Prostate Cancer Symptoms Tips What is prostate cancer symptoms? We have tips about prostate cancer symptoms

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Sleep apnea not a problem over 60!

A new study, derived from novel sleep research conducted by University of California, San Diego researchers 14 years earlier, suggests that the secret to a long life may come with just enough sleep. Less than five hours a night is probably not enough; eight hours is probably too much.

A team of scientists, headed by Daniel F. Kripke, MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine, revisited original research conducted between 1995 and 1999. In that earlier study, part of the Women’s Health Initiative, Kripke and colleagues had monitored 459 women living in San Diego (ranging in age from 50 to 81) to determine if sleep duration could be associated with mortality. Fourteen years later, they returned to see who was still alive and well.

Of the original participants, 444 were located and evaluated. Eighty-six women had died. Previous studies, based upon questionnaires of people’s sleep habits, had posited that sleeping 6.5 to 7.5 hours per night was associated with best survival. Kripke and colleagues, whose 1990s research had used wrist activity monitors to record sleep durations, essentially confirmed those findings, but with a twist.

“The surprise was that when sleep was measured objectively, the best survival was observed among women who slept 5 to 6.5 hours,” Kripke said. “Women who slept less than five hours a night or more than 6.5 hours were less likely to be alive at the 14-year follow-up.”

The findings are published online in the journal Sleep Medicine.

Kripke said the study should allay some people’s fears that they’re not getting enough sleep. “This means that women who sleep as little as five to six-and-a-half hours have nothing to worry about since that amount of sleep is evidently consistent with excellent survival. That is actually about the average measured sleep duration for San Diego women.”

Researchers uncovered other interesting findings as well. For example, among older women, obstructive sleep apnea (pauses in breathing during sleep) did not predict increased mortality risk. “Although apneas may be associated with increased mortality risk among those under 60, it does not seem to carry a risk in the older age group, particularly for women,” Kripke said.

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A new analysis suggests that broader statin use among adult patients may be a cost-effective way to prevent heart attack and stroke. The Stanford University School of Medicine study also found that using a popular test - a screening for high sensitivity C-reactive protein, or CRP - to identify patients who may benefit from statin therapy would be cost-effective, but only under certain scenarios.

"If statins are really as safe and effective as they appear to be, broadening the indications for statin therapy would be an effective and cost-effective strategy," said Mark Hlatky, MD, professor of health research and policy and of cardiovascular medicine. "But under different assumptions, targeted CRP screening would be a reasonable approach," Hlatky is the senior author of the findings, which will appear online Sept. 27 in Circulation.

The study comes almost two years after a major clinical trial, known as the JUPITER study, showed that millions more people could benefit from taking statins, even if they have low cholesterol. That study involved patients with low cholesterol levels but elevated levels of CRP, which indicates inflammation in the body and suggests a greater risk of heart attack and stroke.

Under current clinical guidelines, statin therapy is recommended for individuals at high risk: those identified as having a 20 percent or more risk of some sort of cardiovascular event in the next 10 years. But heart attacks and stroke also occur in many people at lower risk levels, and the findings from the JUPITER study suggested that measuring CRP levels might identify patients who would benefit from statin therapy.

Still, that research did not address whether it would be cost-effective to do more screening and/or to give more people statin therapy. Accordingly, Hlatky and his colleagues sought to compare the cost-effectiveness of different strategies to prevent heart disease.

For their study, the researchers developed a model to analyze the cost-effectiveness of three approaches: following current guidelines; doing CRP screening in individuals who don't meet the current guidelines for treatment, with statin therapy for those with elevated CRP levels; and providing statin therapy based on an individual's cardiovascular risk alone, without CRP testing. Their model followed hypothetical patients, starting at 40 years of age, with normal lipid levels and no clinical evidence of heart disease or diabetes.

The researchers then looked at which approaches met the threshold of costing no more than $50,000 per quality-adjusted-life-year, a common metric that takes into account quality of life as well as length of survival. (Therapies costing around $50,000 or less per quality-adjusted life-year are generally considered cost-effective.)

Their conclusion? Assigning statin therapy based on risk alone, without CRP testing, was the most cost-effective strategy. The optimal strategy for men with no risk factors, for example, would be to start a statin at the age of 55.

"Initiation of statin treatment at lower risk levels without CRP testing would further improve clinical outcomes at acceptable cost, making it the optimally cost-effective strategy in our analysis," the researchers wrote in their paper.

The researchers found, however, that the optimal strategy for prevention changed if the assumptions in the model were altered. For instance, if patients with normal CRP levels get little or no benefit from statin therapy, CRP screening would be the optimal strategy. And if harms from statin use are only slightly greater than currently thought, statin therapy would not be reasonable in low-risk individuals, and following current clinical guidelines would be the most cost-effective strategy.

Clearly, there are a lot of unknowns and assumptions - all of which tempered the researchers' conclusion. "This is not a slam-dunk decision in terms of: You should take people at low risk and put them all on treatment," said Hlatky. "If you run the model and change the assumptions even a little bit, you get a different answer. Our model shows that we need better data to be confident about the best approach to drug treatment of lower-risk individuals."

For co-author Douglas Owens, MD, the study points to a high priority for determining whether statins work as well in low-risk people (i.e. those with normal CRP levels) or just high-risk ones. "That's a big uncertainty," he said, and the answer would inform how cost-effective both screening and broad therapy are.

The researchers also said it would be important to know whether high CRP levels do more than identify people who are at risk of developing heart disease, but also identify which people are more likely to have lower risk of heart attack or stroke when treated with a statin. (The test could then spare certain patients from unnecessary treatment.)

"Ideally, a marker would tell us who will benefit from drug treatment and who will not," said Hlatky. "If a test could give us that information, it would be very cost-effective. But there's not good evidence yet that CRP, or any other test, works that well."

Hlatky said a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute working group is now updating the clinical guidelines for statin therapy, and he hopes this research will inform their recommendations. "Maybe the threshold for statin treatment ought to be lower than is currently recommended," he said.

In the meantime, the researchers have developed an interactive tool that physicians can reference to determine the most cost-effective approach to statin therapy for individual patients. The calculator can be found at http://med.stanford.edu/hsr/crp-screening/

In a very large cohort of African-American women in the US, the association between the consumption of alcohol, tea, and coffee and the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (late onset diabetes) was studied for 12 years. Tea and decaffeinated coffee showed no relation with diabetes, but the regular moderate intake of both caffeinated coffee and alcohol appeared to reduce the risk of contracting late onset diabetes significantly.

This paper is particularly important because some previous studies have not shown a strong association between alcohol and the risk of cardiovascular disease among African-Americans. African-Americans, especially women, tend to drink little alcohol, yet are at markedly increased risk of late onset diabetes. In the present study, the approximately 30% lower risk for moderate alcohol drinkers was about the same in these African-American women as has been found in many previous studies of Caucasians.

Detailed critique of this paper by the International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research.

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Garlic has "significant" potential for preventing cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease that is a leading cause of death in people with diabetes, scientists have concluded in a new study. Their report, which also explains why people with diabetes are at high risk for diabetic cardiomyopathy, appears in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Wei-Wen Kuo and colleagues note that people with diabetes have at least twice the risk of death from heart disease as others, with heart disease accounting for 80 percent of all diabetes-related deaths. They are especially vulnerable to a form of heart disease termed diabetic cardiomyopathy, which inflames and weakens the heart's muscle tissue. Kuo's group had hints from past studies that garlic might protect against heart disease in general and also help control the abnormally high blood sugar levels that occur in diabetes. But they realized that few studies had been done specifically on garlic's effects on diabetic cardiomyopathy.

The scientists fed either garlic oil or corn oil to laboratory rats with diabetes. Animals given garlic oil experienced beneficial changes associated with protection against heart damage. The changes appeared to be associated with the potent antioxidant properties of garlic oil, the scientists say, adding that they identified more than 20 substances in garlic oil that may contribute to the effect. "In conclusion, garlic oil possesses significant potential for protecting hearts from diabetes-induced cardiomyopathy," the report notes.

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Blueberries may help fight atherosclerosis, also known as hardening of the arteries, according to results of a preliminary U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-funded study with laboratory mice. The research provides the first direct evidence that blueberries can help prevent harmful plaques or lesions, symptomatic of atherosclerosis, from increasing in size in arteries.

Principal investigator Xianli Wu, based in Little Rock, Ark., with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center and with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, led the investigation. The findings are reported in the current issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of two forms of cardiovascular disease--heart attacks and strokes. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of Americans.

