TODAY news - May 9, 2002

Thursday, May 9, 2002 TODAY

Loma Linda University news

First Adventist church in Manipal, India, dedicated

Manipal Church, with its distinctive hyperbola-parabola roof, was dedicated February 8 and 9, 2002.

The first Adventist church in Manipal, India, was inaugurated and dedicated on February 8 and 9, 2002. Ramdas M. Pai, MD, president of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), a private multidisciplinary university, was the chief guest. Pastor D. R. Watts, president of the Southern Asia Division, delivered the dedicatory sermon. Officials of the Southern Asia Division, South India Union, the Karnataka-Goa section, and faculty of MAHE were also present.

B. Lyn Behrens, MBBS, president, Loma Linda University, sent a message to be used for a dedicatory plaque, which was read at the function.

Glenn Christo, MD, MAHE, expressed his thanks for the support and encouragement that faculty and staff of Loma Linda University provided.

“We wish to express our deep appreciation to the many people who contributed to the completion of this project, which was a dream for the Adventist students of Manipal,” adds Dr. Christo.

Dr. Ramdas Pai officially opens Manipal Adventist Church as he cuts the ribbon. On his left is Pastor D. R. Watts, president of the Southern Asia Division.

In 1985, a tripartite agreement between the Southern Asia Division, Loma Linda University, and MAHE facilitated the admission of Adventist students to the MAHE institutions. Since then 151 Adventist students, some church-sponsored, have graduated in medicine, dentistry, nursing, allied health, pharmacy, engineering, and medical/surgical residence. The agreement also provided for faculty exchange between the two universities. More than 120 faculty members, one-third from Loma Linda, have participated in this active exchange program. A highlight of this academic collaboration was the setting up of a bachelor’s degree program in respiratory therapy with guidance from the School of Allied Health Professions. A key ingredient of the success of this association was the coordinating work of John Peterson Sr., MD.

The initiative for the church building came from the Adventist students
who raised money by conducting health-checkups at Adventist schools throughout India, during their vacations. Generous donations were received from Loma Linda University faculty who visited Manipal. Numerous gifts of professional expertise and money were received from non-Adventists in the Manipal community.

“The church is an impressive structure, and I know it will be used to glorify God and share the faith with all those who come to worship,” says Dr. Behrens.

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LLU researchers reveal first study on high water intake and lowered coronary heart disease

W. Augustus Cheatham, MSW, vice chancellor of public affairs, Loma Linda University, introduces Jacqueline Chan, DrPH (middle), and Synnove Knutsen, MD, PhD, during a press conference held Thursday, April 25. Dr. Chan and Dr. Knutsen announced a study they had published in the American Journal of Epidemiology that shows drinking high levels of water can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

In 1999, nearly 530,000 people died from coronary heart disease. More than half of them had no previous symptoms of heart disease. However, drinking high levels of water can significantly reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, say researchers at Loma Linda University.

In a press conference held Thursday, April 25, the results of a study to be published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (Vol. 155, No. 9) reveal that drinking high amounts of plain water is as important as exercise, diet, or not smoking in preventing coronary heart disease.

“Basically, not drinking enough water can be as harmful to your heart as smoking,” warns Jacqueline Chan, DrPH, principle investigator and lead author of the article.

Dr. Chan and Synnove Knutsen, MD, PhD, second author and chair of the epidemiology department, found that California Seventh-day Adventists who drink five or more glasses of plain water a day have a much lower risk of fatal coronary heart disease compared to those who drink less than two glasses per day.

The study, “Water, Other Fluids, and Fatal Coronary Heart Disease,” indicates that whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, hematocrit, and fibrinogen—which are considered independent risk factors for coronary heart disease—can be elevated by dehydration.

The water study is part of the original Adventist Health Study, which began in 1973. Both researchers are also coinvestigators for the new Adventist Health Study.

The results from this study show that by drinking more plain water, healthy people—without any history of heart disease, stroke, or diabetes—reduced their risk of dying from a heart attack by half or more. This is as much or more than if they had adopted any other well-known preventive measure, including stopping smoking and lowering cholesterol levels, increasing exercise or maintaining ideal weight.

While not as glamorous, the degree of benefit from drinking plain water surpasses that of drinking a moderate amount of alcohol and taking aspirin with none of the adverse side effects (social or physiological). Because drinking more plain water is a simple lifestyle change that anybody can do, this simple practice has the potential of saving tens of thousands of lives each year with minimal cost.

Neither total fluid intake, nor intake of other fluids combined showed this reduced risk. Instead, for women, high intake (five or more glasses a day) of other fluids showed a greatly increased risk of coronary heart disease.

“People need to be made aware that there is a difference, at least for heart health, whether they get their fluids from plain water or from sodas,” says Dr. Chan.

According to Dr. Chan, this is the first study to record the association between high water intake and reduced risk of coronary heart disease.

“This study needs to be replicated, and if similar results are found, then this would be the cheapest and simplest method of preventing coronary heart disease that could be imagined,”adds Gary Fraser, MD, PhD, cardiologist at the LLU Heart Institute, and principal investigator for the new Adventist Health Study.

The news story was picked up by several local and national news agencies, including NBC.

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