benzodiazepines (alprazolam, etizolam, lorazepam, diazepam, clonazepam, etc)

Many persons who have been taking benzodiazepines or other tranquilizing prescription medicines will experience withdrawal symptoms if they try to stop the medicine abruptly. Tapering-off, i.e. reducing the doses gradually is recommended. But specific details on how to taper-off are usually unavailable or inadequate. Tapering-off can be done by changing two variables, i.e, dose quantity or amount(like 2 mg, 1.5 mg, 1 mg, etc) and interval between subsequent doses(like once in a day, or twice a day). For example: A person has been taking "2 mg clonazepam a day"(Clonazepam 2 mg at once, every 24 hours) may taper as follow: He can increase the interval between doses from 24 hours to 30 hours for the first 10 doses, while maintaining the same dose, i.e. 2 mg. Reduce the dose to 1.5 mg, while keeping the interval the same, i.e. 30 hours, for the next 10 doses. Increase the interval from 30 to 36 hours while keeping dose the same, for the next 10 doses. Reduce the dose to 1 mg, whi
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Increased SGOT and/or SGPT levels along with fatty liver (NAFLD and NASH)

Mildly increased levels of SGOT and SGPT are seen many times in patients who are otherwise healthy and have no symptoms. If sonography is done, 'fatty liver' is also usually found. If the patient does not consume alcohol, or if consuming but within safe limits only, the the diagnosis of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease(NAFLD) is considered. If such 'fatty liver' patient has increased levels of SGOT and/or SGPT, the diagnosis is stepped-up to Non-alcoholic Steato-Hepatitis(NASH). NASH is an inflammatory disease process - which means liver cells are being damaged(and also being repaired simultaneously). Most of the time, the damage is fully repaired. But in some cases, the damaged may not be repairable and those liver cells will be 'deleted' and replaced with scar tissue(fibrous tissue). Such condition where irrepairable liver cells have been deleted and replaced with fibrous tissue is called as 'liver fibrosis' or 'liver cirrhosis'. Liver cirrhos
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Daily salt limit, high salt(sodium) foods in Indian diet

Excessive dietary intake of sodium is a common problem these days. Most people are unaware of  daily limit for salt. Most households do not have a measuring spoon or a weighing-scale that makes it even more difficult to clearly understand how much salt is 'enough'. Excessive intake of salt not only leads to diseases(like blood pressure, heart failure, etc.) but also reduces the beneficial effects of BP-control medicines that the patients may be taking. There are many cases where patient's BP was not controlled despite medicines because of excessive salt intake. Patients whose BP remains high despite taking BP medicines may be victim of excessive salt entering the body through foods. According to WHO guidelines, an adult must not consume more than 2 grams of sodium in a day. 2 grams of sodium = 5 grams of salt = 1 teaspoon of salt = daily limit for an adult. Note: 'Salt' is a compound of sodium and chlorine. 5 grams of salt contain 2 grams of Sodium and 3 grams of Ch
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