The study compared the size, or area, of atherosclerotic lesions in 30 young laboratory mice. Half of the animals were fed diets spiked with freeze-dried blueberry powder for 20 weeks; the diet of the other mice did not contain the berry powder.

Lesion size, measured at two sites on aorta (arteries leading from the heart), was 39 and 58 percent less than that of lesions in mice whose diet did not contain blueberry powder.

Earlier studies, conducted elsewhere, have suggested that eating blueberries may help combat cardiovascular disease. But direct evidence of that effect has never been presented previously, according to Wu.

The blueberry-spiked diet contained 1 percent blueberry powder, the equivalent of about a half-cup of fresh blueberries.

All mice in the investigation were deficient in apolipoprotein-E, a trait which makes them highly susceptible to forming atherosclerotic lesions and thus an excellent model for biomedical and nutrition research.

Wu's group wants to determine the mechanism or mechanisms by which blueberries helped control lesion size. For example, by boosting the activity of four antioxidant enzymes, blueberries may have reduced the oxidative stress that is a known risk factor for atherosclerosis.

In followup studies, Wu's group wants to determine whether eating blueberries in infancy, childhood and young adulthood would help protect against onset and progression of atherosclerosis in later years. Early prevention may be especially important in light of the nation's epidemic of childhood obesity. Overweight and obesity increase atherosclerosis risk.

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Regardless of Diet, Study Participants Who Consumed the Most Milk Lost the Most Weight

A new weight loss study conducted by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers reveals that dieters who consumed milk or milk products lost more weight on average than those who consumed little to no milk products.

Regardless of diet, researchers also found participants with the highest dairy calcium intake, equal to 12 oz. of milk or other dairy products (580 mg of dairy calcium), lost about 12 pounds (6 kg.) at the end of the two years. In comparison, those with the lowest dairy calcium intake averaging about 150 mg dairy calcium, or about half of a glass, only lost seven pounds on average. The study was published in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Beyond calcium, the researchers also found that blood levels of vitamin D independently affected weight loss success. Vitamin D levels increased among those who lost more weight. The dietary intervention study also confirmed other research that overweight participants have lower blood levels of vitamin D.

More than 300 overweight men and women, aged 40 to 65, participated in the study evaluating low fat, Mediterranean or low-carb diets for two years. Dr. Danit Shahar, of BGU’s S. Daniel Abraham Center for Health and Nutrition and the Faculty of Health Sciences, led the study. It was part of the Dietary Intervention Randomized Control Trial (DIRECT) conducted at the Nuclear Research Center in Israel.

According to Dr. Shahar, "It was known that over-weight people had lower levels of serum vitamin D but this is the first study that actually shows that serum Vitamin D increased among people who lost weight. This result lasted throughout the two years that the study was conducted, regardless of whether they were on a low-carb, low fat or Mediterranean diet."

Vitamin D increases calcium absorption in the bloodstream and in addition to sun exposure can be obtained from fortified milk, fatty fish and eggs. Americans generally consume less than the recommended daily requirement of Vitamin D which is found in four glasses of milk (400 international units).

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Vitamin D: Many Benefits:


Recent reports on vitamin D suggest that it offers many benefits, especially for older adults. Findings point to improved balance, reduction in the risk of bone fractures, and better thinking skills such as planning, organizing and abstract thinking. Low levels of vitamin D are associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune disorders, infections such as tuberculosis, and periodontal disease. Low vitamin D levels also may affect certain cancers, including colon, breast and prostate cancers.


Vitamin D Fight Heart Disease in Elderly

Vitamin D deficiency leads to high blood pressure

Vitamin D Promotes Mental Agility in Elders

Vitamin D deficiency common across a range of rheumatic conditions

Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in patients with Type 2 diabetes

New evidence shows low vitamin D levels lead to Parkinson's disease

Over 65's should take high dose vitamin D

Several trials have shown that vitamin D improves strength and balance among older people.To reduce the risk of falling, a daily intake of at least 700-1000 IU supplemental vitamin D is warranted in all individuals aged 65 and older, say the authors.

Higher doses may be even more effective and should be explored in future research to optimise the fall prevention benefit with vitamin D, they conclude.

Benefits of all alcohol:

Studies on the use of alcohol have shown protective effects against coronary heart disease (CHD). These studies show that one or two alcoholic drinks per day increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Also, moderate alcohol consumption decreases low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides. Finally, alcohol consumption decreases platelet aggregation.


Benefits of Red Wine

There has been some discussion recently, including an article in the New York Times, pointing out that there is a difference in lifestyle among people who drink wine, beer, and other alcoholic beverages, including social class and diet, that may also explain why wine seems to offer more protection than others against coronary heart disease. (1)

Regardless, wine, especially red wine, really does seem to have benefits that the other sources of alcohol do not have, including:


REDUCES INFLAMMATION

Red wine may have anti-inflammatory effects. It reduces C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation that seems to be related to atherosclerosis. (2)



ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES

Red wine has higher concentrations of antioxidant molecules, called polyphenols, than other alcoholic drinks. The antioxidant properties of these polyphenols may contribute to protection against coronary heart disease by reducing oxidation of LDL cholesterol. (3) The polyphenols in red wine include anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, and resveratrol, and flavonoids, including catechins, kaempferol, and quercetin. (4,5) However, the polyphenol content of wine is dependent upon grape variety, climate, and the methods used to make the wine. White wines, unlike red wines, have very low polyphenol concentrations.



IMMUNE SUPPORT

Red wine may also reduce mutagenic DNA damage and improve endothelial function when included in a high fat diet. (6) Wine can stimulate gastric acid secretion and gastrin release. This may explain why moderate to high wine intake seems to prevent Helicobacter pylori infection. (7) Finally, the anthocyanins in red wine may help prevent various cancers. (8)



OTHER BENEFITS

Red wine may help to prevent noise-induced hearing loss (9), reduce the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (10), may help to prevent cataracts (11), and may help to prevent rheumatoid arthritis (12).



REFERENCES

1. Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ. Wine, beer, and spirits: are they really horses of a different color? Circulation 2002;105:2806-7.
2. Estruch R, Sacanella E, Badia E, et al. Different effects of red wine and gin consumption on inflammatory biomarkers of atherosclerosis: a prospective randomized crossover trial. Effects of wine on inflammatory markers. Atherosclerosis 2004;175:117-23.
3. Klatsky AL, Armstrong MA, Friedman GD. Red wine, white wine, liquor, beer, and risk for coronary artery disease hospitalization. Am J Cardiol 1997;80:416-20.
4. Caccetta RA, Croft KD, Beilin LJ, Puddey IB. Ingestion of red wine significantly increases plasma phenolic acid concentrations but does not acutely affect ex vivo lipoprotein oxidizability. Am J Clin Nutr 2000;71:67-74.
5. Soleas GJ, Diamandis EP, Goldberg DM. Wine as a biological fluid: history, production, and role in disease prevention. J Clin Lab Anal 1997;11:287-313.
6. Leighton F, Cuevas A, Guasch V, et al. Plasma polyphenols and antioxidants, oxidative DNA damage and endothelial function in a diet and wine intervention study in humans. Drugs Exp Clin Res 1999;25:133-41.
7. Brenner H, Rothenbacher D, Bode G, Adler G. Relation of smoking and alcohol and coffee consumption to active Helicobacter pylori infection: cross sectional study. BMJ 1997;315:1489-92.
8. Hou, D. X. Potential mechanisms of cancer chemoprevention by anthocyanins. Curr Mol Med. 3(2):149-159, 2003.
9. Seidman, M., et al. Effects of resveratrol on acoustic trauma. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 129(5):463-470, 2003.
10. Obisesan, T.O., et al. Moderate wine consumption is associated with decreased odds of developing age-related macular degeneration in NHANES-1. J Am Geriatr Soc. 46:1-7, 1998.
11. Jonasson, F., et al. Abstract B198: Moderate red wine drinking reduces risk for cataract. Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Fort Lauderdale, USA. May 4, 2005.
12. Kallberg, H., et al. Alcohol consumption is associated with decreased risk of rheumatoid arthritis; Results from two Scandinavian case-control studies. Ann Rheum Dis. 2008.

More on alcohol and red wine:

Alcohol


1. Consumption of little amounts of alcohol leads to a reduction of mortality up to 18%. The study shows very important differences between men and women. Whereas men report a beneficial effect after consuming 2-4 doses maximum (a dose refers to one glass of wine or beer), women should be aware: for them, the protection guaranteed from alcohol consumption disappears just after two glasses a day.

