British gourmet foods, teas and gifts | Vacation apartment rental in Troon, Scotland | US dental careers and jobs

[Go Back] | [Home Page]

Beneficial Effects Of Ramadan On Cancer And Other Diseases
======================
BY Dr MUHAMMAD KARIM BEEBANI, JEDDAH
========================================

Cancer is a deadly disease. Worldwide the total mortality caused by cancer is just second to the cardiovascular disease. It is said that the reason every third person dies of malignant diseases is that in most cases when the diagnosis is made, it is already too late, i.e. the cancer has already passed that stage when it was surgically resectable and thus curable. If a cancer is detected at an early stage, there are greater chances that it will allow a total resection and hence a complete cure in most cases.

Keeping this fact in perspective, we find that there are many ways by which Ramadan fasting enhances the chances of early detection of some cancers. As we know that in Ramadan a Muslim has to fast for about 14-15 hours, which is a fairly long time. In this duration his blood sugar level tends to drop down, but is still kept within acceptable range by body's metabolic compensation.

In normal circumstances people do not fast for such a prolonged time. So this hypoglycemia does not become clinically apparent and it is not helpful to diagnose the disease at an early stage. Moreover, the symptoms of some tumors like Insulinomas, which characteristically present while fasting is relieved by food or drinks immediately. Hence the diagnosis remains unclear. As no such provision is available in Ramadan when a person is fasting, it's certain that this type of hypoglycemia will exhibit it's clinical signs and symptoms of dizziness, tremors, faintness, paresthesia etc and hence the patient or his relatives will seek medical advice which may end up with an early diagnosis of the tumor.

Along with Insulinomas there are other tumors strongly associated with hypoglycemia, which may also occur as a result of advanced malignancy especially hepatic metastasis and large tumors like fibrosarcoma. It is quite obvious that they have more chances to present with hypoglycemia at a time when the patient is fasting and Ramadan type of prolonged fasting is more than sufficient to provoke hypoglycemia and hence a chance to clinch an early diagnosis.

Another diagnostic opportunity, which the Ramadan fasting offers, is at a time when a person has already fasted for 10-12 hours. This is the time which is most suitable for clinical examination of the abdomen as the abdomen at that time is free of food, liquids, gases or faeces which all interrupt the abdominal examination when a person is not fasting. Hence the possibility of detecting masses in stomach, pancreas, colon and retroperitoneal space, etc is much more increased than ever before.

This is also a suitable time to do an abdominal ultrasonography, CT scan, KUB X-ray or even a plain X-ray of the abdomen as unnecessary shadows and interferences are better avoided as compared to the ordinary fasting of 6-8 hours for these investigations.

The blessings of Ramadan are innumerable. A hadith has been narrated in Bukhari in which Allah's apostle (PBUH) advised the adults to marry and if they cannot afford to marry he (PBUH) advised them to fast. A few minutes of pondering will reveal that this is the best possible solution of the erratic behavior in any society. Medically speaking, while fasting the level of testosterone hormone in men is decreased substantially and a decrease in this hormone will automatically decrease the emotional craving for the opposite sex. Hence the assaults, offences and related crimes will all decrease substantially.

Ramadan fasting is also said to have a beneficial effect on Berger's disease, Raynaud's phenomenon, Rheumatic pains etc.

As Muslims drink plenty of water at Suhoor and iftaar meals it is said to decrease the incidence of urinary stone formation as well. There can be innumerable advantages of Ramadan fasting but best of all the purpose of fasting is to inculcate piety or self restraint as mentioned in Holy Qur’an.” That ye may learn self restraint" (2:183).

Piety or devoutness to religion is known to improve the quality of life and has an overall pleasant effect on one's health. Australian workers who studied the effects of piety on colorectal carcinoma by comparing the highly religious, moderately religious and less religious people found that the highly religious people had less chances to fall a prey to colorectal cancer and even if they did they survived longer than others.

Karim Abdul Jabber, a former US basketball player who converted to Islam, once disclosed in an interview that he feels more active in Ramadan and his performance improves during this month. He was judged the best player in February 1994. Incidentally this coincided with the month of Ramadan when he was fasting regularly.

[Top]