2. Women who drank alcohol on at least one day a week had a lower risk of coronary heart disease than women who drank alcohol on less than one day a week. However, risks were similar for drinking on one day a week (36% reduced risk), or seven days a week (35% reduced risk), suggesting that the amount of alcohol consumed is more important than drinking frequency among women. In contrast, for men, risks were lowest for the most frequent drinkers. For example, men who drank on one day a week had a 7% reduced risk, while men who drank daily had a 41% reduced risk. This suggests that it doesn’t matter how much men drink, as long as they drink every day.

3. A study finds that moderate alcohol intake (1-2 drinks/day for 3-6 days/week, depending on alcoholic content) may lead to increased quality of life and survival in older women.

4. Alcohol consumption lowers risk of developing several arthritic conditions

5. Moderate drinking, especially wine, associated with better cognitive function

Red Wine

1. Drinking more than three glasses of red wine a week could cut the risk of colorectal cancer by almost 70 per cent.

2. Resveratrol, a polyphenol found in red wine, extended survival rates of mice and prevented the negative effects of high-calorie diets, says a new study. The study, described by an independent expert as potentially “the breakthrough of the year”, adds to a growing body of research linking resveratrol and red wine consumption to a range of beneficial health effects, including brain and mental health, and cardiovascular health.

3. Resveratrol, a compound found in grapes, red wine and peanuts, can improve blood flow in the brain by 30 per cent, thereby reducing the risk of stroke.

4. Drink Red Wine Daily For Best Results

5. Drinking Wine Protects Skin From Radiation

6. Lose Weight With Resveratrol?

“The physiological benefits of resveratrol are currently under intensive investigation, with recent work suggesting that it could be a good candidate for the development of obesity therapies.”

7. Resveratrol Neutralizes Toxicity of Proteins Related to Alzheimer's

8. Red wine and green tea halt prostate cancer growth

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Food

Bad Food

Fried and processed food, particularly fast-food, may pose greatest heart disease risk

High levels of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the so-called "bad" cholesterol) can increase the risk of heart attacks. Now scientists are reporting that another form of cholesterol called oxycholesterol — virtually unknown to the public — may be the most serious cardiovascular health threat of all.

Fried and processed food, particularly fast-food, contains high amounts of oxycholesterol. Avoiding these foods and eating a diet that is rich in antioxidants, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, may help reduce its levels in the body, the researchers note.

Scientists have known for years that a reaction between fats and oxygen, a process termed oxidation, produces oxycholesterol in the body. Oxidation occurs, for instance, when fat-containing foods are heated, as in frying chicken or grilling burgers or steaks. Food manufacturers produce oxycholesterol intentionally in the form of oxidized oils such as trans-fatty acids and partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils. When added to processed foods, those substances improve texture, taste and stability. Until now, however, much of the research focused on oxycholesterol's effects in damaging cells, DNA, and its biochemical effects in contributing to atherosclerosis. This is one of the first studies on oxycholesterol's effects in raising blood cholesterol levels compared to non-oxidized cholesterol.


High-fat diets make us stupid and unfit

New research shows that high-fat diets are just as unhealthful in the short term as they are in the long term: an immediate decreased ability to exercise and significant short-term memory loss.

Good Food

Vegetables


Asparagus Good For Hangovers, Livers

The amino acids and minerals found in asparagus extract may alleviate alcohol hangover and protect liver cells against toxins.

A new University of Illinois study shows that tomatoes and broccoli--two vegetables known for their cancer-fighting qualities--are better at shrinking prostate tumors when both are part of the daily diet than when they're eaten alone.

Whole grain cereals, popcorn rich in antioxidants

Snack foods like popcorn and many popular breakfast cereals contain "surprisingly large" amounts of healthful antioxidant substances called "polyphenols." Polyphenols are a major reason why fruits and vegetables — and foods like chocolate, wine, coffee, and tea — have become renowned for their potential role in reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. Until now, however, no one knew that commercial hot and cold whole grain cereals — regarded as healthful for their fiber content — and snack foods also were a source of polyphenols.


Mediterranean Diet


Mediterranean Diet = Slower Cognitive Decline

Higher adherence to a Mediterranean-type diet is linked to lower risk for mortality and chronic diseases. In an examination of the association between adherence to a Mediterranean-type diet and cognitive performance and risk of dementia, researchers found that high adherence to the diet was associated with slower decline in some measures of cognitive function.


Mediterranean diet, exercise fight Alzheimer disease

Elderly individuals who had a diet that included higher consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, cereal and fish and was low in red meat and poultry and who were physically active had an associated lower risk of Alzheimer disease



Mediterranean diet = reduced risk of depression


Healthy Diet = No Kidney Stones

Researchers have found another reason to eat well: a healthy diet helps prevent kidney stones. Loading up on fruits, vegetables, nuts, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains, while limiting salt, red and processed meats, and sweetened beverages is an effective way to ward off kidney stones. Because kidney stones are linked to higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, increased body weight, and other risk factors for heart disease, the findings have considerable health implications.


A summary of earlier, but still relatively recent food research can be found here.


Aspirin

Aspirin fights colorectal cancer

Numerous studies demonstrate that regular aspirin use is associated with a lower risk of colorectal adenoma (a benign tumor) or cancer. According to a study in the August 12 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association..men and women who were diagnosed with colorectal cancer and began regular use of aspirin had a lower risk of overall and colorectal cancer death compared to patients not using aspirin.

Details here:




Green tea

Green tea may help improve bone health:


Tea Heart Benefits

“Drinking more than six cups of tea per day was associated with a 36 percent lower risk of heart disease compared to those who drank less than one cup of tea per day. Drinking three to six cups of tea per day was associated with a 45 percent reduced risk of death from heart disease, compared to consumption of less than one cup per day."

Red wine and green tea halt prostate cancer growth

Zinc

http://healthnewsreport.blogspot.com/2009/09/zinc-protects-vsoxidative-stresshelps.html


Studies have shown that zinc is essential to protecting against oxidative stress and helping DNA repair – meaning that in the face of zinc deficiency, the body's ability to repair genetic damage may be decreasing even as the amount of damage is going up.

One new study has found DNA damage in humans caused by only minor zinc deficiency.

More info on zinc, from the U.S. government:




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It is widely known that a healthy lifestyle that includes not smoking, limiting alcohol intake, and maintaining a proper weight reduces disease risk.

In the journal PLoS Medicine, Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., and colleagues at Vanderbilt University Medical Center now report results from a large study quantifying the impact of combining healthy lifestyle factors.

They found that a healthy lifestyle pattern -- being normal weight, having low belly fat, participating in regular physical activity, limiting exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke, and consuming higher amounts of fruits and vegetables -- reduced mortality in Chinese women who do not smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol regularly.

"The results show that overall lifestyle modification, to include a combination of these health-related lifestyle factors, is important in disease prevention," said Zheng, an Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and director of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center.

A number of "unhealthy" lifestyle factors -- for example, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, diet deficient in fruits and vegetables, high amount of belly fat, and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke -- have been linked individually to chronic disease and premature death.

But little is known about the cumulative impact of these unhealthy factors -- or about the combined impact of lifestyle factors beyond that of active smoking and alcohol consumption on mortality.

To address this question, the researchers analyzed data from 71,243 non-smoking, non-drinking Chinese women aged 40 to 70 years who have been participating in the ongoing population-based Shanghai Women's Health Study. Over the 9-year study period, 2,860 deaths were reported, including 1,351 cancer deaths and 775 deaths from cardiovascular disease.

To calculate "healthy lifestyle scores," the investigators selected five well-studied healthy lifestyle factors relevant for this population: normal weight (body mass index 18.5-24.99 kg/m2); lower waist-hip ratio (an estimate of abdominal fat); exercise participation; never exposed to spouse's smoking; and higher fruit and vegetable daily intake.

For each of the five factors, study subjects were assigned one point for having the healthy factor (and zero for not having the healthy factor), and the points were then summed to generate a cumulative score for each woman, ranging from 0 points (least healthy) to 5 points (most healthy).

They found that a higher healthy lifestyle score was significantly associated with reduced risk of mortality from all causes, as well as from cardiovascular diseases and cancer, specifically. Women with 4 to 5 healthy lifestyle factors had 43 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to women with a score of zero. The reduction in mortality associated with higher lifestyle scores was strongest for deaths due to cardiovascular disease.

"We already know that smoking and excessive alcohol drinking have significant adverse health effects. But for the many people who do not smoke or drink alcohol regularly, these other lifestyle factors may have major combined impact on mortality," Zheng said.

"The good news is that many of these factors can be improved by an individual's motivation to change unhealthy behaviors. And even the more difficult to change factors, like spousal smoking, could be improved by increased awareness about the detrimental health effects of smoking."

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An increased intake of 'good' potassium salts could contribute significantly to improving blood pressure at the population level, according to new research. The favourable effect brought about by potassium is even estimated to be comparable with the blood pressure reduction achievable by halving the intake of 'bad' sodium salts (mostly from table salt).

Those are the conclusions drawn by Linda van Mierlo and her colleagues at Wageningen University, part of Wageningen UR, and Unilever in their investigation of the consumption of potassium in 21 countries. An article describing their findings appears in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

The risk of developing cardiovascular diseases rises as blood pressure increases. In Western countries only 20-30% of the population has 'optimal' blood pressure, with the systolic (maximum) pressure being lower than 120 mm Hg and the diastolic (minimum) pressure lower than 80 mm Hg. Blood pressure increases with age in most people. Men more often have a higher blood pressure than women.

Diet and lifestyle plays an important role in managing blood pressure. High intakes of sodium and low intakes of potassium have unfavorable effects on blood pressure. Therefore, reducing the consumption of sodium and increasing the consumption of potassium are both good ways to improve blood pressure.

The study carried out by food researchers from the Human Nutrition department at Wageningen University and from the Nutrition & Health department at Unilever demonstrates that the average potassium intake in 21 countries including the US, China, New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands varies between 1.7 and 3.7 g a day. This is considerably lower than the 4.7 g a day, which has been recommended based on the positive health effects observed at this level of intake.

A hypothetical increase in the potassium intake to the recommended level would reduce the systolic blood pressure in the populations of these countries by between 1.7 and 3.2 mm Hg. This corresponds with the reduction that would occur if Western consumers were to take in 4 g of salt less per day. The intakes of both potassium and sodium are therefore of importance in preventing high blood pressure.

Earlier studies have shown that salt reduction of 3 g per day in food could reduce blood pressure and prevent 2500 deaths per year due to cardiovascular diseases in the Netherlands. In Western countries, salt consumption can be as high as 9-12 g a day whereas 5 g is the recommended amount according to WHO standards. Most household salt is to be found in processed foods such as bread, ready-made meals, soups, sauces and savoury snacks and pizzas. An effective way of increasing potassium intake is to follow the guidelines for healthy nutrition more closely, including a higher consumption of vegetables and fruit. In addition, the use of mineral salts in processed foods -- by which sodium is partly replaced by potassium -- would contribute to an improved intake of both sodium and potassium.

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Daily doses of raw or heat-treated ginger are effective for relieving muscle pain following strenuous exercise, according to research reported in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, ampainsoc.org.

Though a favorite remedy of Chinese medicine practitioners for centuries, ginger has not been studied widely as a pain reliever. Some research, however, has shown that ginger may have anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties similar to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. In one study, four to 36 weeks of daily ginger doses (30 to 500 mg.) achieved reductions in knee pain from osteoarthritis.

Researchers from the University of Georgia and Georgia College and State University examined the efficacy of multiple days of ginger doses for relieving experimentally induced muscle pain from 18 eccentric muscle exercises. For the study, student volunteers were tested on 11 consecutive days while taking ginger supplements. Seventy-four students were divided in three groups given either raw ginger, heated ginger or placebo. The authors hypothesized that pain ratings after exercise would be lower in the ginger group compared to placebo subjects.

Results from the subjects’ responses data showed that both raw and heat-treated ginger lowered muscle pain intensity after eccentric exercise by 25 and 23 percent, respectively. Heat treating ginger, therefore, did not increase the analgesic benefit.

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Diet and exercise have long been the top two elements of effective weight loss. Now add a third: reading the labels on packaged foods.

Washington State University Economist Bidisha Mandal has found that middle-aged Americans who want to lose weight and who take up the label-reading habit are more likely to lose weight than those who don't. In some cases, label reading is even more effective than exercise.

"I'm finding that reading labels is useful," said Mandal, an assistant professor in the WSU School of Economic Sciences. "People who are trying to lose weight want to know what they're buying and preparing and many do better if they use labels to find what they need to know."

Writing in the latest Journal of Consumer Affairs, Mandal analyzes the responses of more than 3,700 people who regularly took a national survey asking about their label-reading habits while attempting to lose or control their weight. Among her findings:

• If you want to lose weight, you have a better chance of success if you read a food label when you first buy a product.
• People are more successful at losing weight when they add label reading to their exercise program.
• Label readers who do not exercise have a slightly greater chance of losing weight than those who exercise but do not read labels.
• Women are more likely to read food labels when they buy a product for the first time, possibly because they are responsible for buying food and cooking. They are also more successful than men in losing weight.
• In a case of good news and bad news, Mandal found that overweight and obese label readers are more likely to lose weight. But only a little more than one-third lost weight, while nearly half gained weight. This confirms what many middle-aged people know—losing weight is hard and often unsuccessful. But Mandal found overweight and obese people at least have a better chance if they read the label.

The analysis underscores the value of the U.S. Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, which has required standardized nutrition facts on packaged foods since 1994, Mandal said. She adds that the findings build the case for posting nutritional information on vending machines and in many restaurants, as planned under the new federal health care reform bill.

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Even the lowest possible dose of aspirin (75 mg) can ward off bowel cancer, if taken regularly, finds research published online in the journal Gut.

This protective effect is apparent after just one year and in the general population, not just those considered to be at risk of developing the disease, which is the second most common cause of cancer death in the world, killing almost half a million people every year.

Although previous research has shown that aspirin protects against bowel cancer, it is not known what the most effective dose is and how long it needs to be taken for.

The research team investigated just under 2,800 people with bowel cancer and just under 3,000 healthy people, matched for age, sex, and residential locality.

All participants completed food frequency and lifestyle questionnaires to assess their usual diet and lifestyle choices, which are known to influence bowel cancer risk.

NSAID (non-steroidal anti inflammatory drug) intake was categorised as taking more than four tablets a month of low dose aspirin (75 mg), other NSAIDs, or a mix.

The likelihood of surviving bowel cancer once diagnosed or developing the disease anew was then tracked over five years.

In all, 354 (15.5%) of those with bowel cancer were taking low dose aspirin compared with 526 (18%) of their healthy peers.

Taking any NSAID regularly, curbed the chances of developing bowel cancer compared with those who didn't take these painkillers.

This finding held true, irrespective of lifestyle choices, age, diet, weight, and level of deprivation

After a year, taking daily low dose aspirin was associated with a 22% reduced risk of developing bowel cancer, and the magnitude of the reduction in risk was cumulative, rising to 30% after five years.

Some 1,170 people died out of a total of 3,417 people diagnosed with bowel cancer (including those who were healthy at the start of the study) during the monitoring period. Most of these deaths (1,023) were attributable to the disease.

Information on NSAID intake was available for 676 of these 1,023 deaths, and it showed that taking NSAIDs of any kind did not influence the risk of death from any cause nor did it increase bowel cancer survival.

But, crucially, the findings show that high doses of aspirin, taken for a long time, are not needed to help ward off bowel cancer, say the authors.

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Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) are launching a groundbreaking new project to investigate the benefits of broccoli in the fight against osteoarthritis.

Initial laboratory research at UEA has found that a compound in broccoli called sulforaphane blocks the enzymes that cause joint destruction in osteoarthritis – the most common form of arthritis.

Broccoli has previously been associated with reduced cancer risk but this is the first major study into its effects on joint health.

With funding from both Arthritis Research UK and the Diet and Health Research Industry Club (DRINC), the £650,000 project will explore how sulforaphane may act to slow or prevent the development of osteoarthritis. It will prepare the way for the first patient trials and could lead to safe new ways of preventing and treating this painful disease.

Sulforaphane is a bioactive compound found in cruciferous vegetables, particularly broccoli. Eating broccoli leads to a high level of sulforaphane in the blood, but scientists don't yet know if the sulforaphane gets into joints in sufficient amounts to be effective. This is one of the things that the UEA team hopes to discover.

Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of disability in the UK where it affects around six million people. It is a degenerative joint disease which gradually destroys the cartilage in the joints, particularly in the hands, feet, spine, hips and knees of older people. There is currently no effective treatment other than pain relief or joint replacement.

Prof Ian Clark, of UEA's School of Biological Sciences, who is leading the research said: "The UK has an aging population and developing new strategies for combating age-related diseases such as osteoarthritis is vital – to improve the quality of life for sufferers but also to reduce the economic burden on society."

As part of the three-year project, the UEA team will also investigate the effects of other dietary compounds on osteoarthritis, including diallyl disulphide which is found in high amounts in garlic and also appears to slow the destruction of cartilage in laboratory models.

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Boosting cardiovascular fitness improves sleep, vitality and mood for insomniacs

The millions of middle-aged and older adults who suffer from insomnia have a new drug-free prescription for a more restful night’s sleep. Regular aerobic exercise improves the quality of sleep, mood and vitality, according to a small but significant new study from Northwestern Medicine.

The study is the first to examine the effect of aerobic exercise on middle-aged and older adults with a diagnosis of insomnia. About 50 percent of people in these age groups complain of chronic insomnia symptoms.

The aerobic exercise trial resulted in the most dramatic improvement in patients’ reported quality of sleep, including sleep duration, compared to any other non-pharmacological intervention.

“This is relevant to a huge portion of the population,” said Phyllis Zee, M.D., director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Northwestern Medicine and senior author of a paper to be published in the October issue of Sleep Medicine. The lead author is Kathryn Reid, research assistant professor at Feinberg.

“Insomnia increases with age,” Zee said. “Around middle age, sleep begins to change dramatically. It is essential that we identify behavioral ways to improve sleep. Now we have promising results showing aerobic exercise is a simple strategy to help people sleep better and feel more vigorous.”

The drug-free strategy also is desirable, because it eliminates the potential of a sleeping medication interacting with other drugs a person may be taking, Reid said.

Sleep is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, like nutrition and exercise, noted Zee, a professor of neurology, neurobiology, and physiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“By improving a person’s sleep, you can improve their physical and mental health,” Zee said. “Sleep is a barometer of health, like someone’s temperature. It should be the fifth vital sign. If a person says he or she isn’t sleeping well, we know they are more likely to be in poor health with problems managing their hypertension or diabetes.”

The study included 23 sedentary adults, primarily women, 55 and older who had difficulty falling sleep and/or staying asleep and impaired daytime functioning. Women have the highest prevalence of insomnia. After a conditioning period, the aerobic physical activity group exercised for two 20-minute sessions four times per week or one 30-to-40-minute session four times per week, both for 16 weeks. Participants worked at 75 percent of their maximum heart rate on at least two activities including walking or using a stationary bicycle or treadmill.

Participants in the non-physical activity group participated in recreational or educational activities, such as a cooking class or a museum lecture, which met for about 45 minutes three to five times per week for 16 weeks.

Both groups received education about good sleep hygiene, which includes sleeping in a cool, dark and quiet room, going to bed the same time every night and not staying in bed too long, if you can’t fall asleep.

Exercise improved the participants’ self-reported sleep quality, elevating them from a diagnosis of poor sleeper to good sleeper. They also reported fewer depressive symptoms, more vitality and less daytime sleepiness.

“Better sleep gave them pep, that magical ingredient that makes you want to get up and get out into the world to do things,” Reid said.

The participants’ scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index dropped an average of 4.8 points. (A higher score indicates worse sleep.) In a prior study using t’ai chi as a sleep intervention, for example, participants’ average scores dropped 1.8 points.

“Exercise is good for metabolism, weight management and cardiovascular health and now it’s good for sleep,” Zee said.

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Scientists reported new evidence on the effectiveness of that old folk remedy — cranberry juice — for urinary tract infections at the ACS' 240th National Meeting. "A number of controlled clinical trials — these are carefully designed and conducted scientific studies done in humans — have concluded that cranberry juice really is effective for preventing urinary tract infections," said Terri Anne Camesano, Ph.D., who led the study. "That has important implications, considering the size of the problem and the health care costs involved."

Estimates suggest that urinary tract infections (UTIs) account for about 8 million medical visits each year, at a total cost of more than $1.6 billion. Camesano, who is with the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, said the study set out to shed light on how cranberry juice fights E. coli, the most common cause of UTIs. The study involved growing strains of E. coli in urine collected from healthy volunteers before and after consumption of cranberry juice cocktail. The scientists then tested the E. coli for their ability to stick together and form biofilms. Biofilms are thin, slimy layers that provide an environment for bacteria to thrive.

The scientists concluded that cranberry juice cocktail prevents E. coli from sticking to other bacteria and the surface of a plastic petri dish. E. coli that doesn't stick has a better chance of being flushed out of the urinary track. The results suggest that the beneficial substances in cranberry juice could reach the urinary tract and prevent bacterial adhesion within 8 hours after consumption of cranberry juice.

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Research suggests boosting key milk nutrients calcium and vitamin D could aid weight loss

Now there's a new reason to grab a glass of milk when you're on diet, suggests a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In a 2-year weight loss study, milk drinkers had an advantage over those who skipped the milk. Israeli researchers found that adults who drank the most milk (nearly 2 glasses per day) and had the highest vitamin D levels at 6 months, lost more weight after 2 years than those who had little or no milk or milk products -- nearly 12 pounds weight loss, on average.

Researchers also found that each additional 6-ounce serving of milk or milk products (about 3/4 of a glass of milk) was associated with 10 pounds successful weight loss above the average, at 6 months.

More than 300 overweight or at risk men and women ages 40 – 65 participated in the study following low-fat, Mediterranean or low-carb diets for 2 years. Regardless of diet, researchers found participants with the highest dairy calcium intake 6 months into the study (averaging about 580mg per day – the amount in nearly 2 glasses of milk) lost about 12 pounds at the end of the 2 years, compared to about 7 pounds for those with the lowest dairy calcium intake (averaging about 150mg, or about half of a glass).

Beyond calcium, the researchers also found that vitamin D levels independently affected weight loss success and in line with previous research, milk and milk products were the top contributors to vitamin D in the diets of the study participants.

Despite the potential health benefits, many Americans are still not getting the recommended 400IU of vitamin D each day – the amount in four glasses of fat free or lowfat milk. This D-ficiency may put their health at risk, for healthy weight and beyond. Well known for its role in keeping bones strong, vitamin D is now being hailed for so much more. Emerging science suggests vitamin D may also help protect against diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and certain cancers. It also supports a healthy immune system.

Fat free milk is packed with nine essential nutrients Americans need, including calcium and vitamin D, and contains 80 calories per 8-ounce serving. Research suggests eating right, getting active and drinking the recommended three glasses of lowfat or fat free milk daily can help you maintain a healthy weight.

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1. I need to eat more oatmeal - I've been sloughing off lately:

What Whole Grains Can Do For You

Cardiovascular Disease

Eating whole instead of refined grains substantially lowers total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or bad) cholesterol, triglycerides, and insulin levels. Any of these changes would be expected to reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease. Women who ate 2 to 3 servings of whole-grain products (mostly bread and breakfast cereals) each day were 30 percent less likely to have a heart attack or die from heart disease over a 10-year period than women who ate less than 1 serving per week. A recent meta-analysis of seven major studies showed that cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke, or the need for a procedure to bypass or open a clogged artery) was 21 percent less likely in people who ate 2.5 or more servings of whole-grain foods a day compared with those who ate less than 2 servings a week.

Type 2 Diabetes

In a study of more than 160,000 women whose health and dietary habits were followed for up to 18 years, those who averaged 2 to 3 servings of whole grains a day were 30 percent less likely to have developed type 2 diabetes than those who rarely ate whole grains. When the researchers combined these results with those of several other large studies, they found that eating an extra 2 servings of whole grains a day decreased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 21 percent.

Cancer

The data on cancer are mixed, with some studies showing a protective effect and others showing none. A large, five-year study among nearly 500,000 men and women suggests that eating whole grains, but not dietary fiber, offers modest protection against colorectal cancer.

Digestive Health

By keeping the stool soft and bulky, the fiber in whole grains helps prevent constipation, a common, costly, and aggravating problem. It also helps prevent diverticular disease (the development of tiny pouches inside the colon that are easily irritated and inflamed) by decreasing pressure in the intestines.

Staying Alive

Compared with women who rarely or never ate whole-grain foods, those who had at least two or more servings a day were 30 percent less likely to have died from an inflammation-related condition over a 17-year period.

2. I take a nap 2-3 times a week. I need to nap more!

Midday Naps Lower Heart Disease Risk

A long-term study found that those who took midday naps, or siestas, for at least 30 minutes, three times a week or more were less likely to die of heart disease than those who never napped. Naps were most beneficial for employed men, who had a substantially lower risk of death from heart disease. The study also found that those who were physically active and took midday naps were particularly healthy.

3. I need to keep up my Vitamin D consumption:

Less Vitamin D Means Higher Mortality After Heart Failure

Researchers found that patients with very low levels of Vitamin D were 77 percent more likely to die, 45 percent more likely to develop coronary artery disease, and 78 percent were more likely to have a stroke.

Vitamin D Fights Asthma

4. Maybe I don't need to eat more spicy food after all:

Capsaicin Can Act as Co-Carcinogen

A study in the journal Cancer Research links capsaicin, a component of chili peppers, to skin cancer. While the molecular mechanisms of the cancer-promoting effects of capsaicin are not clear and remain controversial, the new research has shown a definite connection to formation of skin cancer through various laboratory studies.

Capsaicin, widely consumed worldwide in foods that contain chili peppers, is also used in topical creams for pain relief and its role in cancer development is controversial. Capsaicin has been shown to induce apoptosis (cell death) in cancer cells. However, research findings have also shown that it can also act as a carcinogen, especially at the tumor promotion stage.

Bode says the possibility that capsaicin induces inflammation and may affect cancer development is a critical result of the study. Most notably, the results raise concerns that a natural compound found in hot peppers used in over-the-counter topical pain remedies might increase skin cancer risk.

5. I don't know if I should keep stretching before soccer games - recent studies show that it really doesn't prevent injuries - I do it mainly because I seem to be less sore after games if I stretch before them - but now this:

Stretching Before Running May Lower Endurance

Stretching has long been a part of the warm-up routine for runners and athletes in other sports. However, recent studies have suggested that static stretching may actually have some negative effects. These effects—particularly reduced muscle-tendon stiffness and reduced muscle strength—could have a negative impact on running performance. The athletes covered less distance, the energy cost of running was significantly greater after stretching. On average, the runners burned about five percent more calories in the run performed after static stretching.

6. I need to look for a new sports drink, or combine my current one with an energy bar:

Energy drinks may give sports teams an edge

Sports drinks helped the young people continue high intensity, stop-start activity for up to 24 per cent longer – compared with players who drank a non-carbohydrate placebo solution. The findings showed that drinking a 6 per cent carbohydrate-electrolyte solution improved endurance capacity but did not make young people run faster during intermittent exercise in team sports. The solution – containing carbohydrate, sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium – enhances hydration, helps prevent dehydration and provides a supply of energy to the body, thereby contributing to improved endurance capacity.

7. Another reason I'm happy to be taking a statin:

Regular statin use is associated with a reduced risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis

8. I have thrown away my bottle of quercetin - which I only took about once a week - thank goodness:

Research suggests that quercetin could contribute to the development of cancer.

9. One of my readers is a curmudgeon constantly pointing out that the studies I quote never explain why the supposed health impacts occur. This isn't really true, although I certainly focus on the effects, not the causes, but here's a study on causation:

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified the molecular mechanism that makes omega-3 fatty acids so effective in reducing chronic inflammation and insulin resistance.

10. Another reason I'm glad to be taking cranberry supplements, and plan to resume drinking cranberry juice:

Cranberry juice shows promise blocking Staph infections

11. I'm pretty good about the fruits and vegetables thing:

Long-Term Benefits to Eating Fruits, Veggies, Foods Low in Saturated Fat

A new study suggests yet another reason for Americans to abandon their current fatty diets in favor of one rich in fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fat. Choosing these healthier options appears to significantly reduce the long-term risk of heart disease in patients with mildly elevated blood pressure. The diet likely reduces coronary heart disease risk because it reduces both blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, two independent risk factors for coronary disease.

Diverse diet of veggies may decrease lung cancer risk

12. I don't drink coffee, but it's looking like maybe I should:

Moderate coffee consumption leads to reduced cardiovascular disease

The study revealed that moderate coffee consumption (between one and two cups per day) is associated with higher values of aortic distensibility when compared with other hypertensive elderly individuals taking less quantities of coffee. Adjustments were made for various factors such as age, gender, physical activity status, creatinine levels, BMI and diabetes mellitus. There was also evidence that moderate coffee consumption leads to reduced cardiovascular disease, lower prevalence of diabetes and hyperlipidaemia, lower body mass index, better renal functions and higher creatinine clearance levels. There was no evidence, however, that increasing coffee consumption to three to five cups per day would lead to further improvements in aortic distensibility.

13. I stopped taking selenium some time ago because of negative reports, but women may want to review the possibility of adding supplementation:

Selenium may provide protection against bladder cancer, mainly among women, which they believe may result from gender-specific differences in the mineral's accumulation and excretion in women.

14. And I will end on this depressing note:

New research shows that mentally stimulating activities such as crossword puzzles, reading and listening to the radio may, at first, slow the decline of thinking skills but speed up dementia later in old age. Mental activities compress the time period that a person spends with dementia, delaying its start and then speeding up its progress. This reduces the overall amount of time that a person may suffer from dementia.

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Complete article. w/ footnotes

Cardiovascular Disease

Eating whole instead of refined grains substantially lowers total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or bad) cholesterol, triglycerides, and insulin levels. Any of these changes would be expected to reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease. In the Harvard-based Nurses' Health Study, women who ate 2 to 3 servings of whole-grain products (mostly bread and breakfast cereals) each day were 30 percent less likely to have a heart attack or die from heart disease over a 10-year period than women who ate less than 1 serving per week (1). A recent meta-analysis of seven major studies showed that cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke, or the need for a procedure to bypass or open a clogged artery) was 21 percent less likely in people who ate 2.5 or more servings of whole-grain foods a day compared with those who ate less than 2 servings a week (2).

Type 2 Diabetes

In a study of more than 160,000 women whose health and dietary habits were followed for up to 18 years, those who averaged 2 to 3 servings of whole grains a day were 30 percent less likely to have developed type 2 diabetes than those who rarely ate whole grains (3). When the researchers combined these results with those of several other large studies, they found that eating an extra 2 servings of whole grains a day decreased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 21 percent.

Cancer

The data on cancer are mixed, with some studies showing a protective effect and others showing none (4). A large, five-year study among nearly 500,000 men and women suggests that eating whole grains, but not dietary fiber, offers modest protection against colorectal cancer (5, 6).

Digestive Health

By keeping the stool soft and bulky, the fiber in whole grains helps prevent constipation, a common, costly, and aggravating problem. It also helps prevent diverticular disease (the development of tiny pouches inside the colon that are easily irritated and inflamed) by decreasing pressure in the intestines.

Staying Alive

An intriguing report from the Iowa Women's Health Study linked whole-grain consumption with fewer deaths from noncardiac, noncancer causes. Compared with women who rarely or never ate whole-grain foods, those who had at least two or more servings a day were 30 percent less likely to have died from an inflammation-related condition over a 17-year period (7).

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A long-term study of more than 23,000 healthy Greek adults, and we found that those who took midday naps, or siestas, for at least 30 minutes, three times a week or more were less likely to die of heart disease than those who never napped.

Naps were most beneficial for employed men, who had a substantially lower risk of death from heart disease. The study also found that those who were physically active and took midday naps were particularly healthy.


Complete article

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Taking medications to treat insomnia and anxiety increases mortality risk by 36%, according to a study conducted by Geneviève Belleville, a professor at Université Laval's School of Psychology. The details of this study are published in the latest edition of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.

Dr. Belleville arrived at these results through analysis of 12 years of data on over 14,000 Canadians in Statistics Canada's National Population Health Survey. The data includes information on the social demographics, lifestyle, and health of Canadians age 18 to 102, surveyed every two years between 1994 and 2007.

During this period, respondents who reported having used medication to treat insomnia or anxiety at least once in the month preceding the survey had a mortality rate of 15.7%. Respondents who reported not having used such medications had a rate of 10.5%. After controlling for personal factors that might affect mortality risk, notably alcohol and tobacco consumption, physical health, physical activity level, and the presence or absence of depressive symptoms among participants, Dr. Belleville established that the consumption of sleeping pills or anxiety-relieving medications was associated with a 36% increase in the risk of death.

A number of hypotheses have been put forward to explain the link between use of these medications and increased mortality. Sleeping pills and anxiolytics affect reaction time, alertness, and coordination and are thus conducive to falls and other accidents. They may also have an inhibiting effect on the respiratory system, which could aggravate certain breathing problems during sleep. These medications are also central nervous system inhibitors that may affect judgment and thus increase the risk of suicide.

"These medications aren't candy, and taking them is far from harmless," commented Dr. Belleville. "Given that cognitive behavioral therapies have shown good results in treating insomnia and anxiety, doctors should systematically discuss such therapies with their patients as an option. Combining a pharmacological approach in the short term with psychological treatment is a promising strategy for reducing anxiety and promoting sleep."

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Earlier studies:

Inadequate Levels of Vitamin D May Significantly Increase Risk of Stroke, Heart Disease and Death (Nov. 16, 2009) — Researchers found that patients with very low levels of Vitamin D were 77 percent more likely to die, 45 percent more likely to develop coronary artery disease, and 78 percent were more likely to have a stroke.

Treating Vitamin D Deficiency Significantly Reduces Heart Disease Risk, Studies Find (Mar. 17, 2010) — Researchers in Utah last fall demonstrated the link between vitamin D deficiency and increased risk for coronary artery disease.

Survival rates in heart failure patients with reduced levels of vitamin D are lower than in patients with normal levels. This is the finding of a major study carried out at University Medical Center, Groningen, Netherlands, according to a presentation at the European Society of Cardiology's Congress 2010 in Stockholm.

Results also suggest that low levels of vitamin D are associated with activation of the Renin Angiotensin System (RAS -- a pivotal regulatory system in heart failure) and an altered cytokine profile.

Vitamin D is produced by the skin when it is exposed to the natural Ultra Violet-B (UV-B) radiation from the sun. Low levels have long been known as the underlying mechanism of rickets however, in recent years, new studies have provided novel insight into the multiple vitamin's functions. It has been proved that most tissues and cells have a vitamin D receptor, and there is strong evidence that its presence plays a part in reducing the risk factor profiles of several chronic illnesses, such as common cancers, autoimmune diseases, kidney diseases, chronic infectious diseases, hypertension and apparently also heart failure.

"By showing that vitamin D is an independent predictor, we hoped to prove that it is a contributory factor to, rather than peripheral to, the development and prognosis of heart failure," said Ms. Licette Liu of the University Medical Center, Groningen. "With this new information, we then hope to provide better insight into the pathophysiology of heart failure."

Experiments with mice lacking the vitamin D receptor have shown typical signs of heart failure, while small-scale clinical studies have shown that low levels are a consistent factor amongst human heart failure patients. "There are several potential reasons for low vitamin D levels in heart failure patients, including the fact that they are often bedridden or house-bound due to their clinical symptoms" Ms. Liu explains. "This would lead to a serious deficiency, because 80-90 percent of vitamin D is obtained by UV-B radiation. Another factor is that the capacity of the skin to produce vitamin D declines with age, and as heart failure has a high incidence among elderly people, it is not entirely surprising to measure low levels. Furthermore, severe heart failure is associated with impaired renal function due to decreased blood supply. This may be responsible for a reduced synthesis of the active form of vitamin D, since the final step of conversion takes place in the kidneys. All of these factors may add to vitamin D deficiency in heart failure patients."

Observations in animal studies suggest that vitamin D is a negative regulator of the RAS, which is responsible for volume and blood pressure homeostasis and is a pivotal regulatory system in heart failure. Low levels may activate the RAS, which in turn may contribute to the development and progression of heart failure. There is also growing evidence that overproduction of several pro-inflammatory cytokines (and underproduction of anti-inflammatory cytokines) plays an important role in heart failure. Several studies have shown that vitamin D alters the cytokine profile and may therefore contribute to the inflammatory processes in heart failure.

In the current study, vitamin D concentration was assessed in plasma samples from 548 heart failure patients, using data supplied by the Coordinating study evaluating Outcomes of Advising and Counselling in Heart failure (COACH). Results showed that vitamin D concentration is associated with the prognosis of heart failure. Patients with lower concentrations had a higher risk of death or required re-hospitalisation, whereas patients with higher concentrations had lower survival risks for these endpoints. Further, significant correlations between vitamin D, and Plasma Renin Activity and C-Reactive Protein were found. These correlations suggest that the association between vitamin D and the prognosis in heart failure may be explained by activation of the RAS and an altered cytokine profile.

This is the first study in a large cohort of patients recruited due to hospitalisation for heart failure, in which the role of vitamin D has been determined, along with the roles of plasma renin activity and cytokines. Previous reports involved smaller study cohorts, and did not determine either plasma renin activity or cytokines, or they included patients who were referred routinely for coronary angiography at baseline.

The major limitation of this observational study was that bystander and indirect effects of variables could not be discounted. Therefore, a prospective randomised intervention study is necessary to investigate the effect of vitamin D on the RAS, cytokines profile and, finally, on the prognosis in heart failure patients. Ms. Liu concludes, "This study provides compelling evidence that a high vitamin D status is associated with improved survival in heart failure patients. Until an intervention study has been designed and completed, it seems that we should advise patients with heart failure to maintain appropriate vitamin D levels by taking supplements, by eating oily fish or eggs, or simply by exposure to sunlight."

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Chili Pepper Component Linked to Skin Cancer

A study in the journal Cancer Research by researchers at The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, links capsaicin, a component of chili peppers, to skin cancer. While the molecular mechanisms of the cancer-promoting effects of capsaicin are not clear and remain controversial, the new research has shown a definite connection to formation of skin cancer through various laboratory studies.

Ann Bode, professor in the institute's Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Section, led the research team on this study along with colleagues Mun Kyung Hwang and Zigang Dong.

Capsaicin, widely consumed worldwide in foods that contain chili peppers, is also used in topical creams for pain relief and its role in cancer development is controversial. Capsaicin has been shown to induce apoptosis (cell death) in cancer cells. However, research findings have also shown that it can also act as a carcinogen, especially at the tumor promotion stage.

Bode says the possibility that capsaicin induces inflammation and may affect cancer development is a critical result of the study. "Most notably, the results raise concerns that a natural compound found in hot peppers used in over-the-counter topical pain remedies might increase skin cancer risk," Bode says.

The study's key findings include:

* The co-carcinogenic effect of capsaicin appears to be mediated through the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and not the transient receptor potential vanilloid subfamily member 1 (TRPV1), a known pain receptor.
* Topical application of capsaicin on the dorsal skin of wildtype or TRPV1 knockout mice induced tumors in both types but more and larger skin tumors in the knockout mice.
* A known inflammatory enzyme, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) was highly elevated following treatment with capsaicin.

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Stretching Linked to Shorter Running Distance and Higher Energy Expenditure


Distance runners who stretch before running may not be able to run as far—and yet spend more energy doing it, according to a study in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning, official research journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

"Our results suggest that stretching before an endurance event may lower endurance performance and increase the energy cost of running," write Jacob M. Wilson, PhD, CSCS, and colleagues of The Florida State University, Tallahassee.__Static Stretching Leads to Decreased Running Performance_Ten male collegiate runners performed a 60-minute treadmill run on two different occasions: once after stretching and once without stretching. The 16-minute stretching regimen consisted of static stretching—stretching a muscle to its maximum length and holding it—of the major muscles of the lower body. The sessions were performed in random order. At each time, the runners were instructed to run as far as possible; however, they were unable to view their running distance or speed.

Running distance was actually shorter without stretching. When the runners stretched, their average running distance was 3.4 percent less than when they ran without stretching.

Even though the athletes covered less distance, the energy cost of running was significantly greater after stretching. On average, the runners burned about five percent more calories in the run performed after static stretching.

Stretching has long been a part of the warm-up routine for runners and athletes in other sports. However, recent studies have suggested that static stretching may actually have some negative effects. These effects—particularly reduced muscle-tendon stiffness and reduced muscle strength—could have a negative impact on running performance.

The new results suggest that stretching before running reduces endurance while increasing energy expenditure. The differences may not seem great—on average, running distance decreased by 0.2 kilometer after stretching while energy expenditure increased by 20 calories. However, for highly trained runners, those differences are more than enough to affect competitive performance.

Building on previous studies showing negative effects on muscle strength, the new results suggest that static stretching may reduce endurance performance as well. "Therefore, static stretching should be avoided before endurance events, at least for young male endurance athletes," Wilson and colleagues write. They call for more research to clarify how static stretching affects muscle performance, as well as to evaluate the effects of other types of stretching—particularly dynamic stretching.

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According to an article published this month in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI):
“There is a possible cause-and-effect relationship between vitamin D deficiency and uncontrolled asthma. Evidence suggests that vitamin D has a number of biologic factors that are important in regulating key mechanisms in asthma.”

Authors conducted a review of almost 60 years of literature on vitamin D and asthma. According to the article, vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased airway hyperresponsiveness, lower lung functions, and inferior asthma control. Vitamin D deficiency is more common with obesity, in African American ethnicity and westernization of countries reflecting a higher-risk population for asthma.

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There is an association between taking statins (lipid lowering drugs), and reduced risk of developing the chronic inflammatory disease, rheumatoid arthritis. These are the findings of a study published in this week's PLoS Medicine.

The researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study among the 1.8-million members of Maccabi Healthcare Services (a health maintenance organization [HMO]) in Israel to identify adults who regularly took statins and did not have rheumatoid arthritis. Using Maccabi's large automated datasets, the researchers then analyzed diagnostic codes to assess the incidence of newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis in this group between 1998 and 2007. To assess any potential bias, the researchers also examined any possible association between persistent statin use and the development of osteoarthritis, a common degenerative joint disease that is unlikely to be affected by statin use.

During the study follow-up period, there were 2,578 incident cases of rheumatoid arthritis and 17,878 incident cases of osteoarthritis. The unadjusted rate of rheumatoid arthritis among patients who did not persistently take statins was 51% higher than that of patients who used statins for at least 80% of the follow-up period. After adjusting for other possible confounders, patients who persistently took statins had a lower risk (risk ratio of 0.58) of developing rheumatoid arthritis compared with patients who did not persistently take statins. There was only a small short term decrease in risk ratio in patients taking statins and the development of osteoarthritis. (hazard ratio of 0.85)

This work needs to be confirmed in other populations before its clinical significance, if any, is clear. As the authors conclude: "Larger, systematic, controlled, prospective studies with high efficacy statins, particularly in younger adults who are at increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis, are needed to confirm these findings and to clarify the exact nature of the biological relationship between adherence to statin therapy and the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis."

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Consuming energy drinks during team sports could help young people perform better, a study suggests.

Sports scientists found that 12-14 year olds can play for longer in team games when they drink an isotonic sports drink before and during games.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh measured the performance of 15 adolescents during exercise designed to simulate the physical demands of team games such as football, rugby and hockey.

They showed for the first time that sports drinks helped the young people continue high intensity, stop-start activity for up to 24 per cent longer – compared with players who drank a non-carbohydrate placebo solution.

The study was conducted because there is increasing evidence of young people consuming commercially available energy drinks during team games and researchers wanted to assess their impact. The findings are published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.

The findings showed that drinking a 6 per cent carbohydrate-electrolyte solution improved endurance capacity but did not make young people run faster during intermittent exercise in team sports.

The solution – containing carbohydrate, sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium – enhances hydration, helps prevent dehydration and provides a supply of energy to the body, thereby contributing to improved endurance capacity.

The researchers say the findings help to identify the importance of regular hydration and energy intake with a carbohydrate-electrolyte solution during games to replace fluids and provide energy in adolescent games players.

Dr John Sproule, Head of the Institute of Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences of the University of Edinburgh's Moray House School of Education who led the research, said: "The importance of hydration to improve performance during exercise for adults is well known.

"This research helps us further understand how adolescents respond to hydration and energy supply during exercise.

"The consumption of a carbohydrate-electrolyte solution was found to significantly enhance endurance capacity during simulated games play, and this could contribute to improved performance in adolescents."

This is the first study to explore the effect of a 6 per cent carbohydrate-electrolyte solution, similar to the make-up of an isotonic sports drink, on the performance of young people in team games.

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Scientists are calling for more research on the possibility that some supposedly healthful plant-based antioxidants — including those renowned for their apparent ability to prevent cancer — may actually aggravate or even cause cancer in some individuals. Their recommendation follows a study in which two such antioxidants — quercetin and ferulic acid — appeared to aggravate kidney cancer in severely diabetic laboratory rats. The study appears in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Kuan-Chou Chen, Robert Peng, and colleagues note that vegetables, fruits, and other plant-based foods are rich in antioxidants that appear to fight cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and other disorders. Among those antioxidants is quercetin, especially abundant in onions and black tea, and ferulic acid, found in corn, tomatoes, and rice bran. Both also are ingredients in certain herbal remedies and dietary supplements. But questions remain about the safety and effectiveness of some antioxidants, with research suggesting that quercetin could contribute to the development of cancer, the scientists note.

They found that diabetic laboratory rats fed either quercetin or ferulic acid developed more advanced forms of kidney cancer, and concluded the two antioxidants appear to aggravate or possibly cause kidney cancer. "Some researchers believe that quercetin should not be used by healthy people for prevention until it can be shown that quercetin does not itself cause cancer," the report states. "In this study we report that quercetin aggravated, at least, if not directly caused, kidney cancer in rats," it adds, suggesting that health agencies like the U. S. Food and Drug Administration should reevaluate the safety of plant-based antioxidants.

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Why fish oils work swimmingly against diabetes


Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified the molecular mechanism that makes omega-3 fatty acids so effective in reducing chronic inflammation and insulin resistance.

The discovery could lead to development of a simple dietary remedy for many of the more than 23 million Americans suffering from diabetes and other conditions.

Writing in the advance online edition of the September 3 issue of the journal Cell, Jerrold Olefsky, MD, and colleagues identified a key receptor on macrophages abundantly found in obese body fat. Obesity and diabetes are closely correlated. The scientists say omega-3 fatty acids activate this macrophage receptor, resulting in broad anti-inflammatory effects and improved systemic insulin sensitivity.

Macrophages are specialized white blood cells that engulf and digest cellular debris and pathogens. Part of this immune system response involves the macrophages secreting cytokines and other proteins that cause inflammation, a method for destroying cells and objects perceived to be harmful. Obese fat tissue contains lots of these macrophages producing lots of cytokines. The result can be chronic inflammation and rising insulin resistance in neighboring cells over-exposed to cytokines. Insulin resistance is the physical condition in which the natural hormone insulin becomes less effective at regulating blood sugar levels in the body, leading to myriad and often severe health problems, most notably type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Olefsky and colleagues looked at cellular receptors known to respond to fatty acids. They eventually narrowed their focus to a G-protein receptor called GPR120, one of a family of signaling molecules involved in numerous cellular functions. The GPR120 receptor is found only on pro-inflammatory macrophages in mature fat cells. When the receptor is turned off, the macrophage produces inflammatory effects. But exposed to omega-3 fatty acids, specifically docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), the GPR120 receptor is activated and generates a strong anti-inflammatory effect.

"It's just an incredibly potent effect," said Olefsky, a professor of medicine and associate dean of scientific affairs for the UC San Diego School of Medicine. "The omega-3 fatty acids switch on the receptor, killing the inflammatory response."

The scientists conducted their research using cell cultures and mice, some of the latter genetically modified to lack the GPR120 receptor. All of the mice were fed a high-fat diet with or without omega-3 fatty acid supplementation. The supplementation treatment inhibited inflammation and enhanced insulin sensitivity in ordinary obese mice, but had no effect in GPR120 knockout mice. A chemical agonist of omega-3 fatty acids produced similar results.

"This is nature at work," said Olefsky. "The receptor evolved to respond to a natural product – omega-3 fatty acids – so that the inflammatory process can be controlled. Our work shows how fish oils safely do this, and suggests a possible way to treating the serious problems of inflammation in obesity and in conditions like diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease through simple dietary supplementation."

However, Olefsky said more research is required. For example, it remains unclear how much fish oil constitutes a safe, effective dose. High consumption of fish oil has been linked to increased risk of bleeding and stroke in some people.

Should fish oils prove impractical as a therapeutic agent, Olefsky said the identification of the GPR120 receptor means researchers can work toward developing an alternative drug that mimics the actions of DHA and EPA and provides the same anti-inflammatory effects.

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New research shows that mentally stimulating activities such as crossword puzzles, reading and listening to the radio may, at first, slow the decline of thinking skills but speed up dementia later in old age. The research is published in the September 1, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"Our results suggest that the benefit of delaying the initial signs of cognitive decline may come at the cost of more rapid dementia progression later on, but the question is why does this happen?" said study author Robert S. Wilson, PhD, with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

According to Wilson, mentally stimulating activities may somehow enhance the brain's ability to function relatively normally despite the buildup of lesions in the brain associated with dementia. However, once they are diagnosed with dementia, people who have a more mentally active lifestyle are likely to have more brain changes related to dementia compared to those without a lot of mental activity. As a result, those with more mentally active lifestyles may experience a faster rate of decline once dementia begins.

Wilson noted that mental activities compress the time period that a person spends with dementia, delaying its start and then speeding up its progress. "This reduces the overall amount of time that a person may suffer from dementia," he said.

For the study, researchers evaluated the mental activities of 1,157 people age 65 or older who did not have dementia at the start of the nearly 12-year study. People answered questions about how often they participated in mental activities such as listening to the radio, watching television, reading, playing games and going to a museum; for this five-point cognitive activity scale, the more points scored, the more often people participated in mentally stimulating exercises.

During the next six years, the study found that the rate of cognitive decline in people without cognitive impairment was reduced by 52 percent for each point on the cognitive activity scale. For people with Alzheimer's disease, the average rate of decline per year increased by 42 percent for each point on the cognitive activity scale.